Present Knowledge in Nutrition

Bernadette P. Marriott holds the position of Professor, and Nutrition Section Director, Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Bernadette has 35 years of experience in the fields of nutrition, psychology, and comparative medicine with expertise in diet, nutrition and chronic disease. Dr. Marriott has worked in scientific and administration positions in the federal government, the National Academies, universities, and foundations. She was founding director of the Office of Dietary Supplements, NIH and Deputy Director, Food and Nutrition Board, NAS. Her research has focused on both human and animal nutrition and related behavioral studies (in humans: diet and health research, and food labeling; in animals: nonhuman primate nutrition and behavioral ecology). She is currently leading or has recently led research projects funded by the Army, DoD, NSF, NIH, USDA, industry, and foundations. Bernadette Marriott has a BSc in biology/immunology from Bucknell University (1970), a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland (1976) and postgraduate training in trace mineral nutrition, comparative medicine, and advanced statistics. She has published extensively, is on a number of national committees and university scientific advisory boards, and is a frequent speaker on diet, dietary supplements and health. In 2016 Dr. Marriott was inducted as a Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition.

Diane F. Birt is Distinguished Professor in Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University. She has B.S. degrees in Home Economics and Chemistry from Whittier College (1971) and a Ph.D. in Nutrition from Purdue University (1975). Her expertise is in diet and cancer prevention and plant components and health promotion. She was at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (1976-1997) before coming to Chair the department of Food Science and Human Nutrition (1997-2004). Dietary prevention of cancer has been a long-standing interest in the Birt laboratory. More recent research has focused on the prevention of colon cancer by slowly digested maize starches using cell culture and animal models that reflect particular genetic changes that are important in human colon cancer development. She was on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Toxicology Program (US Department of Health) and the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In 2015 Dr. Birt was inducted as a Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition and in 2016 she was inducted as a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Virginia Stallings is a Professor of Pediatrics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and is the recipient of the Jean A Cortner Endowed Chair in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. She holds a BS in Nutrition and Food from Auburn University, MS in Nutrition and Biochemistry from Cornell University, and MD from the University of Alabama Birmingham. Her general pediatric residency was completed at the University of Virginia followed by a subspecialty fellowship in nutrition at the Hospital for Sick Children. Over her career at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia she contributed to clinical care, fellow and faculty training and clinical and translational research in the abnormalities of growth, nutritional status and health of children with chronic diseases and in those in good health. She has served on many National Academy of Sciences committees to advise on child health, nutrition and federal nutrition programs and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. The American Academy of Pediatrics and American Society for Nutrition have recognized her efforts with awards for science, mentoring, and service.

Allison A. Yates holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of California at Los Angeles in public health and dietetics, a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in nutrition, and is a registered dietitian having completed a dietetic internship at the VA Center in Los Angeles. She served on the faculties of the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Emory University School of Medicine, and was the founding Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her research focused on human protein and energy requirements. In 1994, she was named Director of the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, where, over a 10-year period, she led the expanded approach to establishing human requirements and recommendations for nutrients (RDAs), termed Dietary Reference Intakes for the United States and Canada. She was appointed Director of the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in 2006, and in 2011 became Associate Director for the ARS Beltsville Area region, retiring in 2014. She was inducted as a Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition in 2014.