For the fourth year running, a nutrition researcher from the Faculty of ALES has won one of the top awards from the Canadian Nutrition Society.
And in more evidence of ALES' stellar reputation for nutrition research, the society also honoured two emerging scholars from the faculty during its annual conference in Ottawa last weekend.
Rhonda Bell, an expert in human nutrition, is this year's recipient of the society's Earle Willard McHenry Award. It applauds those who've exerted influence on each of education, leadership, research and public awareness in the field of nutrition. The McHenry award was won by ALES nutrition professor emeritus Linda McCargar in 2014.
In 2013 and 2015 respectively, Noreen Willows and Spencer Proctor each won another prestigious honour from this society of their peers, the Young Investigator Award.
Meanwhile, this year, post doctorate fellow Caroline Richard and PhD student Erin Lewis received the Award for Nutrition Translation. They were singled out for a paper that reviews the evidence supporting the need for long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the post-natal and infant diet.
"Our nutrition group provides such hope for changing the way we actually do health care," said Stan Blade, dean of the Faculty ALES.
"Everyone in the province, in the country, is always talking about the importance of preventing and not just treating acute diseases. These people are at the sharpest edge of that and starting to provide some answers. We have a large number of extremely capable people here, addressing the issues that we see on the front pages of our papers and our screens every day."
Bell is being celebrated for two distinct streams of work. As a career-long specialist in nutrition relating to diabetes, she's covered all perspectives, starting with the molecular mechanism of diabetes and progressing through how it applies in clinical and community settings, and to public policy.
As well, she's been a major force in creating research experiences at the undergraduate level. She tied research into the curriculum beginning in first year, and forged partnerships with Alberta Health Services that allow some 50 to 75 students to work on real-life, real-time projects, each year.
"It gives them the confidence to carry out research as part of their career, and for nutrition research to move forward you need people trained in nutrition research to drive that," said Bell.
And in more evidence of ALES' stellar reputation for nutrition research, the society also honoured two emerging scholars from the faculty during its annual conference in Ottawa last weekend.
Rhonda Bell, an expert in human nutrition, is this year's recipient of the society's Earle Willard McHenry Award. It applauds those who've exerted influence on each of education, leadership, research and public awareness in the field of nutrition. The McHenry award was won by ALES nutrition professor emeritus Linda McCargar in 2014.
In 2013 and 2015 respectively, Noreen Willows and Spencer Proctor each won another prestigious honour from this society of their peers, the Young Investigator Award.
Meanwhile, this year, post doctorate fellow Caroline Richard and PhD student Erin Lewis received the Award for Nutrition Translation. They were singled out for a paper that reviews the evidence supporting the need for long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the post-natal and infant diet.
"Our nutrition group provides such hope for changing the way we actually do health care," said Stan Blade, dean of the Faculty ALES.
"Everyone in the province, in the country, is always talking about the importance of preventing and not just treating acute diseases. These people are at the sharpest edge of that and starting to provide some answers. We have a large number of extremely capable people here, addressing the issues that we see on the front pages of our papers and our screens every day."
Bell is being celebrated for two distinct streams of work. As a career-long specialist in nutrition relating to diabetes, she's covered all perspectives, starting with the molecular mechanism of diabetes and progressing through how it applies in clinical and community settings, and to public policy.
As well, she's been a major force in creating research experiences at the undergraduate level. She tied research into the curriculum beginning in first year, and forged partnerships with Alberta Health Services that allow some 50 to 75 students to work on real-life, real-time projects, each year.
"It gives them the confidence to carry out research as part of their career, and for nutrition research to move forward you need people trained in nutrition research to drive that," said Bell.