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MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Hentges to Retire From ILSI

Eric Hentges, PhD, executive director of the International Life Sciences Institute of North America (ILSI NA), has announced his retirement after a very successful and productive decade there. He worked effectively with his board of trustees, academic scientific advisors, and excellent staff to enhance the organization's programs and the impact of its scientific output. He greatly strengthened ILSI's tripartite collaborations between private sector food companies, academe, and government in developing an active program on food and nutrition research-related issues. Among his major accomplishments is the development of a branded foods database in a public private partnership that resides in the US Department of Agriculture and greatly expands the information available on branded foods sold in the United States.

 

Dr Hentges has directed strategic research priority planning and administration of competitive research grant programs for several organizations, including ILSI. In addition, he has directed the development and implementation of nutrition education programs and consumer market research programs.

 

Prior to assuming his ILSI position in 2007, he served as the executive director of the US Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. In this position, he had oversight of the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) involvement in the development of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPyramid, Food Guidance System. Prior to that position, Dr Hentges served in key positions at the National Pork Board, the National Pork Producers Council, and the National Live Stock and Meat Board.

 

Dr Hentges holds degrees from Iowa State University, Auburn University, and Oklahoma State University. He is a member of the American Society for Nutrition and the Institute of Food Technologists.

 

ILSI North America's model of government, academic, and industry scientists working cooperatively and with share responsibility provides interaction with some of the most stellar individuals in the food, nutrition, and food safety arena. ILSI North America, the largest of 17 global ILSI branches and a new federation governance model, will strengthen global collaborations. The position posting and job description can be found at http://ilsina.org/about-us/career-opportunities/. Congratulations to Eric, yours will be big shoes to fill!

 

NUTRITION TODAY EMERITA MANAGING EDITOR SUSAN HOLMAN, PhD, RECEIVES ENDOWED CHAIR

Since leaving her position 2 decades ago as managing editor of Nutrition Today, Susan Holman, PhD, has been busy writing and teaching. In addition to her PhD, Susan received an MS RD at Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and another master's degree at Harvard Divinity School. These credentials make her the perfect person for her new position as the Eckrich Chair in Religion and the Healing Arts at Valparaiso University in Indiana, which she will assume in January 2019. During her time as managing editor, Susan wrote a number of interesting articles for us including one on views of hunger and famine in the Byzantine empire.

 

Professor Holman has held positions at Harvard University since 2007, focusing on medical and public health writing and editing. She currently serves as senior writer at the Global Health Education and Learning Incubator at Harvard. Since 1998, Professor Holman has also worked as an independent researcher in religion, with a focus on cross-disciplinary synergies that connect early Christian narratives on illness, poverty, and ethics with their contemporary relevance to faith communities and health justice. Congratulations, professor, from your friends at Nutrition Today!

 

BOOTH NAMED NEW DIRECTOR OF THE JEAN MAYER USDA HUMAN NUTRITION RESEARCH CENTER ON AGING AT TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Sarah Booth, vitamin K researchers and previous associate director, was selected as new leader of the country's largest research center on nutrition and healthy aging. Booth has served as interim director for the past 15 months and had served as the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging's (HNRCA's) associate director since 2009. The HNRCA at Tufts is 1 of only 6 human nutrition research centers in the United States supported by the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Agricultural Research Service and the largest nutrition center in the country focused on aging.

 

In addition to her role as director of the HNRCA, Dr Booth will continue to serve as senior scientist and director of the HNRCA's Vitamin K Laboratory. Booth's main scientific interests include the absorption, transport, and metabolism of vitamin K and the role of its metabolism in the prevention of chronic disease, particularly with respect to bone and joint health. She uses research from laboratory studies and human clinical trials to develop an evidence base toward the possibility of setting an estimated average requirement of vitamin K for adults. Booth earned her PhD in nutrition at McGill University and is a member of the American Society for Nutrition. In her new role, Booth succeeds Simin Nikbin Meydani, DVM, PhD, who became vice provost for research at Tufts. In addition to her extensive work in the fields of nutrition and aging at the HNRCA, Booth has a longstanding affiliation with Tufts and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. She will retain her faculty role as professor at the Friedman School at Tufts.

 

IN MEMORIAM

Helen Guthrie, PhD

 

Nutrition Today mourns the loss of our former editor, Helen Guthrie, who served for 40 years as a Penn State faculty member, including 14 years as head of the Penn State nutrition department. She passed away at age 92 years. Guthrie was professor emerita of nutrition at Penn State. When she retired in 1992, an endowed chair in the Department of Nutritional Sciences was created and named in her honor. Her research interests in infant nutrition, nutrition education, nutritional assessment, and international nutrition were reported in more than 100 publications. She authored 7 editions of a college textbook, Introductory Nutrition, and coauthored the book, Human Nutrition. She also served on many university and professional committees, including the Food and Nutrition Board and the Recommended Dietary Allowances Committee of the National Academy of Sciences. Guthrie received many honors in her career, including the Borden Award in human nutrition research from the American Home Economics Association, the Elvejhem Award for Public Service from the American Institute of Nutrition, and the Atwater Award from the US Department of Agriculture. She was a distinguished alumna of the College of Human Ecology at Michigan State University and a recipient of the Research Career Award from the College of Health and Human Development at Penn State. Her family will have a celebration of Guthrie's life in the summer of 2018, at a date to be determined. All of those who knew Helen Guthrie could only wonder at her ability to balance her work, raising and enjoying her wonderful family, and her many efforts to strengthen the nutrition community.

  
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Helen Guthrie's memorial service will be on June 24th (from 1:00 to 2:30) at the Happy Valley Winery in State College Pennsylvania.

 

A COLLEAGUE RECALLS ANN GRANDJEAN EDD'S LIFE

Nutrition Today reported with sadness the death of Ann Grandjean, PhD, in our last issue. Dr Kristi Reimers of Conagra Foods, who worked closely with Ann, provided us some recollections of this remarkable woman from a more personal standpoint. "Ann was a Renaissance woman-successful nutritionist, businesswoman, advisor, mother, and an advocate for those who sought her advice and needed someone to look out for them. Although she was an advocate for women, she was too busy to be concerned about glass ceilings for women, maybe because she had broken so many ceilings over the years without looking to see if they existed. She was the first nutrition consultant to the US Olympic Committee, as the first female director of the Center for Human Nutrition, and as the founder of the International Center for Sports Nutrition in Omaha, Nebraska. She was one of the first nutritionists to explore and refute many of the myths about eating that are so rife in sports nutrition. She was a superb teacher, mentor, and advocate who encouraged the many men and women who sought her advice to pursue advanced degrees; reach, stretch, or change their career paths; and to find what best suited them. She was an ardent sports fan and ardent Texan who loved to tell jokes, insisted on driving only American cars, and who was always authentic. The world is wiser but a little sadder with Ann's passing, and we all miss her greatly."

 

Nutrition Today thanks Kristi for expressing so well what made Ann Grandjean such a wonderful human being.