Movers and Shakers
New JPEN Editor-in-Chief
The Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition announces the new incoming Editor-in-Chief, Dr Paul Wischmeyer as Dr Charles W. Van Way's term as JPEN Editor-in-Chief comes to an end this summer. Dr Wischmeyer is from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. His expertise is in anesthesiology, critical care, pediatrics, and nutritional pharmacology. For the first 2 years of his tenure, Dr Wischmeyer will be assisted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Dr Kenneth Kudsk, who will serve as Deputy Editor-in-Chief. The JPEN staff sends its best wishes to Dr Van Way and welcomes Drs Wischmeyer and Kudsk to the journal.
ASPEN Names New Committee Chairs
The American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition has appointed the following committee chairs for the 2007-2008 program year, which begins June 1, 2007.
* Abstract Review Committee: David Driscoll, PhD, RPh
* Clinical Guidelines Committee: Doug Seidner, MD, CNSP
* Clinical Nutrition Week Program Committee: John Siepler, PharmD, BCNSP; Co-chair: Cindy Hamilton, MS, RD, CNSD
* Clinical Practice Committee (formerly the Standards Committee): Beverly Holcombe, PharmD, BCNSP
* Education & Professional Development Committee: Mark Corkins, MD, CNSP
* Interdisciplinary Review Course Committee: Todd Mattox, PharmD, BCNSP
* New Product Development Think Tank: David Seres, MD, CNSP
* Nutrition Practice Poster Committee: Susan Brantley, MS, RD, LDN, CNSD
* Research Committee: Charlene Compher, PhD, RD, CNSD, FADA
* Self-Assessment Committee: Ginger Langley, PharmD, BCNSP, BCPS
American Society of Nutrition (ASN) Announces 2006 Fellows
Congratulations are in order for the 2007 ASN Fellows, including Nutrition Today Editorial Advisory Board Members Robert Russell, MD, and Suzanne Murphy, PhD, who were honored at a special luncheon in Washington. This year's roster includes the following:
G. Harvey Anderson, PhD, Professor of Nutritional Sciences, Physiology, and Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Director of the University Industry Program in Food Safety, Nutrition and Regulatory Affairs, University of Toronto. Dr Anderson's own research interests and activities in Toronto initially focused on amino acids and protein. More recent interests turned to the regulatory mechanisms influencing food intake.
Dennis M. Bier, MD, Professor of Pediatrics; Chief, Nutrition Section, Department of Pediatrics; and Director, USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine; and newly appointed Editor-in-Chief of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. As Director of the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor, Dr Bier has been a prominent leader of the US Nutrition Societies. As co-president of ASN, he played a vital role in the fusion of the ASCN and the ASNS into a single, well-focused organization. Dr Bier is Chairman of the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, National Academies of Sciences. Previously, he has served on this board from 1990 to 1996.
Claude Bouchard, PhD, Executive Director, George A. Bray Chair in Nutrition and Director of Human Genomics Laboratory, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge.
Dr Bouchard is a pioneer and leader in the field of genetics of obesity. At the top of his many highly regarded studies are the overfeeding and underfeeding studies in identical twins. Dr Bouchard has been president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) and is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. He has just completed his term as president of the International Association for the Study of Obesity.
William P. Flatt, PhD, the D.W. Brooks Distinguished Professor, Department of Animal & Dairy Science and Department of Foods & Nutrition; Dean and Coordinator, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, The University of Georgia, Athens. Retired, Professor Emeritus. Dr Flatt is selected as a Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition for his creative and innovative contributions to the development of the field of nutritional energetics or energy metabolism, for his leadership in formulating the Nemilk feeding system and for the more recent, penetrating studies of energy balance and obesity and leptin actions he and his colleagues have reported.
Rosalind Susan Gibson, PhD, Research Professor, Department of Human Nutrition, University of Otago. Dr Gibson is selected as Fellow for her internationally recognized contributions to micronutrient nutrition, originally in zinc research and then extending to the other minerals and the antagonistic role of phytates; her research in developing effective micronutrient interventions; and her role in seeing that these interventions were applied in public nutrition.
Suzanne P. Murphy, PhD, RD, Professor, Epidemiology Program, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii and Director, Nutrition Support Shared Resources, University of Hawaii. Dr Murphy is recognized, initially, for her work in the 3-country longitudinal study in Egypt, Kenya, and Mexico (1984), "Functional Effects of Mild-Moderate Energy Malnutrition." Along with her international work, she has been playing a very active role in important nutrition research and dietary improvement in the United States. Her most notable contributions have been in serving as the chair of the WIC Committee to Revise the Food Packages. Dr Murphy's current interests include a multicenter study of dietary supplement use, types, and safety. The intake of these supplements is widespread in the United States.
Janet King, PhD, Senior Scientist and Director of the Childhood Obesity Program, Children's Hospital of Oakland Research Institute (CHORI); Professor Emerita, Department of Nutrition, University of California at Davis; Professor Emerita, Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, University of California at Berkeley. Dr King's research focuses on metabolic adjustments to changes in nutrient intakes in humans; she is especially interested in metabolism and nutrient utilization of pregnant and lactating women.
Robert Russell, MD, Director, USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University. Dr Russell is a world leader in nutrition science as a physician-scientist who has contributed most to our understanding of Vitamin A and carotenoid nutrition, and the translation of that understanding to sound nutrition policy. The scope of his work is remarkably broad, from the clinical observations of a highly engaged physician to the molecular methods elucidating metabolic pathways and signal transduction biology. Currently, he is Editor-in-Chief of Nutrition Reviews.
Nestle Nutrition Institute Identifies 7-Tier Strategy for Reducing Disease-Related Malnutrition
The Nestle Nutrition Institute has announced a 7-tier strategy for reducing disease-related malnutrition in hospitalized and community patients. These innovative proposals were developed at a Nestle Nutrition Institute-sponsored multidisciplinary expert workshop, held in Peebles, Scotland on March 25-28, 2007, where 45 of the world's leading nutrition stakeholders, representing 15 countries, met to discuss the global malnutrition epidemic.
The Nestle Nutrition Institute's 7-tier strategy includes the following:
* Add nutrition education to the core medical school curriculum.
* Educate hospital physicians and other allied health providers about the impact of undernutrition on patient morbidity and mortality.
* Position nutrition as a recognized medical specialty in its own right.
* Recognize that undernutrition is often a contributing factor to the disease process (not merely a consequence).
* Address nutrition as part of routine disease management.
* Develop clear, universal definitions for "malnutrition" and "undernutrition."
* Create clinical and regulatory partnerships to enable governments and clinicians to work together to create modern, practical nutrition policies.
Malnutrition, an imbalance of energy, protein, and other nutrients, has been shown to negatively affect clinical outcomes by increasing hospital length of stay, patient recovery time, and use of medical resources. A number of European and US studies have shown that malnutrition affects as many as 55% of hospitalized patients older than 65 years and over 10% of the elderly general population.2,3 Malnutrition is a burden to healthcare systems as well as individuals and their carers. The core elements of the Nestle Nutrition Institute 7-tier strategy is echoed by a report from the European Nutrition for Health Alliance, an expert group that includes 9 nongovernmental nutrition-related organizations. This Europe-wide consensus report, entitled From Malnutrition to Wellnutrition: Policy to Practice, urges policymakers to recognize the benefits of treating malnutrition in hospitalized patients and has recently been submitted to the 27 EU Ministers for Health, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the World Health Organization, and the Council of Europe.