Brian Bennett, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor - Department of Genetics (CV)
Dr. Bennett joined the NRI in December 2011. Dr. Bennett is focused on integrative genetic studies, also called systems genetics, to elucidate the genetic component of chronic metabolic diseases, such as obesity and cardiovascular disease. The goal of this work is to identify individual genes and/or the interaction of groups of genes, also called biologic networks, contributing to chronic disease. In addition to his appointment at the NRI, Dr. Bennett has an appointment in the Department of Genetics at UNC. (more info)

Carol Cheatham, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Psychology (CV)
Dr. Carol Cheatham is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, she earned her Ph.D. in child psychology and neuroscience in 2004. She will be part of the Institute's brain research team. In addition to her appointment with the NRI, Cheatham will also hold an appointment as assistant professor in UNC's department of psychology. She has published research on memory recall in pre-term infants, the role of fatty acids in neonatal brains and how stress impacts brain development, as well as other topics. (more info)

Sheau Ching Chai, Ph.D., R.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cheatham Lab
Dr. Chai is a Registered Dietitian who obtained her Ph.D. in Human Nutrition from The Florida State University where she studies the role of functional foods and dietary supplements in preventing and/or reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. She extends her research to the area of functional foods and neuroscience by joining Cheatham Nutrition & Cognition Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. Currently, she serves as a Chair for the American Society for Nutrition Student Interest Group and is also an Abstractor for the Nutrition Evidence Library at the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion.

Grace Millsap
Research Assistant, Cheatham Lab
Grace Millsap is a North Carolina native, currently seeking her second bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Biology. She obtained her first degree in Psychology from Appalachian State University, and plans to pursue her Ph.D. in neuroscience. Grace spent several years in between degrees teaching kids gymnastics and dance on a noncompetitive level. Her current position as a Research Assistant for the Cheatham Nutrition and Cognition Lab fuses her two loves of teaching children and learning about brain development, and she feels truly lucky to work with such wonderful people.

Julie Stegall
Recruiter, Cheatham Team
Julie Stegall is a recently-returned native of Kannapolis. She is serving as a recruiter for Dr. Cheatham’s research studies. Julie earned a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a Masters in Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her work with children and families spans a variety of locations and settings. As the mother of two young children, she is excited about the NRI's research exploring the impact of nutrition on our children's health and development. She enjoys sharing information with other parents about what they can do to help.

Martin Kohlmeier, M.D.
Research Professor, Nutrition
Martin Kohlmeier’s expertise is in laboratory diagnostics, nutritional genetics and the use of computers for professional and lay nutrition education, with doctorates in medicine, biochemistry and clinical biochemistry from the universities of Heidelberg and Berlin. He is director of the Nutrition in Medicine project, which provides comprehensive online nutrition education to medical students, physicians and other healthcare providers worldwide. Dr. Kohlmeier searches for small genetic differences that change how much of a nutrient people need for optimal health. He is developing online computer programs that use genetic and other personal information to guide individual food choices in a safe and effective way. He expects that personalized nutrition can make a major impact on the big killer diseases, such as reducing breast cancer risk by a third or more. (more info)

Jie "Jacky" Zhu, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Kohlmeier Lab
Dr. Zhu obtained his Ph.D. in Gastroenterology and Nutrition in 2010 at Wuhan University’s College of Medicine in China. His postdoctoral research at the Nutrition Research Institute focuses on the biochemical, genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that underlie the regulation of folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism and genome expression and stability. The goal of this research is to relate individual metabolic function to comprehensive genotypes in folate metabolism.

Philip May, Ph.D.
Research Professor
Philip A. May, PhD, joined the NRI on April 1, 2011 as Research Professor and is an expert in the field of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).
Dr. May has conducted extensive research on the epidemiology and risk factors for FASD, including alcohol use and abuse, and how FASD relates to mental health and deviance. Dr. May’s specialty areas also extend to demog¬ra¬phy and med¬ical soci¬ol-ogy, focusing much of his research on community-wide pre¬ven¬tion of the disorder. (more info)

Mihai Niculescu, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Nutrition (CV)
Dr. Niculescu obtained his M.D. degree from Carol Davila University of Medicine in Bucharest, Romania in 1995. He practiced medicine in Romania and was an assistant professor of Physiology at Transylvania University in Brasov, Romania from 1996 to 2000. In 2005 he obtained his Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research focused on choline and brain development, and he has written numerous articles in this area. His current work studies how high-fat diets alter gene expression. (more info)

Daniel Lupu, M.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Dr. Daniel Lupu studied medicine in Romania and is developing his interest in the relationship between prenatal environmental cues (especially nutrition) and fetal brain development—specifically, the epigenetic imprinting that takes place in utero. His lab skills include histological assessment, nucleotide sequencing, PCR and RT-PCR, and protein labeling.

Tracey (Fuli) He
Graduate Student, Niculescu Lab
Tracey obtained her B.S. degree in Biological Science from Fudan University in Shanghai, China. As a graduate student earning her M.S. in Nutritional Biochemistry from UNC- Chapel Hill, she is currently studying under Dr. Niculescu. He’s studies focus on the epigenetic influence on brain development, specifically on aging of the brain. Other interests include the cause, development, and treatment of obesity on molecular mechanism.

Andrew Swick, Ph.D.
Director of Obesity and Eating Disorders Research
Andrew G. Swick, PhD, an expert in the study of obesity with over 20 years of experience, is the Director of Obesity and Eating Disorders Research at the NRI. Dr. Swick studies the relationship between the digestive system and the regulation of body weight and metabolism. A person’s body weight is a reflection of the amount of calories eaten relative to the amount of energy that is expended. Both food intake and energy expenditure vary depending on genetics and the environment. After food is consumed, it is first sensed by the digestive organs. Dr. Swick studies how those organs sense the food and send signals to control appetite and metabolism. As an important element to his work, he focuses on the influence of genetics on energy expenditure and the effects of diet, exercise and pharmaceuticals on energy metabolism and body weight. (more info)

Annalouise O'Connor, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Swick Lab
Dr. Annalouise O’Connor received her PhD in Nutrigenomics from University College in Dublin, Ireland, where her research focused on the impact of diet on metabolic health in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Her bachelor’s degree is in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland. Before joining the NRI, Dr. O’Connor worked for the Food Safety Authority of Ireland compiling scientific recommendations for nutrition policy. Her work at the NRI involves regulation of gut peptides and their role in food intake and weight management, and exploring individual variability in energy metabolism.

Corinne Zeller-Knuth, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Swick Lab
Dr. Zeller-Knuth joined the Swick lab in August 2011 to study the regulation of the gut peptides PYY and GLP-1 and how these affect control of body weight and energy metabolism. Prior to joining the NRI, Corinne was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park where she studied the mechanism of tristetraprolin mediated RNA decay in response to stress in Perry Blackshear’s group. In graduate school at UNC Chapel Hill she worked with Henrik Dohlman in the Biochemistry department where her research focused on the regulation of G-protein signal transduction pathways. Dr. Zeller-Knuth also spent two years as an Assistant Professor at St. Augustine’s College teaching Biology and Chemistry courses to undergraduate students.

Stephen Oreña
Research Assistant, Swick Lab
Stephen Oreña joined the Swick lab in October of 2011 as a research associate and lab manager. He received his B.S. degree in Zoology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and an M.S. degree from Harvard Medical School, Boston. He went on to do drug discovery research in the areas of diabetes and obesity at Pfizer, Inc. Stephen has extensive experience in cell biology, molecular biology and animal research with expertise in the design and execution of a variety of in vitro and in vivo assays for both screening and mechanistic purposes. Stephen is currently working on the link between intestinal fat metabolism and the release of gut hormones regulating satiety, energy expenditure and fuel selection.

Steven H. Zeisel, M.D., Ph.D.
Institute Director (more) (CV)
Dr. Zeisel is recognized as an international leader in nutrition research. His team's work established the requirement for choline, a newly recognized essential part of our diet. His work on nutrition and brain development, genetic variation and diet requirements, environment and nutrition, and medical education are supported by grants from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Zeisel directs one of the NIH national centers of excellence in human nutrition research. (more info)

Mihai George Mehedint, M.D.
Research Associate/Laboratory Manager
Dr. Mehedint studied the impact of maternal choline deficiency on fetal brain development and vision while a postdoctoral fellow at UNC-Chapel Hill. At the NRI, he will study epigenetics and nutrition and how controlling gene expression through diet can potentially allow people to improve health and fight genetic diseases by choosing or avoiding certain foods. He earned a degree in medicine at Transilvania University School of Medicine and completed his residency in Brasov, Romania.

Sarah King, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Zeisel Lab
Dr. King earned her PhD in Biological Sciences and Public Health from Harvard University, where she studied the implications of defects in platelet vesicle trafficking on thrombosis and atherosclerosis. She earned her B.S. in Biological Sciences at the University of California, Davis. King spent several years working as a research associate in the Nutrition Department at the University of California, Berkeley, studying iron and zinc in human nutrition. King recently joined Dr. Zeisel’s lab where she will study choline metabolism.

Melanie Spencer, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Zeisel Lab
Bio coming soon!

Karen Corbin, Ph.D., R.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Dr. Corbin received her Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition and Food Science from Florida State University. After completing her dietetic internship at the James A. Haley Veteran’s Hospital in Tampa, FL, she was a clinical dietitian, certified diabetes educator and co-director of preventive services at the Heart and Vascular Institute of Florida in St. Petersburg. She obtained her PhD in Medical Sciences at the University of South Florida College of Medicine where she studied the regulation of nitric oxide production in the vasculature. Dr. Corbin has a diversified role within the Institute including clinical administration and translational research. She is a National Institutes of Health funded post-doctoral fellow studying the role of nutritional and genetic components in obesity and fatty liver disease.

Walter Friday
Research Assistant, Zeisel Lab
Walter Friday, a Kannapolis native, recently returned to Cabarrus County to get married. He is a 2010 graduate of Rowan-Cabarrus Community College with an AAS in Biotechnology. He is pleased to be working at the Nutrition Research Institute as a research technician. He enjoys spending time with his wife, reading, and traveling.