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Biographical Sketches of Panel Members
LAWRENCE J. APPEL, M.D., M.P.H. (Chair) is a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Concurrently, he holds adjunct appointments in the Departments of Epidemiology and of International Health (Human Nutrition Division) of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. He received his M.D. from the New York University School of Medicine and his M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Appel is internationally recognized for his clinical research on the prevention of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease, through both pharmacological and nonpharmacological approaches. His research has focused on the effects of diet on blood pressure: specifically, the effects of a reduced sodium intake, increased potassium intake, weight loss, and dietary patterns. Over his career, he has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Appel has been actively involved in several policy-making committees, including the U.S. 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, the Nutrition Committee of the American Heart Association, the IOM Committee on Evaluating Coverage of Nutrition Services for the Medicare Population, and the IOM Committee on Evaluation of the Evolving Science for Dietary Supplements.
DAVID H. BAKER, Ph.D., is a professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He received his Ph.D. in nutrition from the University of Illinois. He has published over 450 peer-reviewed articles on the metabolism and requirements of various nutrients, including sulfur amino acids and sulfate. He is a member
of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences (ASNS), the American Society of Animal Science, and the Poultry Science Association. He has served on the editorial boards for the Journal of Nutrition, Journal of Animal Science, Poultry Science, and Nutrition Reviews. Dr. Baker served on the National Research Council’s Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources (BANR) as well as on BANR’s Subcommittees on Swine Nutrition, Bioavailability of Nutrients, and Cat Nutrition. He was named a University Scholar at Illinois in 1986, and has received numerous research awards, including the ASNS Borden Award and the Dannon Mentoring Award. He is currently completing a 4-year term on the Board of Directors of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB).
ODED BAR-OR, M.D., is a professor of pediatrics and director of the Children’s Exercise and Nutrition Centre at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He received his M.D. from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, and completed 4 years of research training at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Bar-Or’s research interests include the effects of climate, heat, cold, and exercise on children’s response to fluid and electrolyte replenishment. He was founder and director of the Department of Research and Sports Medicine at the Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport in Israel until assuming his current position in Canada. He has served as president of the Canadian Association of Sports Sciences and vice president of the American College of Sports Medicine. A major part of his research has focused on dehydration in children who exercise in the heat. Dr. Bar-Or is currently an editorial board member for a number of scientific journals.
KENNETH L. MINAKER, M.D., is chief of the Geriatric Medicine Unit and director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Senior Health Practice. He received his M.D. from the University of Toronto. After completing a Geriatric Fellowship at Harvard Medical School, he directed the Geriatric Research Education Clinical Center of the Veterans Health Service at Harvard University and was associate director of the Beth Israel Hospital’s Clinical Research Center. He has published numerous articles related to physiological changes related to aging and hydration in the elderly. He has served as editor of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences. He has received a number of awards and is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He currently also serves as an associate professor of medicine and Director for Research at Harvard Medical School and its Division on Aging.
R. CURTIS MORRIS, JR., M.D., is a professor of medicine, pediatrics, and radiology at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his M.D. from the University of Texas School of Medicine. Dr. Morris has published numerous scientific articles related to electrolytes, renal function, and hypertension and has testified on the role of dietary electrolytes in health before the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/U.S. Department of Agriculture Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. He is also a member of several professional organizations, including the American Society of Hypertension and the American Society of Nephrology.
LAWRENCE M. RESNICK,* M.D., is an attending physician at the New York Presbyterian Hospital and a professor of medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He is co-executive editor of the American Journal of Hypertension. He received his M.D. from Northwestern University and did post-graduate and fellowship training at the University of Chicago, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, and the Peter Brent Brigham Hospital. He is board certified in internal medicine and in endocrinology and metabolism and was selected as one of “America’s Top Doctors” for 2001–2003. He has authored over 140 scientific papers and chapters. He is a fellow of the American College of Nutrition. His research focuses on the role of various nutrients (e.g., sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium) in the regulation of blood pressure and the onset of hypertension and other chronic diseases.
MICHAEL N. SAWKA, Ph.D., is chief, Thermal and Mountain Medicine Division at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (Natick, MA). He received B.S. and M.S. from East Stroudsburg University, and his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University. Dr. Sawka’s research interests are environmental (heat, cold, altitude) and exercise physiology, fluid and electrolyte balance, and rehabilitation medicine. He has published over 250 scientific papers and a graduate textbook on environmental physiology. Dr. Sawka is a member of several editorial boards, including those of the American Journal of Physiology, Journal of Applied Physiology, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, and the International Journal of Sports Medicine. He serves on many scientific panels and professional committees and is an adjunct associate professor, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University.
STELLA L. VOLPE, Ph.D., R.D., is an associate professor of nursing and the Miriam Stirl Term Professor in Nutrition at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to her appointment at the University of Pennsylvania, she was an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and director of the Center for Nutrition in Sport and Human Performance at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She received a Ph.D. in nutrition and an M.S. in exercise physiology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and completed her dietetics curriculum at the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Volpe has published a number of research articles, reviews, and book chapters in her research areas of sports nutrition, mineral metabolism and exercise, weight loss, and body composition and has been invited to speak internationally and nationally on her research areas. Dr. Volpe is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and a member of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, the American Society of Clinical Nutrition, and the American Dietetic Association. Dr. Volpe was president of the New England American College of Sports Medicine from 2002 to 2003.
MYRON H. WEINBERGER, M.D., is a professor of medicine and director of the Hypertension Research Center at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He received his M.D. from the Indiana University School of Medicine and specializes in internal medicine and hypertension. In addition to serving on numerous scientific review committees, Dr. Weinberger is a member of several editorial boards, including those of Hypertension and Journal of the American College of Nutrition. He has published over 200 scientific articles on hypertension, many of which relate to the roles of sodium and/or potassium. Dr. Weinberger received the Robert Tigerstedt Award from the American Society of Hypertension and the Page-Bradley Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council for High Blood Pressure Research of the American Heart Association for his research in hypertension.
PAUL K. WHELTON, M.D., M.Sc., is Senior Vice President for Health Sciences at Tulane University and a professor both of epidemiology at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and of medicine at the Tulane University School of Medicine. He was previously dean of the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and of the School of Medicine, both at Tulane University. Prior to that, he was director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research; the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Clinical Research Center; and the Program in
Clinical Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. He earned his M.D. from the National University of Ireland and a master’s in epidemiology from the University of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is an internationally recognized expert in the epidemiology, prevention, and treatment of cardiovascular and renal diseases. He has conducted a series of major research studies on hypertension prevention and management. Dr. Whelton has served as a consultant to many national and international health agencies and governments.