Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD, RD, FAHA, is Distinguished Professor of Nutrition in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University.

Her research expertise is cardiovascular nutrition. She conducts controlled clinical nutrition studies designed to evaluate the role of diet on risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), and the mechanisms that account for the diet-induced responses.

Dr. Kris-Etherton has served on many national committees that have established dietary guidelines. She served on the 2nd Adult Treatment Panel of the National Cholesterol Education Program, the Dietary Reference Intakes for Macronutrients Committee of the National Academies, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee 2005, and the Nutrition Committee of the American Heart Association. She is a Fellow of the American Heart Association (AHA) and The National Lipid Association, and has received many awards including the 2014 Ralph Holman Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Oil Chemist’s Society, the Kritchevsky Career Achievement Award from the American Society of Nutrition (2012), the Marjorie Hulsizer Copher Award from the American Dietetic Association (2007), among others. She was President of the National Lipid Association (2011-2012) and Chair of the Medical Nutrition Council of The American Society for Nutrition (2010-2012). Presently, she is Chair of the AHA Nutrition Committee. Dr. Kris-Etherton has published over 300 scientific papers.

 

Richard D. Mattes, MPH, PhD, RD, is a Distinguished Professor of Nutrition Science at Purdue University, Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and Affiliated Scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center. His research focuses on the areas of hunger and satiety, regulation of food intake in humans, food preferences, human cephalic phase responses and taste and smell.

At Purdue University, Dr. Mattes is the Director of the University Public Health Program and the Ingestive Behavior Research Center. He also holds numerous external responsibilities including: Associate editor of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition; editorial board of Chemosensory Perception, Ear, Nose and Throat Journal and Flavour. He is also Secretary of the Rose Marie Pangborn Sensory Science Scholarship Fund. He has received multiple awards, most recently the Babcock-Hart Award from the Institute of Food Technologists. He has authored over 240 publications.

Dr. Mattes earned an undergraduate degree in biology and a Masters degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan as well as a doctorate degree in Human Nutrition from Cornell University. He conducted post-doctoral studies at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

 

Sharon Palmer, RDN, is nutrition editor for Today's Dietitian magazine and editor for the health newsletter Environmental Nutrition. Focusing on globally inspired recipes featuring whole plant foods, she enjoys hosting culinary demonstrations and farm-to table cooking classes and regularly appears in the media as a nutrition expert. Sharon will be presenting at the 2015 Today's Dietitian Spring Symposium among other venues including the California Dietetic Association. Her books include The Plant-Powered Diet: The Lifelong Eating Plan for Achieving Optimal Health, Beginning Today and Plant-Powered for Life: 52 Simple Steps and 125 Delicious Recipes to Get You Started and Make It a Habit.