Human Nutrition Research Group
It has been said that we are what we eat. If this is true, Dietitian Sheryl Aguilar and Nurse Janet Bergeson want to be key players in helping others lead healthier and more productive lives. As members of the Human Nutrition Research Group at USU’s Center for Advanced Nutrition, they work in concert with the Center’s dedicated researchers to explore ways to prevent common diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and cancer.
Janet and Sheryl work closely with the wonderful research volunteers, managing and assessing their daily progress as they participate in clinical feeding trials. When Sheryl’s team of nutritionists make incremental adjustments in the diets of our research volunteers, Janet’s qualified team members busily collect clinical data to measure the impact of the adjustments on each individual.
Both Janet and Sheryl say they feel incredibly lucky to be part of a new generation of innovative research at USU while at the same time living in an area surrounded by natural beauty and wonderful people.
Lots of Personal Care!
Clinic personnel carefully pre-screen and monitor each participant throughout the duration of the studies. Blood pressure is just one of the readings taken by Clinic Assistant EvaAnne Keller (CNA).
Great Kitchen --
Excellent Staff!
Metabolic kitchen staff methodically weigh and measure ingredients to prepare foods to match the specifications of each study.
Research Dietitian Sheryl Aguilar (right) and Chailyn Nelson, RD, oversee food preparation and service.
Visiting Researcher and Physician
Collaborates on Obesity
Dr. Junfeng He is a researcher and a physician of Traditional Chinese Medicine working with CAN to exchange nutrition research techniques focusing on treating obesity
The Center for Advanced Nutrition is excited to welcome Dr. Junfeng He as a visiting scholar from China for a one-year period. He brings, among other things, experience in immunohistochemistry and electrophysiology.
He received an award from the China Association of Chinese Medicine’s Science and Technology Progress Prize for his “Research on the effects of acupuncture at acupoints in Foot-Yangming-Meridian to the Stomach” project in 2007, the same year he received the “Young Excellent Teacher of Hunan Province Award”. He recently participated in a science project entitled “Establishment of Rat Bronchitis Model TCM’s Deficiency of Kidney and Spleen”. His visit to USU is sponsored by a grant from the China Scholarship Council. (more)
