Congratulations to all of the folks in our Friedman/HNRCA community who received special acknowledgements or awards at this year's ASN Meeting!
Nutrition 2019 was held June 8-11, 2019 at the Baltimore Convention Center, and featured new research findings and panel discussions addressing hot topics in nutrition science, clinical practice and policy. At this year's meeting, 3600 top scientific researchers, practitioners, global and public health professionals, policy makers and advocacy leaders, industry, media and other related professionals gathered to advance nutrition science and its practical application. The Friedman School was well represented, with over 50 of our community members attending.
Below, we have compiled a list of students, staff, and faculty who received awards. Read on!
Deb Dutcher, Communications Specialist at the HNRCA, won second place in the Understanding Nutritional Science Video Contest for her short video "The Science of a Calorimeter."
Naglaa El-Abbadi, PhD was a finalist in the Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Poster Competition for her poster titled, “Application of the Dietary Environmental Index to model more sustainable versions of food intake patterns reported in the 2007-2008 NHANES." Naglaa is currently doing research in the HNRCA's Nutritional Epidemiology Laboratory, and is a postdoctoral fellow at Friedman.
Julie Gervis, a graduate student at Friedman, won the 2019 Future of Food and Nutrition Conference Poster Slam competition.
Laura Lara-Castor, MSc, a doctoral student at Friedman, was a Grand Finalist in the Global Nutrition topical area of the Emerging Leaders Poster Competition.
Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, senior scientist and director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at the HNRCA and Friedman School professor, received the Conrad A. Elvehjem Award for Public Service in Nutrition.
Simin Meydani, DVM, PhD, Friedman School professor and director and senior scientist in the Nutritional Immunology Laboratory at the HNRCA, was named an ASN Class of 2019 Fellow for her distinguished career in nutrition science. This is the highest honor bestowed by the American Society for Nutrition.
Jelena Mustra Rakic, MS was one of three winners of the Graduate Student Research Award Competition (Oral) organized by Nutritional Sciences Council. She also ranked first place in the Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Poster Competition organized by ASN’s CARIG Research Interest Group. Rakic received these honors for her work "Modulation of Reverse Cholesterol Transport by Lycopene Is Associated with Its Protective Role Against Cigarette Smoke Induced COPD and Lung Carcinogenesis in Ferrets" based in the HNRCA's Nutrition and Cancer Biology Lab.
Jose Ordovas, PhD, Friedman School professor and director of the Nutrition and Genomics Research Lab at HNRCA received the ASN Foundation Mentorship Award.
Susan Roberts, PhD, Friedman School professor and director of the Energy Metabolism Research Lab at HNRCA, received the General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition Innovation Award.
Jacob Selhub, PhD, professor emeritus at Friedman and former senior scientist and director of the HNRCA's Vitamin Metabolism Laboratory, was given the Robert Herman Memorial Award. This award is given to a clinical investigator whose research has contributed greatly to the advancement of clinical nutrition, particularly the biomedical and metabolic aspects of human nutrition.
Xian Wu, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the HNRCA's Vitamins & Carcinogenesis Laboratory, received the 2019 Dr. Mohsen Meydani Endowed Research Award for her poster, “The vitamin B6 and curcumin co-treatment is superior to either agent alone.”
Yi Zhao, MS (entering Friedman's Nutrition Data Science doctoral program this fall), won 2 awards for her presentation of research undertaken with Friedman's Gita Singh. From among 458 entries, she was selected to be among 9 finalists to compete in the ASN Graduate Student Research Awards Competition, and was selected as one of three winners of the competition. She also tied for 1st place for the Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Poster Competition out of 9 finalists in the nutritional epidemiology session. Her presentations were on the topic of "Using machine learning to evaluate the effects of complex dietary mixtures on cardiovascular risk."