Academics

Gordon Jensen recognized as a top nutrition support therapy researcher

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Gordon Jensen, professor and head of the Department of Nutritional Sciences and professor of medicine at Penn State, has been named the 2014 Jonathan E. Rhoads Lecturer by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.).

The Jonathan E. Rhoads Lecture is A.S.P.E.N.’s most prestigious award. It recognizes scholars for their major contributions to the field of nutrition support therapy and their career-long commitments to improving the nutritional statuses of patients. The lecturer is recommended by the A.S.P.E.N.'s board of directors and is invited by the society's president to deliver a lecture at the society's Clinical Nutrition Week conference. This year's conference will be held in Savannah, Ga., on Jan. 18 to 21.

Jensen’s research focuses largely on nutrition concerns in older populations. He and his colleagues develop and test nutrition screening and assessment tools that focus on specific functional and health care resource outcomes for older people. In particular, they study the impact of obesity on these outcomes. Jensen also promotes understanding of the central roles of inflammatory responses in malnutrition and obesity.

Board-certified in nutrition and internal medicine, Jensen provides consultation for adult nutrition support interventions at the Mt. Nittany Medical Center. These interventions entail the provision of specialized intravenous or tube feedings for malnourished patients who are unable to eat. Jensen also conducts outpatient clinics for malnourished patients with the Mt. Nittany Physician Group. For his clinical work, he has been nationally recognized by America’s Top Doctors, a national guide that identifies the most outstanding doctors in the country.

Jensen is the current president of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), a past president of A.S.P.E.N. and a current member of A.S.P.E.N.’s Foundation Board. He also is a past chair of the Association of Nutrition Programs and Departments. He has served on advisory panels, study sections or work groups for the National Institutes of Health, the American Dietetic Association, and the Food and Nutrition Board, and he has just completed his second term as a member of the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine.

Jensen was appointed professor and head of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State in 2007. He also serves as a professor of medicine at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center and is a specialist in nutrition with the Mt. Nittany Physician Group.

Jensen earned a doctorate degree in nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University and a medical doctorate degree at Cornell University Medical College. He completed his residency training in internal medicine and his fellowship training in clinical nutrition at New England Deaconess Hospital, Harvard Medical School. In addition, he received a bachelor's degree in biology from Penn State.

Last Updated January 9, 2015