Beck elected as ASN director-at-large
April 18, 2016
Dr. Melinda Beck
Melinda Beck, PhD, professor and associate chair of nutrition in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been elected as a director-at-large in the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), effective June 1, for a two-year term.
The ASN, with more than 5,000 members, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing together the world’s top researchers, clinical nutritionists and industry representatives to advance knowledge and application of nutrition for the betterment of humans and animals.
Beck, whose primary research interests include aging, diabetes, infectious diseases and obesity, has been a member of the Gillings School faculty since 1992. She studies the relationship between host nutrition and the immune response to infectious disease. Using a mouse model of obesity, she currently is exploring the mechanisms for high mortality from influenza infection in obese mice, compared with lean mice.
“We are proud that Dr. Beck has been selected to serve in this important leadership position in the nation’s premier nutrition society,” said Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, PhD, Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor and chair of nutrition. “It is a great personal honor for her and for UNC’s nutrition department.”
Beck said she was pleased to have been elected.
“My main focus will be to ensure that the ASN is the go-to organization for credible and authoritative information concerning human nutrition,” she said.
Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu
