Dr. Heidi Silver is a Research Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a Health Scientist in the Veterans Affairs Department of Research. Her research focuses on elucidating the role of dietary macronutrients and body composition on inflammation, insulin resistance, and cardiometabolic disease risk reduction. In addition, she has collaborated on the development of imaging protocols to differentiate ectopic fat in organs and tissues and determine its role in cardiometabolic disease risk.

Dr. Silver established and is the director of the Vanderbilt Diet, Body Composition, and Human Metabolism Core. Recently, she was a member of the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Committee to establish energy requirement formulas and goals for the US and Canadian population. She has provided multi-day workshops in 10 different countries and produced several tools that are used by dietitians, nurses, and physicians in clinical practice worldwide. In her leisure time, Dr. Silver enjoys reading novels, making bead jewelry, playing bridge, competing in ballroom dance, and playing tug-of-war with her Bichon puppy, Livvy.

Heidi J. Silver, PhD, RD, faculty for this activity, has the following relevant financial relationships to report: she has received grant support from International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research and Education Foundation (Silver PI) and the US Dept of Veterans Affairs Merit Award (Silver & Keothe PIs). She has also received NIH funding for NIDDK: Koethe & Silver PI; NIDDK: Hsi PI, Silver co-I; NHLBI: Stein PI, Silver co-I; and NIAID: Bacharier PI, Silver co-I.