Deborah Howland

Deborah Howland is a highly specialist nutrition support dietitian at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, specialising in head and neck cancer and intensive care. She has more than 20 years’ clinical experience and has been the Trust’s sole head and neck cancer dietitian since 2005. She supports around 80–90 people newly diagnosed each year, providing nutritional care throughout prehabilitation, treatment, palliative care, and survivorship. She has also led intensive care dietetics since 2008, providing specialist care for critically ill people.

Within the Trust, she has developed clinical guidelines and patient information on feeding-tube care and head and neck cancer nutrition. She helped establish its enhanced recovery programme and a pilot prehabilitation service for people with head and neck cancer. She also co-created one of the UK’s first post-ICU exercise rehabilitation services and has collected data on the benefits of nutrition and exercise in recovery after critical illness.

At a national level, she has been an active member of the British Dietetic Association’s Oncology Specialist Group since 2009 and currently serves as an Expert Member. She works closely with the World Cancer Research Fund and has co-authored national oncology nutrition resources, patient information, and multidisciplinary guidance, including Head and Neck Cancer: United Kingdom National Multidisciplinary Guidelines. Her published work covers follow-up care for people with head and neck cancer, cancer cachexia, plant-based diets in oncology, and taste changes. She also contributes to professional education on head and neck cancer nutrition and taste disorders.