Alumni: Connect With Us and Tell Your Story!

We have no doubt our graduates go on to do incredible things -- from working with communities, to research, to clinical work -- and we want to hear about it! Whether you are pursuing another degree or chasing the career of your dreams, reach out to us with your story. We would love to showcase your success and hear about where you are and what you've been up to since your time with our department in Aggieland!

Email Serina DeSalvio with your story at serina.desalvio@ag.tamu.edu.

The Vanden Brink Lab Presents at ENDO 2025 Conference

Dr. Heidi Vanden Brink, assistant professor, student Joelle Sfeir, and incoming doctoral student Hannah Lamar attended ENDO 2025, a conference put on by the Endocrine Society, held in San Francisco.

They each presented a poster at the conference, titled:

Total Testosterone Before and After Metabolic Bariatric Surgery in Adolescent Females with Obesity

Food Insecurity and Symptoms of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome among Hispanic Adolescents in South Texas  

 

Differences in the Bile Acid Pool in Post-Menarcheal Adolescents on a Trajectory Towards Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

 

 

Read more about ENDO 2025 here. 

Healthy Living Team Presents at the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Annual Conference

Dr. MacMillan Uribe, assistant professor, and Erika Largacha Cevallos, research associate, presented work as part of oral sessions and presentations at the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Annual Conference in Indianapolis. Dr. Uribe also moderated a program session and, as part associate editors of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, presented strategies to transform a thesis/dissertation into a publication. 

Lauren Gladwell, a doctoral candidate in the Mahua Choudhury lab, published a first-author review in the journal, Cardiovascular Toxicology titled "Environmental Toxicants in the Hispanic Community Epigenetically Contributing to Preeclampsia," which explores why preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication, disproportionately impacts Hispanic women and how environmental exposure to toxicants may play a role in epigenetic changes that lead to preeclampsia development.

 

This article can be accessed online here.

Dr. Sylvie Estrela, assistant professor, was invited to be the keynote speaker for Microbiome Day 2025, an annual event hosted by the Microbiome Initiative at Boston University. The title of her keynote presentation was "Predicting Microbial Community Assembly across Nutritional Environments.”
 
The Boston University Microbiome Initiative brings together scientists from different disciplines and departments, with a common interest in microbial ecosystems. Learn more about what they do here.

 

Please join us in welcoming Tad Campbell to the Department of Nutrition and to Texas A&M! Tad came to us from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where he worked as an assistant professor teaching classes and coordinating graduate programming. He has extensive experience in patient care, medical nutritional therapy and driving student success.

 

Tad joined us on August 1st as a clinical assistant professor and associate director for the Master's of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetic Internship Program. We are so excited to have him as a part of our team!

 

The popular social media account, Barstool Texas A&M,  @barstooltexasam, announced the top five professors at Texas A&M according to their score on RateMyProfessor.

 

We are very proud that our own Christian Lynch, lecturer, came in #1 with a score of 4.8/5 on Rate My Professor.

Check out the rest of their post here. 

Publications

 

Lauren Rae Gladwell, Laura Packer, Jhanvi Karthik, James Tinwah Kwong, Raina Hummel, Yuting Jia, Samiran Sinha, Theresa Morris, Robin Page, Mahua Choudhury. Environmental Toxicants in the Hispanic Community Epigenetically Contributing to Preeclampsia. Cardiovascular Toxicology. July 31, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12012-025-10049-9

 

Liao Y, Brannon G.E., Rethorst C.D., Mau M., Bevers T.B., Schembre S.M., Basen-Enquist K.M. Using Continuous Glucose Monitoring as a Biological Feedback Strategy to Motivate Physical Activity in Cancer Survivors: A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study. Cancer Control, in press.

Oral and Poster Presentations

 

Vanden Brink H., Ha S., Torchen L., Nonni E., Ryder J., Jenkins T., Sisley S., Burgert T.S., Cree M., Bacha F., Inge T. Total Testosterone Before and After Metabolic Bariatric Surgery in Adolescent Females with Obesity.

 

Sfeir J., Castaneda R., Yoro C., Pena E., Bloom R., Vanden Brink H. Food Insecurity and Symptoms of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome among Hispanic Adolescents in South Texas.  

 

Lamar H. and Vanden Brink H. Differences in the Bile Acid Pool in Post-Menarcheal Adolescents on a Trajectory Towards Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

 

MacMillan Uribe A.L., Seguin-Fowler R.A., Fisher K.P., Bender E., Eldridge E., Demment M., Bailey R.L., Ross A.C., Mitchell D.C., Shankar K., Ray S., Gras-Najjar J., Early A. Understanding Motivators and Challenges to Enrollment in Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Research: A Mixed Methods Study with Women of Child-Bearing Age and Clinical Practitioners.

Largacha-Cevallos E., Trevino V., Seguin-Fowler R.A., Szeszulski J., Rethorst C.D., MacMillan Uribe A.L. Characterizing Cultural and Contextual Influences on Hypertension Management Health Behaviors among Hispanic American Women.

 

Stage V.C., Lundquist R., Blood D., Mena N., MacMillan Uribe A.L. (moderator). Farm to Early Care and Education: Current Evidence and Future Opportunities.

 

Mobley A., Stage V., Buccini G., MacMillan Uribe A.L. Community Engaged Research to Improve Food and Nutrition Security in the first 2,000 Days. 

Haldeman L., MacMillan Uribe A.L., Johnson S.L., Sigman-Grant M.J., Reeder J., Taylor C.A., McGuirt J., Mobley A., Zigmont V., Fox K. Don’t Stop Now: Transforming your Thesis or Dissertation into a Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior Publication.

 

Celio T., Herron J., Lanning K., Nixon K., Racine E., Thilmany. Get to Know the Regional Food Business Centers. Panel Discussion. 2025 Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders Forum. Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. 

 

Hudak, K.M.A., Breunig-Rodriguez, L., Nelson, R.J. and Racine, E.F., 2025. A Fresh Start to a Healthier You! Program Improves Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Risk of Food Insecurity: Findings from Texas. Preventive Medicine Reports, p.103158.

 

Anderson, N., Cousins, G., Farrow, T., Fox, C., Hall, R., Hammelman, C., Joy, C., Kilmer, R., Nilsson, I., Racine, E. and Terrell, D., 2025. Building Impactful Community-University Partnerships Through a Shared Power Approach. Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 18(1).

 

Estrela, S. "Gut Microbial Community Assembly Across Nutritional Environments." Invited speaker, Microbial Population Biology Gordon Research Conference 2025, Andover, N.H. July 6-11, 2025.

 

Giving to the Department of Nutrition

The quality of education for nutrition students at Texas A&M University is shaped by the invaluable contributions of a diverse educational team. This includes not only faculty and staff but also donors, advisory committee members, guest speakers, industry leaders, internship supervisors, employers, community partners and many others. Together, they enrich the student experience and support the department's mission to advance the field of nutrition.

You can support the Department of Nutrition by making an endowed gift, which provides lasting support, or by contributing a nonendowed gift for immediate use toward a specific purpose. Your generosity plays a critical role in fostering student success and innovation in the field of nutrition.

About the Department of Nutrition

The Department of Nutrition at Texas A&M University is committed to providing students with an exceptional education that equips them with the knowledge, skills and expertise to excel as leaders in nutrition, health and food systems. Our students receive a comprehensive, science-driven education that prepares them for careers in health care, clinical nutrition, research, public health and more.

We offer a range of programs, including undergraduate and graduate degrees, minors and certificates, to help students expand and tailor their educational journey. With guidance from our experienced faculty and staff, who bring cutting-edge research and real-world expertise to the classroom, students are supported every step of the way as they prepare to address the complex challenges in the field of nutrition.

aglifesciences.tamu.edu | nutrition.tamu.edu 

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