E
Biographical Sketches of Committee Members
Richard J. Deckelbaum, M.D. (chair), is the Robert R. Williams Professor of Nutrition, a professor of pediatrics, and director of the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons. His expertise and research interests include regulatory mechanisms for cell-lipid particle interaction and cell cholesterol and triglyceride metabolism. He also coordinates programs related to the effects of varying nutrient intakes on expression of cardiovascular risk factors in children of different genetic backgrounds and the impact of nutritional status on expression of enteric infections. Dr. Deckelbaum received his M.D. from McGill University. He was a member of the U.S. Department of Agriculture/ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ 2000 Dietary Guideline Advisory Committee, chair of the March of Dimes Task Force on Nutrition and Optimal Health, and is a member of the National Institutes of Health Nutrition Study Section.
Linda Adair, Ph.D., is a professor of nutrition at the School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and fellow of the Carolina Population Center. Her research interests include the determinants of early childhood feeding and growth patterns and obesity in childhood and adolescence. She has designed and implemented population-based health, demographic, and nutrition surveys with a special emphasis on longitudinal modeling. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Adair is a member of the Society for International Nutrition Research and the American Society for Nutritional Sciences.
Mark Appelbaum, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, San Diego. His research interests involve the application of quantitative and data analytic methods to a wide variety of problems in psychology and the behavioral sciences. Of particular interest to him are the development of quantitative methods for the study of small samples for dealing with problems of variability and for understanding growth and change. Dr. Appelbaum also deals with problems of data structure and analysis in large, multisite studies. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.
George L. Baker, M.D., retired in 1999 from Mead Johnson Nutritionals where he was vice president and medical director. In this role he provided regulatory, technical, and medical oversight for the launch of new ingredients for infant formulas and drugs. Prior to joining Mead Johnson in 1983, Dr. Baker was associate dean of the College of Medicine and a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Iowa. Dr. Baker holds an A.B. and an M.D. from the University of Missouri and completed his pediatric residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
Susan S. Baker, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of pediatrics at the State University of New York at Buffalo and codirector of the Digestive Diseases and Nutrition Center at Children’s Hospital of Buffalo. Her research interests are in pediatrics, general nutrition, and the barrier function of the gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Baker received her M.D. from Temple University School of Medicine and her Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She recently completed service as chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition and chair of the American Board of Pediatrics Gastroenterology Sub Board. Presently, Dr. Baker is chair of the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition Patient Care Committee.
Cheston M. Berlin Jr., M.D., is a university professor of pediatrics and professor of pharmacology at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Penn State Children’s Hospital. His expertise and research interests are in pediatric nutrition, lactation, breastfeeding, drugs in human milk, failure to thrive, phenylketonuria, Tourette syndrome, drugs and nutrition, and caffeine. Dr. Berlin received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, and the American Society for Clinical Nutrition and is chair of the U.S. Pharmacopeia Immunizing Agents Expert Committee.
William C. Franke, Ph.D., is an associate director of the Center for Advanced Food Technology at Rutgers University. He provides technical expertise in the area of product development and food regulations, especially as related to nutraceuticals, and develops new opportunities for technology transfer to small and large companies. He also contributes to administration, marketing, and strategic planning. Previously he spent 28 years at Lipton/ Unilever, where he served in a number of senior management positions in product development, quality assurance, and regulatory affairs. Most recently he was Vice President for Scientific and Regulatory Affairs with Unilever United States. He is a member of the boards of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the Institute of Food Technologists Foundation.
Michael K. Georgieff, M.D., is a professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Child Development and codirector of the Center for Neurobehavioral Development at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. His expertise and research interests are in fetal and neonatal nutrition and neurodevelopment, with special emphasis on the effect of fetal/ neonatal iron nutrition on brain development and neurocognitive function and the effect of illness on neonatal protein-energy metabolism. Dr. Georgieff received his M.D. from the Washington University Medical School. He is a member of the Perinatal Research Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Society for Pediatric Research, and the American Pediatric Society.
James M. Ntambi, Ph.D., is the Steenbock Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His expertise and research
interests are in the genetic regulation of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. Dr. Ntambi’s experimental work on the genetic regulation of the stearoyl-CoA desaturase enzyme has recently led to many new insights into the importance of this enzyme in metabolism and in disease states, such as obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and cancer. His pioneering work will help to explain the complex aspects of the “Metabolic Syndrome” and to advance our understanding of nutrient-gene interactions. Dr. Ntambi serves on several university committees and National Institute of Health study sections and is a member of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s Board of Scientific Counselors. Dr. Ntambi received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and is a member of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences.
Theodore D. Wachs, Ph.D., is a professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University. His research interests are in two major areas: the role of early physical and social environments upon subsequent development and the relation of chronic, mild nutritional deficits to infant and toddler cognition, temperament, and parent-child relations. Dr. Wachs received his B.A. from Muhlenberg College and his M.S. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from George Peabody College. He is a member of the Society for Research in Child Development and the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development and is a fellow of the American Psychological Association.