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NEWS RELEASE

8-30-02

Contacts:
Carol Meeks, Family and Consumer Sciences, (515) 294-5980
Stephen Howell, Plant Sciences Institute, (515) 294-5267
Teddi Barron, News Service, (515) 294-4778

NEW DIRECTOR NAMED FOR ISU'S CENTER FOR DESIGNING FOODS TO IMPROVE NUTRITION

AMES, Iowa -- Paul Flakoll, a leading clinical nutrition biochemist at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, has been named director of Iowa State University's Center for Designing Foods to Improve Nutrition (CDFIN). His appointment is effective January 1, 2003.

Flakoll is a research associate professor in the departments of surgery and biochemistry at Vanderbilt. He is director of the Diabetes Research and Training Center's amino acid core laboratory in the Clinical Nutrition Research Unit, Section of Surgical Sciences.

CDFIN is a research center in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, the College of Agriculture and the Plant Sciences Institute.

"I'm really pleased we were able to hire someone of Paul's caliber. We are all looking forward to his arrival, and what his leadership will mean for the center," said Carol Meeks, dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Flakoll earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in animal science at Iowa State. He was a postdoctoral research fellow in diabetes and endocrinology at Vanderbilt University in 1988 and joined the department of surgery as a research assistant professor in 1990.

Flakoll has researched protein and amino acid metabolism, macro-nutrient substrate interaction, and endocrinology and regulation of growth. He is the author of more than 50 research publications and the co-holder of two patents. He teaches courses in molecular physiology and metabolic regulation in vivo to graduate and medical students.

Flakoll is a fellow of the American College of Nutrition and a reviewer for several research journals, including Diabetes and American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. He is a consultant on exercise and nutrition for medical personnel in the U.S. Marine Corps, National Basketball Association, National Football League and Major League Baseball.

Flakoll replaces CDFIN director Diane Birt, professor and chair of the food science and human nutrition department. Birt will continue as department chair and will focus on her work as program leader for the National Institutes of Health's $6 million grant to ISU for research on dietary botanical supplements.

Colin Scanes, professor of animal science, will serve as CDFIN's interim director, beginning September 1. Scanes was interim director of the Plant Sciences Institute from October 1999 through December 2000.

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