Trudo Joins Bumpers College Faculty in Childhood Obesity Initiative

Photo by Russell Cothren

Sabrina Trudo, 21st Century Endowed Chair in Human Environmental Sciences

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Sabrina Trudo has been named 21st Century Endowed Chair in Human Environmental Sciences in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

Trudo, who is a registered dietitian, is an associate professor of human nutrition and hospitality innovation with her primary area of research on diet and cancer prevention through nutritional genomics approaches.

“Hiring someone of the caliber of a scholar like Dr. Trudo significantly impacts the U of A’s efforts in becoming a top 50 public research university,” said Betsy Garrison, director of the School of Human Environmental Sciences.

Trudo joins Jen Becnel as two new faculty members hired this year in the School of Human Environmental Science’s childhood obesity initiative.

“My research has focused on how what we eat interacts with our genes,” said Trudo. “I have interests in expanding into investigation of the connection between obesity and cancer risk, and developing virtual reality as a means to develop healthy behavior in kids by leveraging what I’ve learned from teaching behavior modification theories, from my experience as a dietitian before and during grad school, and with an interdisciplinary team that I’ve been forming.

“In my time here so far, I’ve been reaching out across campus, throughout Northwest Arkansas and down to Little Rock to identify potential research collaborators and partners to work with. It has been a great and encouraging experience. It is an exciting time for nutrition education and nutrition research at the university.”

Trudo was associate director of graduate studies for nutritional science from 2014 to 2015 and associate professor of foods and health from 2012 to 2015 in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota. She was an assistant professor of foods and health from 2006 to 2012.

“My role is to further strengthen and grow nutrition education and research at the University of Arkansas,” said Trudo. “As part of that, I plan to continue to build on my foundation of plant foods and cancer prevention research that I developed during my previous nine years at the University of Minnesota. At the same time, I plan to seek expansion into a related area of how these plant foods may specifically decrease the risk of cancers that are connected with obesity.

“One thing that has emerged is I will incorporate further development of critical thinking skills in courses I teach through approaches such as teaching research design and methods, and how to critically assess nutrition research articles. This will give students confidence in developing their own interpretations of the research literature.”

Her background includes teaching graduate students about the interactions of diet and genes, and the methods used to study the interaction, and teaching nutrition majors how to teach and counsel others in making healthy behavior changes.

From 2002 through 2005, Trudo was a research assistant in the cancer prevention program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in dietetics from Brigham Young University in 1995, and a certificate of public health genetics and her doctorate in nutritional sciences in 2005 from the University of Washington.

Trudo has also worked as an instructor at Bellevue Community College and Modesto Junior College, and as a consulting dietitian, and clinical manager and outpatient and inpatient dietitian at Sodexho USA.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.