Movers and Shakers
Nutrition Today Editorial Board Member Named Fulbright Scholar
Nadine Sahyoun, PhD, RD, editorial board member of Nutrition Today and Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Maryland, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant in Nutrition. She will spend 1 academic year at the American University of Beirut's Department of Nutrition and Food Science providing technical expertise to an ongoing national survey of the Lebanese population. The survey is investigating the prevalence of risk factors of noncommunicable disease and their determinants. Its goals are to develop programmatic interventions to improve Lebanese's health and well-being and decrease the incidence of morbidity from noncommunicable disease and early mortality. Nadine will also contribute to the teaching program of undergraduate and graduate students in nutrition. Congratulations on this honor Nadine, we will miss you!
Greenwood Named to Lead University of Hawaii
Dr M. R. C. Greenwood, noted nutrition scientist and chancellor emerita of the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been named president of the University of Hawai'i System. A nationally and internationally known expert on obesity and diabetes, she is also considered a national leader on science and technology policy and an expert on higher education policy issues. Greenwood is currently director of the Foods for Health Initiative, chair of the Graduate Group in Nutritional Biology, and distinguished professor of nutrition and internal medicine at the University of California, Davis. She also holds an appointment as adjunct professor of public health and nutrition at the University of California, Berkeley. She previously served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs for the University of California system, the second highest position in the 10-campus system. Congratulations M.R.C.!
ASPEN Names New Leader
The American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) announced that Stephen A. McClave, MD, has been appointed president. McClave is currently director of Clinical Nutrition at the University of Louisville and medical director for the National and Louisville Metro Ski Patrol. An ASPEN board member since 2005, McClave has fulfilled a variety of duties including chairman of the Medical Practice Section and member of the Clinical Nutrition Week program committee. McClave's earlier experience includes acting chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Louisville's School of Medicine, medical director of Gastroenterology and Clinical Nutrition at Kindred Hospital in Louisville, and assistant director of the emergency room at Georgetown Memorial Hospital in South Carolina. He is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and Ohio State University.
Hamburg Confirmed as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration
Dr Margaret A. Hamburg has been confirmed by the full US Senate to serve as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. She graduated from Harvard Medical School, conducted research on neuroscience at Rockefeller University in New York and on neuropharmacology at the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Mental Health and served in the National Institutes of Health Offices of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and served as the commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Dr Hamburg comes to the Food and Drug Administration from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, which is dedicated to reducing the threat to public safety from nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. She is widely respected for her expertise in community health, biodefense, and nuclear, biological, and chemical preparedness. Her expertise is valuable for problems, such as combating food-borne illness, cooperating with other agencies to address the new flu outbreak and drug-resistant diseases, and protecting our food and drug supplies.
Pino Named Deputy USDA Administrator
Lisa Pino has been named as deputy administrator for US Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service. She most recently served as director of public affairs for the International Institute of the Americas College in Phoenix, Arizona, and has also worked with the Florence Immigrant Rights and Refugee Project as well as the Community Legal Services Farmworker Unit in rural Arizona. Pino received her BA, MA, and JD from Arizona State University and is a member of the Arizona State Bar Association. In 2008, she completed Harvard University's Executive Public Leadership Program as a National Hispana Leadership Institute Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government and The White House Project program in New York.
In Memoriam
D. M. Hegsted, Famed Nutrition Scientist, Dies at 95
David Mark Hegsted, PhD, an eminent nutrition scientist and one of the few nutritionists who were members of the National Academy of Sciences, passed away in June 2009.
Dr Hegsted was born in Idaho in 1914, studied at the University of Idaho, and received his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He was one of the first 2 professors of nutrition appointed in 1942 at the Harvard School of Public Health and had a long and distinguished career there until 1978, when he left Boston for Washington, District of Columbia. He authored hundreds of scientific papers, traveled all over the world, and received many awards from colleagues in his field. In a now-classic experiment, Hegsted's research demonstrated the effects of specific dietary fats and cholesterol on serum cholesterol levels. His studies of calcium, iron, and protein broadened the understanding of dietary requirements to promote good health.
During the Carter administration, Hegsted spearheaded the concepts and wrote many of the documents explaining the rationale for the US Dietary Goals. He was recruited to serve as the administrator of the US Department of Agriculture's Center for Human Nutrition in Washington, District of Columbia; directed research; assisted in the founding of human nutrition research centers within the department; and played a critical role in the publication of the first "Dietary Guidelines for Americans."
Dr Hegsted worked hard but also found time to enjoy the finer things of life, including the local ball club. He was a faithful and lifelong follower of the Boston Red Sox, especially after he and his wife lived in the same apartment house during the 1940s with many of the Red Sox ballplayers whom they befriended.
Dr Hegsted's family and his many students and colleagues knew him to be a good and gracious as well as brilliant and intellectually humble man who is remembered fondly by all who knew him. He is survived by his son, Eric Hegsted and his family in the Yukon, his granddaughter Camilla Franck, and great granddaughter Sarah Hespe of New York City. His wife, Maxine, and his daughter, Christina, predeceased him.
Shelia (Bingham) Rodwell, PhD, Dies Shortly After Being Awarded the Order of the British Empire
Nutrition Today mourns the recent death of Sheila Bingham Rodwell, PhD, the distinguished British nutritionist. At her death, she served as director of the Medical Research Centre for Nutrition in Cancer Epidemiology Prevention and Survival at the University of Cambridge. Professor Bingham was also head of the Diet and Cancer Group of the Medical Research Council Dunn Human Nutrition Unit in Cambridge and a principal investigator of the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer in Norfolk study. She was elected as a fellow of the British Academy of Medical Sciences in 2001 for her work on nutritional epidemiology. She became an honorary professor of the University of Cambridge in 2006 for her work on nutritional epidemiology. Her experimental work on the physiological effects of dietary fiber and her studies on the health effects of meat were highly regarded, as was her work on nutritional methodology. Dr Bingham was awarded the Order of the British Empire for services to healthcare in June 2009 and died a few days later. Dr Bingham was recognized for her work in developing new biomarkers of dietary intake and disease risk and for her work examining the link between diet and genetic and environmental factors in later-onset cancer by means of epidemiological studies. Her intervention studies were also well regarded. She was also a splendid teacher and mentor who took a great interest in her colleagues and many students. These included Nutrition Today editorial board members, Drs Aedin Cassidy and Nicola McKeown.