Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, PhD, RD

Dr. Demark-Wahnefried is Professor and Webb Endowed Chair of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and also the Associate Director for Cancer Prevention and Control at UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Demark-Wahnefried is a nutrition scientist with training in biochemistry, genetics, and behavioral science. For the past two decades, her research career has spanned basic science studies focused on determining mechanisms of action of food-related components on neoplastic progression, to clinical research that involves nutrition-related concerns of cancer patients, as well as determining effective lifestyle interventions that improve the overall health of cancer survivors and populations at high risk for cancer (relatives of cancer survivors, rural African-Americans residing in high incidence counties, etc). Her laboratory has conducted some of the largest studies exploring metabolic and body composition changes, as well as energy balance, in response to cancer treatment. An area of research in which Dr. Demark-Wahnefried has experienced particular success, is in the delivery of home-based lifestyle interventions among cancer survivors where she has led and continues to lead a number of NIH-funded trials aimed at improving the diet and exercise behavioral of cancer survivors. This work has given rise to over 150 publications, and recognition as a Komen Professor of Survivorship. In addition to her research, Dr. Demark-Wahnefried also serves on several committees, including the American Cancer Society’s Guidelines Panel for Nutrition and Physical Activity among Cancer Survivors, the World Cancer Research Fund, the American College of Sports Medicine Guidelines Panel for Physical Activity in Cancer Survivors, the American Society of Clinical Oncology Committee on Cancer Survivorship, and the National Cancer Policy Forum of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). In October 2011, she chaired the IOM workshop on “The Role of Obesity on Cancer Recurrence and Survival.” She also is the current President-Elect for the American Society of Preventive Oncology.

Richard L. Eckert, PhD

Dr. Eckert received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, and PhD from the University of Illinois, Urbana.  He completed post-doctoral training in the Department of Cell Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Harvard Medical School.

He joined the faculty of Case Reserve University School of Medicine in 1986 as an Assistant Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, Dermatology, Reproductive Biology, Oncology and Biochemistry.  He was promoted as tenured Associate Professor in 1992 and Professor in 1996. Dr. Eckert joined the University of Maryland School of Medicine as Professor and Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in November of 2006.

Dr. Eckert’s research focuses on understanding how normal surface epithelial cells function to protect people from illnesses and how those cells are altered during disease states, including skin cancer. Specific interests include mechanisms that regulate cell survival, differentiation and transformation, genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that regulate gene expression during differentiation, the use of epidermis-derived somatic stem cells for therapy, and the role of nutritional agents in cancer prevention. He has published more than 160 journal articles and reviews, and his trainees have presented over 130 meeting abstracts. He serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for scientific journals including the Journal of Biological Chemistry and the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. He is a University of Wisconsin Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award recipient, an elected member of the Board of the Society for Investigative Dermatology, a standing member of the review panel of the American Institute for Cancer Research, and has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the NIAMS and on numerous NIH study sections.

Dr. Eckert holds two patents from the United States Patent Office, and has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health as a principal investigator since 1989. He is currently principal investigator on multiple RO1 grants from the National Institutes of Health and 2 grants from the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund. He has also been supported by the Department of the Navy, the American Cancer Society, the Dermatology Foundation, and the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program Breast Cancer Research Program.

John W. Erdman Jr., PhD

Dr. Erdman is Emeritus Professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Professor of Internal Medicine and Professor of Nutrition in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana. Dr. Erdman's training and expertise encompass the nutritional and physiological biochemistry of man and animals. He has authored over 170 original research articles on these subjects and has over 300 total publications including other articles and chapters. He is a member of a variety of professional organizations including the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), and the American Heart Association (AHA). He is past President of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences (now ASN), has been elected Fellow for ASN, AHA and IFT. He has been extensively involved with the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences (NAS), where he served on the FNB for 9 years, 6 as Vice Chair. Among other committees of the FNB, he served as Chair of the Standing Committee on the Scientific Evaluation of Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) and is currently Chair of the Committee on Military Nutrition Research. Recently this committee published the report Nutrition and Traumatic Brain Injury. For his extensive contributions to the NAS, he was named as Lifetime National Associate of the NAS in 2001 and was elected as a Member of the Institute of Medicine, NAS in 2003. Other honors include: receipt of the Samuel Cate Prescott Award for Research and the William Cruess Award for Teaching from IFT: the Borden Award from ASN; being named as an Original Member in Agricultural Science by ISI as an Highly Cited Researcher (top 0.05%); and several University of Illinois Excellent and Outstanding Teaching awards. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of ILSI- NA. Dr. Erdman has is past Executive Director of the Mars Science Advisory Council and is currently Executive Director of the Wrigley Science Institute. Dr Erdman received his BS, MS, MPH and PhD in Food Science from Rutgers University.

James C. Fleet, PhD

Dr. Fleet is a Professor in the Department of Nutrition Science and the Director of the Interdepartmental Nutrition Program for graduate training in nutrition at Purdue University. He holds a BS and PhD from Cornell University and has previously held faculty appointments at Tufts University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dr. Fleet's research is focused on the molecular and physiological functions of vitamin D as they pertain to the control of calcium metabolism and the prevention of cancer. He uses the tools of molecular biology, genomics, and genetics to address questions relevant to human health and disease in cell and animal models. He has served as a contributing editor to Nutrition Reviews, on the editorial board of The Journal of Nutrition, and on the INMP and CDP study sections at NIH. He has been an organizer of FASEB Summer Conferences, on the Program Committee for International Workshops on Vitamin D, and he has been an invited to speak on his work across the globe. In 2001, he was the recipient of the Mead Johnson Award from the American Society for Nutrition and in 2004 he was honored as a "University Faculty Scholar" by Purdue University.

John A. Milner, PhD

Dr. Milner is currently the Director and Senior Scientist at the USDA Beltsville Human Nutrition Center. From 2000 to 2012, he was Chief of the Nutritional Science Research Group in the Division of Cancer Prevention at the National Cancer Institute. From 1989 to 2000, he was Head of and a Professor in the Department of Nutrition at The Pennsylvania State University where he also served as Director of the Graduate Program in Nutrition. Before joining Penn State, he was a faculty member for 13 years in the Food Science Department at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign. While at the University of Illinois, he served as the Director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences and as an Assistant Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station. He is a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists, and an Honorary Member of the American Dietetic Association.

Dr. Milner has served in an advisory capacity as a member of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Board of Scientific Counselors, Joint USDA/HHS Dietary Guidelines Committee, and for the Food, Nutrition and Safety Committee within the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI). Dr. Milner has served as president of the American Society for Nutrition (formerly the American Institute of Nutrition) and has testified before the Subcommittee on Appropriations in Washington, D.C. and the Presidential Commission on Dietary Supplement Labels in Baltimore, Maryland. He has served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Military Nutrition Research, the U.S. Olympic Committee Dietary Guidelines Task Force, the External Advisory Board for the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, as a member and Vice-Chair for the Counsel of Experts of United States Pharmacopeia Committee on Bioavailability and Nutrient Absorption, a member of the External Advisory Board for the European Commission SeaFood Plus initiative and as the chair of the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research Mechanisms Working Group. He is currently a member of the Global Board of Trustees for ILSI, liaison to the International Food Information Council (IFIC), member of the Danone Institute’s International Functional Foods and Health Claims Knowledge Center Committee, a member of the Board for the McCormick Science Institute and a member of the Mushroom Research Board. In his current position, he promotes research that deals with the physiological importance of dietary bioactive compounds as modifiers of cancer risk and tumor behavior.

Cheryl Rock, PhD, RD

Dr. Rock is a professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, and the Cancer Prevention and Control Program, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine. She completed undergraduate training in nutrition and dietetics at Michigan State University, achieved a Master of Medical Science degree in clinical nutrition at Emory University, and was awarded a doctoral degree in nutritional sciences from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Rock’s research efforts are focused on the role of nutritional and dietary factors in the development and progression of cancer, particularly breast cancer, and healthy weight management in adults. Her research efforts address diet composition and weight management, and how diet, adiposity and physical activity affect biomarkers and risk and progression of cancer and other chronic diseases. Dr. Rock is presently responsible for randomized trials funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that are testing whether healthy weight control and modifications in diet and physical activity can alter biological processes, hormonal factors, and biomarkers of disease progression. She also serves as principal investigator for an industry-sponsored randomized clinical trial of a multifaceted weight loss program and is a co-investigator on several NIH-funded studies that are focused on obesity, various weight loss interventions, and behavioral and metabolic factors associated with disease risk. Dr. Rock leads the Nutrition Shared Resource of the Moores UCSD Comprehensive Cancer Center, a laboratory and dietary assessment recharge service unit that is focused on identifying and measuring dietary biomarkers and improving dietary assessment methods.

Dr. Rock has served on numerous NIH and USDA review panels and committees, and she currently serves on editorial boards for several peer-reviewed journals. To date, Dr Rock is the author of more than 230 scientific papers and book chapters.

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June Stevens, MS, PhD

Dr. June Stevens is Chair of the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the American Institute for Cancer Research Distinguished Professor. Dr. Stevens is an obesity epidemiologist with a large research program focusing on the causes, consequences, and prevention of obesity in different populations. She has developed methodology to measure the home food environment that uses bar code scanning.  She also examines associations between obesity weight change and cancer incidence and recurrence.  Dr. Stevens has served as an obesity expert for the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the Institute of Medicine and the World Health Organization.