Pennington Biomedical Researchers to Present, Receive Honors at NUTRITION 2026

July 22, 2026 · Baton Rouge, LA

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Researchers will contribute to sessions focused on organoid models, GLP-1 therapies, protein intake, early-life nutrition, vitamins and minerals, artificial intelligence and more

Researchers from LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center will join thousands of nutrition scientists and professionals from around the world at NUTRITION 2026, the annual flagship meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, or ASN, taking place July 25–28 in National Harbor, Maryland.

The meeting will be a particularly significant one for Pennington Biomedical, with researchers receiving major honors from ASN. Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Kaja Falkenhain will receive the Peter J. Reeds Early Career Investigator Award, while Dr. John Apolzan and Dr. Leanne Redman will be recognized as 2026 Excellence in Nutrition Fellows. In addition, Dr. Stephanie Waldrop and Dr. Stephen Hennigar served on the Program Planning Committee for NUTRITION 2026.

NUTRITION 2026 will feature more than 1,650 scientific presentations and bring together researchers, clinicians, educators, industry leaders, policymakers and other professionals to share the latest advances in nutrition science and its application to human health.

Researchers from Pennington Biomedical will contribute to sessions spanning basic, clinical and population research, including:

• Dr. Claire Berryman will participate in “GLP-1 Therapies Across the Lifespan: Special Populations and Clinical Implications,” a session examining the implications of GLP-1 therapies for special populations across the lifespan.
• Dr. Cory Dugan will present his research, “Residence at Moderate Altitude Duty Stations (~1,800 M) Increases Hemoglobin Mass and Requires Altitude-Adjusted Anemia Cutoffs for Operational Readiness,” in the “Vitamins and Minerals” oral session.
• Dr. Hennigar will participate in “Organoid Models in Nutrition Research: Emerging Tools and Applications,” a session examining emerging organoid models and their applications in nutrition research.
• Dr. Catherine Prater will participate in “Protein Intake and Health: Quantity, Quality, and Metabolic Outcomes,” an oral session examining the relationship between protein intake, dietary quality and metabolic health.
• Dr. Candida Rebello will participate in “Building Competitive Research Programs as Early Career Investigators – A Fireside Chat,” organized by ASN’s Early Career Nutrition Interest Group.
• Dr. Waldrop will participate in “Optimizing Nutrition for Early-Life Health: From Pregnancy to Early Childhood,” a session focused on nutrition and health from pregnancy through early childhood. She will also participate in “Infant Formula Regulation and Nutritional Composition: Operation Stork Speed and Beyond,” a session examining infant formula regulation and nutritional composition.

The sessions involving Pennington Biomedical researchers reflect the Center’s broad research portfolio, which includes basic, clinical and population research aimed at understanding nutrition and its role in obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia and other chronic diseases.

Dr. David Barney and Dr. Hanim Ecem Diktas are finalists in the Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Poster Competition, an award competition of the American Society for Nutrition that recognizes the highest quality research presented by students and young investigators at NUTRITION 2026:

• Dr. Barney will present “Energy Deficit Suppresses the Diurnal Increase in Serum Hepcidin: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Longitudinal Parallel Arm Trial.”
• Dr. Diktas will participate in “AI and Machine Learning in Dietary Assessment and Nutritional Epidemiology,” a Poster Theater Flash Session focused on the growing use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in nutrition research.

In addition to participating in featured sessions, Pennington Biomedical researchers will present findings in numerous poster sessions throughout the meeting:

• Dr. Sri Lakshmi Sravani Devarakonda will present “Unraveling the Lean Mass Paradox: Visceral Fat and Muscle Composition as Key Drivers of Metabolic Dysfunction.”
• Dr. Ashley Fenton will present “Baseline Household Food Insecurity, Dietary Quality, and Changes in BMIp95 Across Adolescence: A Longitudinal Mediation Analysis.”
• Dr. Kaja Falkenhain, who will receive the Peter J. Reeds Early Career Investigator Award, is the presenting author on three studies: “Predictors of Redemption Among Low-Income, Pregnancy WIC Participants: A Secondary Analysis of a Multicomponent eHealth Behavioral Intervention Study”; “Postpartum Outcomes After a Pragmatic Multicomponent eHealth Pregnancy Intervention in WIC: The ‘SmartMoms in WIC’ Randomized Clinical Trial”; and “A Comparison of Caloric Restriction and Time-Restricted Eating on Glycemic Control in Healthy Adults: Secondary Outcomes from the DiAL Health Randomized Pilot Trial.”
• Dr. Prater will present “Eating Behaviors as Mediators of Cardiometabolic Risk in the Deep South.”
• Dr. Terrence Riley will present two studies: “Relationships Between Elevation of Residence and Energy Balance Components, Body Composition and Cardiometabolic Health Among Active-Duty Soldiers” and “Lipoprotein(a) Concentration is Associated with Iron Status Indicators Before and After 8 Weeks of Iron Supplementation Among Women of Reproductive Age with Low Iron Stores.”

“Scientific meetings such as NUTRITION provide an important opportunity for researchers to share ideas, learn from colleagues and help shape the future of nutrition science,” said Dr. Jennifer Rood, Interim Senior Vice Chancellor and Executive Director. “The diversity of topics represented by our researchers at this year’s meeting demonstrates the collaborative and multidisciplinary nature of the work being conducted at Pennington Biomedical.”

For more information about NUTRITION 2026, visit the American Society for Nutrition's meeting website at https://nutrition.org/meeting/.