UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penny Kris-Etherton, distinguished professor of nutrition at Penn State, has accepted an invitation to join the Science Board of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. Her three-year term on the Science Board will begin on Jan. 1, 2014.
The President’s Council, which was established through an executive order by the president of the United States, engages, educates and empowers all Americans to adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes regular physical activity and good nutrition. The council is made up of athletes, chefs, physicians, fitness professionals, and educators who are appointed by the president and serve in an advisory capacity through the secretary of health and human services.
The council's Science Board is made up of scholars who have made significant contributions to the research and science of physical activity, sports and nutrition. It was formed in 2003 to ensure that the messages and programs of the council are scientifically sound. As a member of the Science Board, Kris-Etherton will provide guidance and feedback on a variety of issues pertaining to the council’s messages and programs.
Kris-Etherton’s research focuses on cardiovascular nutrition. For more than 25 years, she has conducted numerous controlled clinical nutrition studies designed to evaluate the role of diet on risk factors for cardiovascular disease. She and her colleagues have studied many different populations, including healthy people, overweight and obese people, and people at risk for cardiovascular disease. More recently, her group has examined biological mechanisms that explain the effects of diet.
Kris-Etherton has received the David Kritchevsky Outstanding Nutrition Career Award from the American Society for Nutrition in recognition of an outstanding career in nutrition. She also has received the 2007 Marjorie Hulsizer Copher Award from the American Dietetic Association, the 2005 Elaine Monsen Research Award from the American Dietetic Association Foundation, the 1998 Foundation Award for Excellence in Research from the American Dietetic Association and the 1991 Lederle Award for Human Nutrition Research from the American Society for Nutritional Sciences.
In addition, Kris-Etherton is a Fellow of the American Heart Association and of the National Lipid Association, and she served as the president of the National Lipid Association in 2012. She also has served on many national committees that have established dietary guidelines and recommendations, including the Dietary Reference Intakes for Macronutrients Committee of the National Academies, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, and the Nutrition Committee of the American Heart Association.
Kris-Etherton has been a member of the Penn State faculty since 1979. She earned a bachelor’s degree in medical dietetics at the Rochester Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in nutrition at Case Western Reserve University and a doctoral degree in nutrition at the University of Minnesota. She completed a dietetic internship at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1973, and she conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University.