Graduate Student Research Award Competition

Chair(s)

• SB

  Sarah Borengasser, PhD, MS

  Associate Professor
  TSET Health Promotion Research Center
  University of Oklahoma Health Campus
  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
• 

  Matthew Landry, PhD, RDN, DipACLM (he/him/his)

  Assistant Professor
  University of California, Irvine
  Irvine, California, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
• 

  Stephanie Waldrop, MD, MPH

  Assistant Professor and Director, Pediatric Clinical and Translational Medicine Research Laboratory
  Pennington Biomedical Research Center
  Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Finalist(s)

• 

  Narges AzariJafari, MD (she/her/hers)

  Research/teaching assistant
  American University
  Washington, District of Columbia, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
• 

  Bruna de Vargas, PhD student (she/her/hers)

  Graduate Research Assistant
  South Dakota State University
  Brookings, South Dakota, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
• 

  Danielle Gartner, MPH (she/her/hers)

  Doctoral Student
  Tulane University Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
  NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
• 

  Jessica George, BHS

  Doctoral Candidate
  University of Missouri
  Columbia, Missouri, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
• 

  Desalegn Kuche Goa, MS (he/him/his)

  Graduate Student and Researcher
  Oklahoma State University and Ethiopian Public Health Institute
  Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
• 

  Ulrik Mjaaseth, MS

  PhD student
  University of Oslo
  Oslo, Oslo, Norway

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Organized by the NUTRITION 2026 Scientific Program Committee, this award competition tasks graduate students or medical students to hone their research presentation skills.

Finalists include:

• Narges AzariJafari, MD, American University
  Confirmation That the Low Glutamate Diet Significantly Improves Cognitive Function in Veterans With Gulf War Illness
• Bruna de Vargas, South Dakota State University
  Daily Pulse Intake in a DGA-Aligned Diet Increased Ergothioneine and 3-Indoleacrylic Acid, Modulated the Microbiome and Cardiometabolic Biomarkers: A Crossover Feeding RCT
• Danielle J. Gartner, MPH, Tulane University
  Associations Between Participants' Food Choices and Satisfaction With the 2024 WIC Food Package Revisions in Louisiana
• Jessica G. George, BHS, University of Missouri
  Lean Mass as a Predictor of Dietary Fatty Acid Trafficking in Humans
• Desalegn Kuche Goa, MS, Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) and Oklahoma State University
  UNIMMAP-MMS and IFA With 30 mg Fe Did Not Differ Significantly From Each Other in Improving Hb and Ferritin Among WRA, SOMALI REGION, Ethiopia: Double-Blind, Controlled Trial
• Ulrik N. Mjaaseth, MS, University of Oslo
  All-Trans Retinoic Acid Alters Fatty Acid Metabolism in Human Myotubes Through Modulation of Mitochondrial Activity