AWARDS & HONORS

Our faculty, students, and postdoctoral fellows consistently excel in their areas of study and are honored within UAB and at the national and international levels.

James Annesi, PhD

Professor

Dr. Annesi won the 2019 American Psychological Association’s Excellence in Clinical Health Psychology Award from APA Division 38: Society for Health Psychology.

Brenda Bertrand, PhD, RDN

Professor, Program Director, MS in Nutrition Sciences

Dr. Bertrand received the 2019 UAB President's Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Nutrition and Dietetic Educators and Preceptors South Central Region Outstanding Dietetic Educator Award. FACULTY

Barbara Gower, PhD

Professor, Vice Chair for Research

Dr. Gower was awarded the Sam Brown Bridge Builder Award 2019, which honors a UAB faculty or staff member who embodies Dr. Brown’s character and bridgebuilding talents – demonstrating a deep and abiding commitment to collaboration across campus and enhancing the research and teaching activities of the University.

Lyse Norian, PhD

Associate Professor

Dr. Norian was named Co-Director of the new UAB COVID-19 Comorbidities Working Group.

Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, PhD, RD

Professor, Webb Endowed Chair of Nutrition Sciences

Dr. Demark-Wahnefried received the 34th annual Huddleson Award for her article “Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of a Home Vegetable Gardening Intervention among Older Cancer Survivors Shows Feasibility, Satisfaction, and Promise in Improving Vegetable and Fruit Consumption, Reassurance of Worth, and the Trajectory of Central Adiposity.” Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2018;118(4):689-704).

Carleton Rivers, MS, RDN

Assistant Professor, Internship Director, MS in Nutrition Sciences, CT/DI

Ms. Rivers was accepted into the UAB Healthcare Educators Academy, a two-year strategic partnership designed to strengthen educators through mentorship. She was also awarded the 2019 Outstanding Alumni Award from the Samford University School of Public Health.

Drew Sayer, PhD

Assistant Professor

Dr. Sayer was named Chair-Elect of the Obesity Research Interest Section for the American Society for Nutrition.

Daniel Smith, Jr., PhD

Assistant Professor

Dr. Smith was awarded the 2019 Graduate Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentorship for demonstrating exceptional accomplishments as a mentor of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. ■

➤ Visit uab.edu/shp/nutrition/people to learn more about DNS faculty & staff.

PHD & POSTDOCTORAL STUDENTS

Allyn Abadie, MA, LAT, ATC

Ms. Abadie received the National Athletic Trainers' Association Doctoral Grant in June 2020 to investigate ketone utilization following concussion.

Katie Ellison, MS, RDN, LDN

Ms. Ellison received the American Society for Nutrition's Herbalife Nutrition Scholarship. She also received the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship to support her work with the nonprofit Cooking Well program and the Village Market in the East Lake neighborhood of Birmingham, with the Live HealthSmart team of the UAB Grand Challenge, to provide financial discounts on healthy food items labeled as "Live HealthSmart foods."

Valene Garr Barry, MS

In 2019, Ms. Garr Barry was elected president of the UAB Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA), she was awarded the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Research Center’s Graduate Student Innovator Award, and she was selected to participate in the Endocrine Society’s Future Leaders Advancing Research in Endocrinology (FLARE). She was also awarded the UAB President’s Diversity Champion Award for her work as the director of the BLUEprint Connect mentoring program. In September 2020, Valene was awarded the BBVA Compass Mortgage Financial Services Endowed Award from the UAB Alumni Society for academic excellence and leadership.

Maggie Jerome, MS, RD, CNSC

Ms. Jerome received the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Travel Award. In 2020, she received a grant to support her research in preterm infants, Prospective Cohort Study: The effect of protein intake of very preterm infants on subsequent health outcomes, funded by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Nutrition Support Dietetics Practice Group.

Rachel Lomax, MS, RD, LD

Ms. Lomax was awarded a full scholarship to attend the 2019 UNC Nutrition Research Institute’s Nutrigenetics, Nutrigenomics and Precision Nutrition Short Course on the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, NC.

Kelsey Rushing, MS, RDN

Ms. Rushing was awarded the Research Voucher Program Award through the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science in 2019. She completed the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) Associate Teaching Certificate and now teaches Sports Nutrition to undergrad and graduate students. ■

Adele Fowler, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Fowler was selected to present her abstract Influences of Adiposity and Fat Distribution on Insulin Sensitivity by Race/ Ethnicity in US Children at The Obesity Society’s Obesity Week Annual Meeting 2020 (Fowler LA, Fernández JR, Gower BA). She also produced a paper highlighting a novel link between the genetic risk of insulin resistance and limited storage capacity of peripheral adipose tissue in Hispanic-Americans, a finding that sheds light on a potential mechanism contributing to the high prevalence of type 2 diabetes in this population: Fowler LA, Fernández JR, Deemer SE, Gower BA. 2020. Genetic Risk Score Prediction of Leg Fat and Insulin Sensitivity Differs by Race/Ethnicity in Early Pubertal Children. ■