Parks Lab // Nutrition and Exercise Physiology

Left to right, front row: Justine, Jen, Naren, Christian; back row: Christian, Emma, Amadeo, Willard, and Elizabeth

Lab Personnel:

Elizabeth J. Parks, PhD
Professor, Nutrition & Exercise Physiology
Associate Director, Clinical Research Center Institute for Clinical Translational Science

Jennifer Snawder Jennifer Anderson, RD, LD
Clinical Dietitian & Research Coordinator

Emma Baer
Undergraduate Student

Christian Fenton
Undergraduate Student

Talyia Fordham, BS
Graduate Student

Jonas McCaffrey
Undergraduate Student

Kaitlin Montegomery Katelyn Montgomery
Undergraduate Student

Justine Mucinski, BS
Graduate Student

Amadeo Salvador, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Lab Collaborators:

Melanie Cree-Green, MD
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Endocrinology
University of Colorado

Camila Manrique, PhD
Associate Professor
Division of Endocrinology
University of Missouri Medical School

Jaume Padilla, PhD
Associate Professor
Nutrition and Exercise Physiology
University of Missouri

Maria Ramos-Roman, MD
Associate Professor
Internal Medicine
UT Southwestern

Nicola Santoro, MD
Associate Research Scientist
Department of Pediatrics
Yale University

Former Lab Personnel:

Majid Syed Abdul
PhD in Nutrition, 2020

Brian Barrows, PhD
Program Director
Brewing Science at Trocaire College, Buffalo, NY

Kerry Donnelly Peterson
Tenured Associate Professor
University of Wisconsin-Stout

Rachel Hasser, MS, RD, LD
Dietitian
Fairview Hospital in Wyoming, MN

Qiong Hu, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
Cargill, MN

Miriam Jacome-Sosa, PhD
Instructor
Washington University School of Medicine

Jennifer Lambert
Senior Reseach Associate at Alberta Health Service, Canada

Alisha Perry
BS, 2021

Meghan Searles Megan Searles
2021 entering class, MU Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program

Nishanth Sunny, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Animal and Avian Sciences
University of Maryland

Molly Timlin, PhD
Assistant Professor & Director of Dietetics
Southeast Missouri State University

Research

Liver Health Study: The purpose of this study is to test the impact of lifestyle behaviors influence the progression or regression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. In Phase I, subjects will be A) patients with suspected nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) who could be approached to participate in a study in which they donate some liver tissue taken when they are undergoing their medically-indicated liver biopsy, or B) bariatric surgery patients who could be approached to participate in a study to allow liver and adipose tissue to be taken during their planned weight reduction surgery. In Phase II, subjects with NAFLD will participate in either an exercise and diet program, or be in the control group undergoing standard of care. We will follow the subjects for 9 months to determine how their liver health changes during this time. We hypothesize that liver fat, inflammation, and fibrosis insulin resistance and elevated uric acid in women make them more susceptible to cardiovascular stiffness, compared to men.

Publications

For a complete list of published work, see MyBibliography.

Links