Harvard Clinical Nutrition Research Center

Biomedical Base

Nutritional Epidemiology

Following are the primary investigators of this theme and a brief discussion of their work.

Matthew Gillman

Dr Gillman joins the HCNRC renewal as a new Investigator. He is trained as a pediatrician/internist with an appointment as Associate Professor in the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and in the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Gillman has extensive experience in conducting and analyzing data from epidemiologic studies across the age spectrum. Dr. Gillman’s primary area of investigation is early life prevention of childhood and adult diseases, including obesity. He is the PI of Project Viva, a prospective cohort study of pregnant women and children whose goal is to examine pre- and peri-natal determinants of offspring health. Through Project Viva and other studies, he and his colleagues have published widely on fetal, infant, and childhood origins of obesity, determinants of dietary and physical activity habits, and clinical intervention studies to improve diet and physical activity. Dr. Gillman has chaired, been on planning committees, and/or been an invited speaker at numerous international conferences relating to early origins of adult diseases, including obesity, and was co-chair of the Early Origins of Adult Health Working Group of the National Children’s Study. He is the director of the 3^rd International Congress on Developmental Origins of Health and Adult Disease (formerly Fetal Origins of Adult Disease) to be held in November 2005. He has trained Drs. Else Taveras and Emily Oken who have a Robert Wood Johnson and K23 awardees respectively, are Associate Investigators in the HCNRC renewal and have plans to apply for P/F funding.

Biographical sketch.

Frank Hu

Dr. Hu joins the HNCRC renewal as a new Investigator. His current research is primarily focused on relationships between dietary and lifestyle factors and risk of type 2 diabetes and CVD as well as dietary, biochemical, and genetic determinants of CVD complications among diabetics. This research is largely, although not entirely, based on two large ongoing cohort studies at Harvard: the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals’ Follow-up Study (HPFS). Also, he has been interested in developing methodology for nutritional epidemiology, particularly statistical methods for analyzing repeated dietary measurements and for evaluating dietary patterns. In addition, he is doing research on nutrition, obesity, and cardiovascular risk factors in China. His interest in joining the HCNRC stems from association with other Investigators in our annual nutrition symposium.

Biographical sketch.

Simin Liu

Dr. Liu joins the HNCRC renewal as a new Investigator. His research is at the interface of nutrition and genetics/genomics and focuses on their interplay in affecting major chronic diseases in human populations. His research studies can be broadly classified as follows: 1) Large-scale analytical studies of chronic diseases in selected populations; 2) Analytical studies of national representative samples; 3) Nested case-control studies of genetic and biochemical markers for chronic diseases; 4) Small-scale metabolic trials of diet and metabolic intermediates. By examining large and high-quality prospective cohorts of middle-aged women and men (i.e., the Nurses’ Health Study, the Women’s Health Study, the Physicians’ Health Study), Dr. Liu and his collaborators have studied how dietary, life-course, and genetic factors may influence the development of chronic diseases. Within the common theme of insulin resistance, several specific diet-disease relations have been identified in this effort. Specifically, his group has identified dietary glycemic index and load and intake of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and dietary fiber as significant predictors for future risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease (CHD). In addition, they are currently evaluating potential genetic variants for type 2 diabetes and CHD susceptibility using state-of-the art genotyping technology and statistical methods. One major goal is to understand how nutrients may interact with genetic susceptibilities in determining an individual’s risk, which may help to resolve inconsistent hypotheses and provide an integrated explanation for many associations observed in epidemiological studies.

Biographical sketch forthcoming.

Meir Stampfer

Dr. Stampfer continues an Investigator in the HNCRC renewal. Since the last submission, he has been appointed Chairman of the Department of Epidemiology at HSPH. His research revolves primarily around four major studies. 1) The Nurses’ Health Study, a cohort of 121,700 nurses followed since 1976 with biennial questionnaires. Endpoints of interest include cancer, cardiovascular diseases, fractures, diabetes, and other major health problems. He is a co-investigator on two other cohort studies that have the same design. 2) the Nurses’ Health Study II, a study of 116,680 nurses aged 25-42 in 1989 when the study began. 3) The other is the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, a cohort of 51,000 men begun in 1986. His grant to study the causes of kidney stones is based in these three cohorts. He is also Principal Investigator of two grants to analyze blood samples collected as part of the Physicians’ Health Study Trial of Aspirin and Beta-Carotene; 14,900 blood samples have been stored at -80C since 1982. Using a nested case-control design, the samples are analyzed for a variety of markers of cancer and heart disease risk. Although a wide range of topics are examined in these studies, the major focus is on nutrition. These large cohorts require considerable attention to develop and refine nutritional methods, and make use of a wide array of techniques to evaluate dietary intake. These include food frequency questionnaires, diet records, anthropometry, and biochemical analyses of serum, plasma, red cells, adipose tissue and toenails. These studies investigate a broad range of health outcomes including cancer, cardiovascular disease and their precursors such as polyps, benign breast disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity.

Biographical sketch.


	Harvard Clinical Nutrition Research Center Center Leadership Biomedical Base Nutrition Metablolism Cancer Biology Cellular Biology and Nutrient-Gene Interaction Immunology and Microbiology Lipid Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease AIDS Women's Health Obesity Clinical Investigation Nutritional Epidemiology Core Facilities Pilot Feasibility Projects					Harvard Clinical Nutrition Research Center Biomedical Base Nutritional Epidemiology Following are the primary investigators of this theme and a brief discussion of their work. Matthew Gillman Dr Gillman joins the HCNRC renewal as a new Investigator. He is trained as a pediatrician/internist with an appointment as Associate Professor in the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and in the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Gillman has extensive experience in conducting and analyzing data from epidemiologic studies across the age spectrum. Dr. Gillman’s primary area of investigation is early life prevention of childhood and adult diseases, including obesity. He is the PI of Project Viva, a prospective cohort study of pregnant women and children whose goal is to examine pre- and peri-natal determinants of offspring health. Through Project Viva and other studies, he and his colleagues have published widely on fetal, infant, and childhood origins of obesity, determinants of dietary and physical activity habits, and clinical intervention studies to improve diet and physical activity. Dr. Gillman has chaired, been on planning committees, and/or been an invited speaker at numerous international conferences relating to early origins of adult diseases, including obesity, and was co-chair of the Early Origins of Adult Health Working Group of the National Children’s Study. He is the director of the 3^rd International Congress on Developmental Origins of Health and Adult Disease (formerly Fetal Origins of Adult Disease) to be held in November 2005. He has trained Drs. Else Taveras and Emily Oken who have a Robert Wood Johnson and K23 awardees respectively, are Associate Investigators in the HCNRC renewal and have plans to apply for P/F funding. Biographical sketch. Frank Hu Dr. Hu joins the HNCRC renewal as a new Investigator. His current research is primarily focused on relationships between dietary and lifestyle factors and risk of type 2 diabetes and CVD as well as dietary, biochemical, and genetic determinants of CVD complications among diabetics. This research is largely, although not entirely, based on two large ongoing cohort studies at Harvard: the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals’ Follow-up Study (HPFS). Also, he has been interested in developing methodology for nutritional epidemiology, particularly statistical methods for analyzing repeated dietary measurements and for evaluating dietary patterns. In addition, he is doing research on nutrition, obesity, and cardiovascular risk factors in China. His interest in joining the HCNRC stems from association with other Investigators in our annual nutrition symposium. Biographical sketch. Simin Liu Dr. Liu joins the HNCRC renewal as a new Investigator. His research is at the interface of nutrition and genetics/genomics and focuses on their interplay in affecting major chronic diseases in human populations. His research studies can be broadly classified as follows: 1) Large-scale analytical studies of chronic diseases in selected populations; 2) Analytical studies of national representative samples; 3) Nested case-control studies of genetic and biochemical markers for chronic diseases; 4) Small-scale metabolic trials of diet and metabolic intermediates. By examining large and high-quality prospective cohorts of middle-aged women and men (i.e., the Nurses’ Health Study, the Women’s Health Study, the Physicians’ Health Study), Dr. Liu and his collaborators have studied how dietary, life-course, and genetic factors may influence the development of chronic diseases. Within the common theme of insulin resistance, several specific diet-disease relations have been identified in this effort. Specifically, his group has identified dietary glycemic index and load and intake of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and dietary fiber as significant predictors for future risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease (CHD). In addition, they are currently evaluating potential genetic variants for type 2 diabetes and CHD susceptibility using state-of-the art genotyping technology and statistical methods. One major goal is to understand how nutrients may interact with genetic susceptibilities in determining an individual’s risk, which may help to resolve inconsistent hypotheses and provide an integrated explanation for many associations observed in epidemiological studies. Biographical sketch forthcoming. Meir Stampfer Dr. Stampfer continues an Investigator in the HNCRC renewal. Since the last submission, he has been appointed Chairman of the Department of Epidemiology at HSPH. His research revolves primarily around four major studies. 1) The Nurses’ Health Study, a cohort of 121,700 nurses followed since 1976 with biennial questionnaires. Endpoints of interest include cancer, cardiovascular diseases, fractures, diabetes, and other major health problems. He is a co-investigator on two other cohort studies that have the same design. 2) the Nurses’ Health Study II, a study of 116,680 nurses aged 25-42 in 1989 when the study began. 3) The other is the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, a cohort of 51,000 men begun in 1986. His grant to study the causes of kidney stones is based in these three cohorts. He is also Principal Investigator of two grants to analyze blood samples collected as part of the Physicians’ Health Study Trial of Aspirin and Beta-Carotene; 14,900 blood samples have been stored at -80C since 1982. Using a nested case-control design, the samples are analyzed for a variety of markers of cancer and heart disease risk. Although a wide range of topics are examined in these studies, the major focus is on nutrition. These large cohorts require considerable attention to develop and refine nutritional methods, and make use of a wide array of techniques to evaluate dietary intake. These include food frequency questionnaires, diet records, anthropometry, and biochemical analyses of serum, plasma, red cells, adipose tissue and toenails. These studies investigate a broad range of health outcomes including cancer, cardiovascular disease and their precursors such as polyps, benign breast disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity. Biographical sketch. Home \| Education \| Research \| Links Copyright 2002-2008 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College Updated 1/25/2008