Shaikh to receive Mary Swartz Rose Young Investigator Award
January 24, 2018
Dr. Raza Shaikh
Raza Shaikh, PhD, associate professor of nutrition in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been selected to receive the 2018 Mary Swartz Rose Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Nutrition (ASN).
The award is given to an investigator with fewer than 10 years of postgraduate training; it recognizes outstanding research into the safety and efficacy of bioactive compounds for human health.
Shaikh specializes in the study of how dietary fatty acids regulate immunological and metabolic responses in obesity, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. He currently is focusing on understanding how dietary n-3 polyunsaturated (i.e. omega-3) fatty acids can be developed to enhance the function of antibody-secreting B cells in human and rodent models of health and disease. He also is working on ways to improve the function of mitochondria, which are the energy-producing hubs in a cell.
“I am honored to receive this award,” said Shaikh. Regarding the work that was recognized by the ASN, he added, “We are trying to develop personalized administration of omega-3 fatty acids for select clinical populations to improve immunological outcomes.”
The Young Investigator Award is named in honor of the late Mary Swartz Rose (1874-1941), founder and president of what was then the American Institute of Nutrition (now ASN).
“We share warm congratulations with Raz!” said Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, PhD, Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of Nutrition and chair of the Gillings School’s Department of Nutrition. “We are so proud of his accomplishments, and so very glad he chose to be a Tar Heel.”
Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu
