Alphabetical Listing of Faculty

Martha A. Belury (Ph.D., R.D., University of Texas–Austin)

Position: Carol S. Kennedy Professor of Nutrition, Department of Human Nutrition
Research Interests: Modulation of insulin sensitivity by bioactive components of the diet in conditions such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome; dietary fatty acid modulation of gene expression to regulate cellular differentiation, metabolism, and carcinogenesis; dietary modulation of signal transduction to modulate hepatic gluconeogenesis and lipid metabolism.

Amanda Bird (Ph.D., University of Newcastle, UK)

Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Human Nutrition
Research Interests: Nutrient regulation of gene expression using model organisms; identification of novel non-protein coding RNAs that have roles in nutrient homeostasis; nutrient-dependent regulation of cellular splicing.

Joshua A. Bomser (Ph.D., University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign)

Position: Associate Professor, Department of Human Nutrition
Research Interests: Nutrition and ocular health; identification of anticarcinogenic compounds from natural products; mechanisms of carcinogenesis and the role of minor dietary constituents in cancer prevention.

Prosper N. Boyaka (Ph.D., University Dennis Diderot, Paris, France)

Position: Professor, Department of Veterinary Biosciences
Research Interests: T helper cells differentiation; mucosal immunity; mucosal inflammation/allergy; adjuvants and vaccines.

Tony Buffington (Ph.D., D.V.M., University of California–Davis)

Position: Professor, Small Animal Medicine Section, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences
Research Interests: Animal clinical nutrition; diet and renal function.

Steven K. Clinton (M.D., Ph.D., University of Illinois)

Position: Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine. Program Leader, Molecular and Cellular Carcinogenesis, OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center
Research Interests: Diet and nutrition in the etiology and prevention of cancer; nutritional interventions to enhance cancer survivorship; clinical trials for the treatment of prostate and other genitourinary malignancies

Konrad Dabrowski (D.Sc. Agricultural University, Szczecin, Poland; Ph.D. Agriculture University, Olsztyn, Poland; M.Sc. Agriculture University, Olsztyn, Poland)

Position: Professor, School of Natural Resources
Research Interests: Nutrition of aquatic animals and comparative nutrition.

Steven T. Devor (Ph.D., University of California–Berkeley)

Position: Associate Professor, Sport and Exercise Science Program, Department of Physiology and Cell Biology
Research Interests: Human performance; adaptation of skeletal muscle during the aging process; skeletal muscle injury and repair.

Robert DiSilvestro (Ph.D., Texas A&M University)

Position: Professor, Department of Human Nutrition
Research Interests: Nutritional biochemistry and clinical nutrition of minerals and antioxidant nutrients and phytochemicals, especially in regard to inflammatory aspects of disease and exercise recovery; diet plus exercise effects on body composition and bone health.

Maurice Eastridge (Ph.D., Purdue University)

Position: Professor, Department of Animal Sciences
Research Interests: Fat and fiber digestion in dairy cows and their effects on milk composition.

Helen Everts (Ph.D., University of Georgia)

Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Human Nutrition
Research Interests: Role of vitamin A metabolism and function in hair follicles, including their stem cells, and diseases of the skin and hair such as skin cancer and hair loss.

Mark Failla (Ph.D., Indiana University)

Position: Professor, Department of Human Nutrition
Research Interests: Bioavailability and mechanisms of absorption of micronutrients and health-promoting phytochemicals; cellular and molecular roles of phytochemicals and trace metals.

Jeffrey Firkins (Ph.D., University of Illinois)

Position: Professor, Department of Animal Sciences
Research Interests: Sites of nutrient digestion in dairy cows.

Mary Fristad (Ph.D., University of Kansas)

Position: Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Department of Psychology
Research Interests: Examining the role of micronutrients and omega3 fatty acids in the treatment of mood disorders in youth.

Monica Giusti (Ph.D., Oregon State University)

Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology
Research Interests: Functional foods and the study of non-volatile compounds in fruits and vegetables with potential health promoting properties; special interest in flavonoids and natural colorants.

Earl Harrison (Ph.D., Columbia University)

Position: Duhamel Professor of Human Nutrition, Department of Human Nutrition
Research Interests: Transport, metabolism, and functions of retinoids (vitamin A) and carotenoids.

Rebecca Jackson (M.D.)

Position: Professor, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, and Department of Physical Medicine
Research Interests: General endocrinology; osteoporosis; metabolic bone disease; calcium metabolism; women's health.

Savita Khanna (Ph.D., University of Kuopio, Finland)

Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery
Research Interests: Neuroprotective properties of natural compounds, including vitamin E analogs and curcuminoids, and looking for the molecular mechanisms involved in this protective effect.

Douglas Kniss (Ph.D., The Ohio State University)

Position: Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Bioinformatics
Research Interests: Understanding the cellular and molecular pathophysiology of pregnancy complications involving the placenta.

Daren L. Knoell (Pharm.D., University of Nebraska)

Position: Professor, College of Pharmacy
Research Interests: Impact of nutritional deficiencies on innate immune function and the host response to infection; understanding the role of zinc in the innate host response to systemic infection and how this impacts host morbidity and mortality; mechanistic studies focused on the regulation of zinc homeostasis through zinc transporters.

Ken Lee (Ph.D., University of Massachusetts–Amherst)

Position: Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology
Research Interests: Nutrient alteration during food processing.

Kichoon Lee (Ph.D., University of Georgia)

Position: Associate Professor, Department of Animal Sciences.
Research Interests: Discovery of genes or proteins that are involved in fat or muscle development using microarray and proteomics technology; functional genomics approaches to study the functions of genes using in vitro and in vivo systems, including cell cultures and transgenic or knockout mouse models; identification of molecular mechanisms of food intake regulation in the brain.

Michael Lilburn Ph.D.

Position: Professor, Department of Animal Sciences
Research Interests: Nutrition of poultry

Young C. Lin (PhD, University of Tokyo, Japan; D.V.M., National Taiwan University)

Position: Professor, Veterinary Biosciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Veterinary Clinical Science
Research Interests: Molecular progression of prostatic and mammary cancer; chemopreventive effect of gossypol on hormone-dependent cancers; reproductive toxicology; fertility regulation.

Steven Loerch (Ph.D., University of Illinois)

Position: Professor, Department of Animal Sciences
Research Interests: Nutrition of beef cattle.

Donald Mahan (Ph.D., University of Illinois)

Position: Professor, Department of Animal Sciences
Research Interests: Vitamins E and C and selenium for swine nutrition.

Velimir Matkovic (M.D., Ph.D., University of Zagreb)

Position: Professor of Physical Medicine and Internal Medicine, and Director, Bone and Mineral Metabolism Laboratory
Research Interests: Bone and mineral metabolism; calcium bioavailability.

Kamal D. Mehta (Ph.D, McMaster University Medical Center)

Position: Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry
Research Interests: Understanding the signaling cascades and the mechanisms regulating transcription of lipoprotein receptors involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases; projects in progress will not only help investigate the molecular basis of atherosclerosis but may also provide a link between atherosclerosis, diabetes, and aging.

Hugo Melgar-Quiñonez (Ph.D., M.D., Friedrich Schiller Universität, Jena, Germany)

Position: Associate Professor, Department of Human Nutrition
Research Interests: Food security and nutrition in Latino population groups in Ohio.

Carla Miller (Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University)

Position: Associate Professor, Department of Human Nutrition
Research Interests: Development, implementation, and evaluation of behavior change interventions, primarily for people with type 2 diabetes mellitus, using theoretical models of change.

Mark Morrison (Ph.D., University of Illinois)

Position: Professor, Department of Animal Sciences
Research Interests: Bacterial physiology and metabolism with emphasis on functional genomics of polysaccharide degradation; host-microbial interactions in GI tracts of animals and humans.

Robert Murray (M.D., Indiana University)

Position: Professor of Human Nutrition
Research Interests: Obesity prevention and weight management counseling in children; school nutrition, pediatric nutrition, and screening for metabolic syndrome in children.

Susan Olivo-Marston

Position: Assistant Professor, Division of Epidemiology, College of Public Health
Research Interests: Use of animal models of cancer and human studies to examine how childhood lifestyle exposures affect adult cancer risk; examining the effect of insulin-like growth factor-1 pathway, inflammation, obesity, and its role in cancer and developing preventive strategies.

Kwame Osei (M.D., University of Ghana Medical School, Accra, Ghana, MB. Ch B.)

Position: Director, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism of The Ohio State University Medical Center.
Research Interests: Diabetes and nutrition; Type 2 diabetes mellitus; endocrine and metabolism; ethnicity.

Tracey Papenfuss (D.V.M., M.S. University of Minnesota; Ph.D., The Ohio State University)

Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Veterinary Biosciences
Research Interests: Evaluation of mechanisms by which hormonal and nutritional components modify the innate-adaptive immune interactions; specifically, how steroid hormones such as estrogens, glucocorticoids, and vitamins A and D modify antigen presenting cells (i.e. dendritic cells and macrophages) to become regulatory in nature and how this influences the development of adaptive immune responses.

Electra Paskett (Ph.D., Epidemiology and Health Services, University of Washington)

Position: Marion N. Rowley Professor of Cancer Research, Program, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Research Interests: Cancer control research including early detection and primary prevention; etiological studies of cancer; maternal and child health issues; compliance with cancer control activities; women’s health; cancer survivorship.

Cameron Rink

Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine
Research Interests: Nutritional intervention against cerebrovascular disease; role of arachidonic acid in neurodegenerative disorders; specific role of molecular oxygen in ischemic stroke injury; nutrient regulation of non-coding RNAs.

Sashwati Roy (Ph.D., University of Kupio, Finland)

Position: Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine
Research Interests: Study of oxygen, reactive oxygen species, and antioxidant nutrients with emphasis on tissue injury and repair.

Ramesh K. Selvaraj (Ph.D., University of California–Davis)

Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Sciences
Research Interests: Impact of poultry immune regulatory cells on immune responses in fighting infections or in suppressing excessive pro-inflammatory immune response in order to decrease mortality in chickens; nutrient interaction with or modification of nuclear hormone receptor signals.

Chandan Sen (Ph.D., University of Kuopio, Finland)

Position: Professor and Vice Chair, Associate Director, Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute Director, DNA Microarray and Genetics Facility.
Research Interests: Molecular medicine; mechanism by which antioxidants and cellular redox status regulate signal transduction and gene expression.

Anne Smith (Ph.D., R.D., University of Illinois)

Position: Associate Professor, Department of Human Nutrition.
Research Interests: Selenium metabolism in health and disease; nutrition and cancer.

Normand St-Pierre (Ph.D., The Ohio State University)

Position: Professor, Department of Animal Sciences
Research Interests: Quantitative methods for evaluating dynamic animal systems; feed cost optimization and estimation of unit costs of nutrients and nutritional economics; management and nutritional strategies to reduce nutrient excretion; forecasting methods for dairy risk management.

Steven Schwartz (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin)

Position: Food Industries Professor, Carl E. Haas Endowed Chair, Department of Food Science and Technology
Research Interests: Chlorophyll, carotenoid, and other health promoting phytochemicals in foods and biological tissues; antioxidant, anti-mutagenic, and anticarcinogenic properties of dietary phytochemicals.

Yael Vodovotz (Ph.D., University of Massachusetts)

Position: Associate Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology
Research Interests: Physico-chemical changes of functional foods during formulation, processing, and storage as they impact the delivery of bioactives; examination of functional foods and how they can be modified to deliver bioactives to targeted organs; material properties of bio-derived plastics as potential replacement of current thermoplastic food packaging films; utilize molecular, structural, and macroscopic analysis to fully characterize food and bioplastic material behavior in different conditions.

Hua (Helen) Wang (Ph.D., University of Minnesota)

Position: Associate Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology
Research Interests: Biofilm formation involving foodborne pathogenic and health-promoting microorganisms; antibiotic resistance gene transfer through the food chain; developing rapid detection systems for foodborne microorganisms.

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Alphabetical Listing of Faculty

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