Barbara Gower is Professor and Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Nutrition Sciences, and serves as Director of the Metabolism Core for the Nutrition Obesity Research Center and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and the Human Physiology Core for the Diabetes Research Center. Her research focus is on the interplay between diet, endocrinology, and metabolism and their relation to chronic metabolic disease, with expertise in evaluation of body composition, body fat distri...
Barbara Gower is Professor and Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Nutrition Sciences, and serves as Director of the Metabolism Core for the Nutrition Obesity Research Center and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and the Human Physiology Core for the Diabetes Research Center. Her research focus is on the interplay between diet, endocrinology, and metabolism and their relation to chronic metabolic disease, with expertise in evaluation of body composition, body fat distri...
Brenda Bertrand was a scholarship track and cross country runner and earned her undergraduate degree in Nutrition from Auburn University. She completed a Dietetic Internship and earned a Master of Science degree in Clinical Nutrition from UAB, and PhD in Nutrition from Auburn. She completed a Doctoral Internship at the Children’s Seashore House (Philadelphia, PA). Her dissertation research assessed changes in energy expenditure and dietary intake among infants and young children with sickle cell...
Dr. Piyathilake is a tenured Professor of the Department of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and a Senior Scientist in the UAB’s NIH-funded Clinical Nutrition Research Center (CNRC), Comprehensive Cancer Center (UABCCC) and the Minority Health Research Center (MHRC). She trained as a Dental Surgeon in Sri-Lanka and then completed her Master’s degree in international health and a PhD degree in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in th...
Dr. Garvey is Professor of Medicine in the Department of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He obtained his MD degree, cum laude, from St. Louis University in 1978, and completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Barnes Hospital, Washington University, in 1981. He then was a clinical fellow in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. He subsequently held facul...
Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, PhD, RD is Professor and Webb Endowed Chair of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Demark-Wahnefried received her baccalaureate degree in Nutritional Science and Biochemistry from the University of Michigan and then completed a coordinated master’s degree – dietetic internship through the VA Texas Medical Center, Texas Women’s University and Baylor College of Medicine. She completed her doctoral degree in Nutritional Science from Syr...
Dr. Goss is an Assistant Professor of Nutrition Sciences at UAB, a Register Dietitian, and an early career investigator with expertise in conducting randomized clinical trials to examine the effects of diet quality and macronutrient composition on risk factors of chronic metabolic diseases such as obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and type 2 diabetes. The goal of her research is to identify effective, sustainable, and non-invasive dietary means of preventing and reversing dise...
Barbara Gower is Professor and Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Nutrition Sciences, and serves as Director of the Metabolism Core for the Nutrition Obesity Research Center and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and the Human Physiology Core for the Diabetes Research Center. Her research focus is on the interplay between diet, endocrinology, and metabolism and their relation to chronic metabolic disease, with expertise in evaluation of body composition, body fat distri...
Brenda Bertrand was a scholarship track and cross country runner and earned her undergraduate degree in Nutrition from Auburn University. She completed a Dietetic Internship and earned a Master of Science degree in Clinical Nutrition from UAB, and PhD in Nutrition from Auburn. She completed a Doctoral Internship at the Children’s Seashore House (Philadelphia, PA). Her dissertation research assessed changes in energy expenditure and dietary intake among infants and young children with sickle cell...
Dr. Worthington is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences. Her research focuses on the role of modifiable prenatal and early postnatal maternal factors (e.g., weight gain, diet, physical activity) on short- and long-term maternal health and on the developmental origins of childhood obesity and cardiometabolic disease. Dr. Worthington is interested in the development and evaluation of novel lifestyle interventions for cardiometabolic health promotion during critical life p...
Carleton Rivers is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences, and serves as Internship Director for the M.S. in Nutrition Sciences, Clinical Track/Dietetic Internship. Carleton earned her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics from Samford University, and her Master of Science in Nutrition Sciences from UAB. Previously, she worked with the UAB/Lakeshore Research Collaborative and served as the project coordinator and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) for numero...
Dr. Piyathilake is a tenured Professor of the Department of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and a Senior Scientist in the UAB’s NIH-funded Clinical Nutrition Research Center (CNRC), Comprehensive Cancer Center (UABCCC) and the Minority Health Research Center (MHRC). She trained as a Dental Surgeon in Sri-Lanka and then completed her Master’s degree in international health and a PhD degree in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in th...
Dr. Peterson is an internationally recognized researcher in the field of intermittent fasting. Her research focuses on daily intermittent fasting, which is also known as time-restricted eating (TRE). She is the PI of several clinical trials on TRE and serves as a co-investigator or consultant on a handful of other studies on intermittent fasting.. She was the first to test early time-restricted eating (early TRE or eTRE) in humans--a version of TRE that involves eating early in the day to be in ...
Daniel L. Smith Jr., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences at UAB. His research focuses on the interaction of nutrition and metabolism in relationship to aging and disease. Topics include: obesity, calorie restriction, calorie restriction mimetics, brown adipose tissue, ulcerative dermatitis in C57BL/6 mice, and systems biology of aging using budding yeast chronological lifespan.
Douglas “Doug” Moellering, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Health Professions, and Department of Nutrition Sciences. He also serves as the Director for Nutrition Sciences undergraduate programs and specifically for the undergraduate major in Biobehavioral Nutrition and Wellness. He is a past Chairperson of the UAB Faculty Senate Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and the School of Health Professions Academic Affairs Committee. He is also the...
Committed to providing high quality learning experiences to students in face-to-face and online courses. My research embodies this interest in teaching - training students to conduct research in the community setting using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Dr. Plaisance is an Associate Professor of Exercise Physiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, AL. Dr. Plaisance has over 20 years of experience in the fields of Obesity and Metabolism. He is currently Graduate Program Director of the Masters in Exercise Physiology and Undergraduate Honors Program Director.
Scholarship
Published over 300 Refereed Research papers concerning exercise physiology, exercise training, weight loss/weight maintenance, metabolism and insulin sensitivity. Had sustained NIH funding for over 25 years.
Service
Senior Editorial Board JSCR, JSC, and J Phys Ed, reviewer for over 40 medical/biological science journals, coach of RPM Olympic weight Lifting, Consultant National YMCA, Member US Weightlifting Federation's Scientific Services Committee, Schola...
Wyatt has been involved in the field of obesity, weight management and metabolism her entire career and personally struggled with her weight and maintaining a reduced healthy body weight earlier in her life. She is the co-founder and medical director for The State of Slim — a transformative weight loss program that specializes in long-term strategies for weight loss and transforming your life.
Wyatt has more than 20 years of clinical experience in weight reduction using behavioral treat...
Dr. Hill is Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition Sciences in the UAB School of Health Professions. He is one of the world's foremost experts in obesity. For over 40 years he has been conducting research to understand how obesity develops, health consequences of obesity, and strategies to prevent and treat obesity. He has published over 650 peer reviewed papers and multiple reviews and chapters in the area. Dr. Hill has been continuously funded by NIH since 1981 and currently serve...
Dr. José R. Fernández is a Professor and Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Nutrition Sciences. Dr. Fernández obtained his Ph.D. in Biobehavioral Health from Pennsylvania State University, training in genetics of complex traits under the advisory of Dr. Gerald McClearn and working with the three most commonly used models for genetic research: fruit flies, mice, and humans. He continued his academic training at the New York Obesity Research Center at Columbia University as a post-docto...
Professional Summary: Dr. Norian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She is also jointly affiliated with the UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center. Prior to joining UAB in 2015, Dr. Norian performed her graduate work at The University of Iowa in the laboratory of Dr. Gary Koretzky, where she studied T cell signal transduction. She then performed her post-doctoral traini...
Dr. Maria De Luca obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Calabria (Italy) working on the study of human genetic variation using high variable DNA markers. During that time she was awarded a European Union Mobility Program fellowship to work in the laboratory of Dr. Julia Bodmer at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London. The goal of the project was to develop a DNA method to discriminate among HLA alleles and apply it to the study of the genetic history of European populations. Dr. De Luc...
Dr. Chandler-Laney is an Associate Professor and Director of the PhD program in the Department of Nutrition Sciences. Her research focuses on elucidating the biobehavioral mechanisms that underlie the development of pediatric obesity, with a particular emphasis on understanding the role of the in utero environment in programming children's risk for obesity and cardiometabolic disease. This research involves studies of children, infants, and pregnant women. Methodologies include the assessment of...
Pi-Ling Chang, PhD is an Associate Professor of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Chang received her baccalaureate degree in Natural Sciences and Master’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Chicago. After serving as an instructor in the Department of Biochemistry at the King Saud University, Scientific College for Girls in Saudi Arabia for 5 years, she returned to the United States and earned her doctorate degree in Nutrition Sciences under the m...
Tara Harman, MS, RDN is an Instructor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences. Tara earned her undergraduate degree in Nutrition and Dietetics and master's degree in Nutrition Sciences from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. During her master's, Tara researched the effectiveness of case studies as a teaching pedagogy and completed all credentialing requirements to become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. Tara is now a PhD candidate in Health Education and Health Promotion with UAB'...
Dr. Garvey is Professor of Medicine in the Department of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He obtained his MD degree, cum laude, from St. Louis University in 1978, and completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Barnes Hospital, Washington University, in 1981. He then was a clinical fellow in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. He subsequently held facul...
Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, PhD, RD is Professor and Webb Endowed Chair of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Demark-Wahnefried received her baccalaureate degree in Nutritional Science and Biochemistry from the University of Michigan and then completed a coordinated master’s degree – dietetic internship through the VA Texas Medical Center, Texas Women’s University and Baylor College of Medicine. She completed her doctoral degree in Nutritional Science from Syr...
Amanda L. Willig, PhD, RD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine. She received an undergraduate degree in Nutrition and Dietetics and minor in Business Administration from Louisiana Tech University. She then completed her dietetic internship and MS in Nutrition at Virginia Tech University. Dr. Willig earned her PhD in Nutrition Sciences with training in Biostatistics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her current research focuses on nutriti...
Scholarship
My current research is directed towards developing nutritional and behavioral strategies that can reduce the prevalence of metabolic and cardiovascular complications that are associated with type 2 diabetes. I am specifically interested in the mechanistic role through which mitochondrial bioenergetics and redox signaling influence the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and associated comorbidities.
Service
I am an active member of the American College of Sport...
Dr. Baskin is a nationally-renowned health disparities researcher and professor of medicine in the UAB Division of Preventive Medicine. For nearly 20 years, she has led an extensive extramurally-funded research program focused on reducing health disparities in the Deep South among residents of both rural and urban communities and populations across the lifespan. Dr. Baskin’s work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Wood Johnson...
Dr. Baskin is a nationally-renowned health disparities researcher and professor of medicine in the UAB Division of Preventive Medicine. For nearly 20 years, she has led an extensive extramurally-funded research program focused on reducing health disparities in the Deep South among residents of both rural and urban communities and populations across the lifespan. Dr. Baskin’s work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Wood Johnson...
Dr. Buford is a Professor in the UAB Department of Medicine [Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics & Palliative Care] and the Department of Nutrition Sciences. He also serves as Director for the UAB Center for Exercise Medicine and Co-Director of the NIH-funded Nathan Shock Center for the Basic Biology of Aging, and he is an investigator in the VA Medical Center's Birmingham/Atlanta Geriatric, Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC). Dr. Buford obtained his doctoral degree in Exercise, N...
