HOPE LAB
Collaborators
Steven K Clinton, MD, PhD
Dr. Clinton is a senior leader at The Ohio State University, where he is a Professor in the Division of Medical Oncology and also leads the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has served on the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research Panel and the 2015 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans and has experience completing NIH clinical trials evaluating cancer biomarkers. His research focuses primarily upon mechanisms of carcinogenesis and the prevention of cancer by diet and nutritional strategies. He is a physician-scientist who divides his effort between clinical care and research.
Amrik Khlasa, MD
Dr. Khalsa is an Assistant Professor of pediatrics at Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University. As a dual-trained Internal Medicine and Pediatrics physician, he sees patients and precepts residents at the Nationwide Children's Hospital South High Primary Care Clinic. Dr. Khalsa’s research interests lie in obesity prevention, with a focus in early childhood and families from disadvantaged backgrounds. Prior work has included understanding parents’ role in shaping infant and early childhood feeding practices and how this affects infant growth trajectories. Current work focuses on examination of the role of parenting and parental influences on their child’s risk of obesity.
Fang Fang Zhang, MD
Dr. Zhang is a cancer epidemiologist and her research investigates the role of nutrition in cancer prevention and control. Her research in nutrition and cancer survivorship has led pioneering studies investigating patterns of weight gain during and after cancer treatment and associated risk factors such as dietary intake and levels of energy expenditure in pediatric survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Dr. Zhang has recently completed the development of a web- and mobile-based nutrition intervention program to help parents transition their families into healthy eating and active living as soon as the child completes the early stages of cancer treatment.
Kevin Evans, PhD, RT, (R) (M) (BD), RDMS, RVS, FSDMS, FAIUM
Dr. Kevin Evans is a Professor in The Ohio State University's College of Medicine and School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Dr. Evans is certified with the ARDMS for Physics and Instrumentation, Abdominal Sonography, OB/Gyn Sonography, certified by CCI in Vascular Technology, and is an ARRT certified Radiographer specializing in mammography and bone densitometry. He is a Fellow with the SDMS and an active member of AIUM, ASRT, and AIERS. Dr Evans is a Past President of SDMS and the Chair of the ARDMS. He is a dedicated educator and his primary professional interests include medical imaging, ergonomics, and sonography innovation.
Beth Grainger, PhD, RD, LD
Dr. Grainger is a Clinical Research Specialist in The Ohio State University’s College of Medicine and Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Grainger brings extensive expertise regarding planning, implementation, evaluation, and interpretation of nutrition specific research and data. Previous projects involve investigating the role of functional foods, exercise, and dietary patterns in cancer prevention. Her experience includes behavioral and translational studies and as a Registered Dietitian and academic researcher, she works within a multidisciplinary structure to carry out nutrition research to answer globally important nutrition questions.
Maxine Mendelson, MS, RD, LD
Maxine is a Registered Dietitian and Clinical Research Specialist for the Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. She has 4 years of experience as a clinical research nutritionist and has lead recruitment, screening enrollment, the coordination of study visits, nutritional education, and analysis for a current clinical trial.
Pat Bebo, MS, RDN
Pat Bebo leads The Ohio State University Extension Family and Consumer Sciences Program with over 170 staff and over $10 million in funding. In addition, she gives lead to the statewide federal nutrition education programs, SNAP-Ed and EFNEP. She has participated in many community and state level obesity prevention initiatives and is extensively involved in nutrition policy development. She has had considerable experience in the development of nutrition focused curricula for all ages and has been involved in several award-winning community obesity prevention initiatives.
Jennifer Lobb, MPH, RD, LD
Jenny Lobb is the Family and Consumer Sciences Educator for OSU Extension in Franklin County. She specializes in food, nutrition and wellness and likes to teach on topics such as mindfulness, healthy eating and active living.
Nicole Stigall, PHD Candidate, MS
Nicole Stigall is a registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer and a full time PhD student. Nicole’s interests center around the utilization of ultrasound in preventative medicine and predicting potential risk factors for metabolic conditions and cardiovascular disease. Her primary research focus is the use of ultrasound to analyze visceral fat, subcutaneous fat and carotid arteries in the children. Nicole will be working to expand the concept of cardiovascular disease and other risk factors within the pediatric population.
Brett Loman, PHD, RD, LD
Brett is postdoctoral researcher and registered dietitian interested in how microbiome and intestine-derived molecules communicate with other organs (including the gut-brain and enterohepatic axes) to influence health and disease.
Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Lab Team
Glenn Mills, MS and Anna Biggs select, plant, maintain, and provide education for all produce grown at HOPE Gardens. Glenn Mills, MS is the Field Operations Manager and Anna Biggs is the Program Coordinator for Waterman Farms. Both Glenn and Anna have extensive knowledge related to agriculture, food systems, and nutrition.
Our Team of Wonderful Interns and Volunteers
The service-learning component of our laboratory training continues to grow, allowing our students to have real-world experiential learning opportunities. These experiences include provision of evidence-based nutrition information and social support to research participants through group education sessions and guided produce harvesting, data collection and analysis, and other tasks essential to the mission of HOPE Lab.
Brian Focht, PhD
Dr. Focht is a Professor of Kinesiology and the Director of the Exercise and Behavioral Medicine Lab at The Ohio State University. He is an Associate Member of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Focht is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, a National Strength and Conditioning Association Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and has served as a consultant to the National Institutes of Health, Italian Ministry of Health, and Canadian Cancer Society. Dr. Focht’s extensive research on lifestyle intervention focuses upon exercise oncology, specifically in the implementation of lifestyle weight management interventions in the supportive care of cancer patients and survivors.
Kelly Kelleher, MD, MPH
Dr. Kelleher is Vice President of Community Health and Services Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Center Director in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health in the Colleges of Medicine and Public Health at The Ohio State University. He is a pediatrician and health services researcher focused on improving and measuring the quality of care for high-risk children and their families.
Michael Bailey, PhD
Dr. Bailey is a Principal Investigator in the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University. Dr. Bailey has nearly 20 years of experience studying bidirectional interactions between host physiology and the microbes that naturally reside within the gastrointestinal tract (i.e., the gut microbiota). Dr. Bailey’s studies were among the first to show that stressful situations can lead to changes in the composition of the gut microbiota, and his current studies focus on the impact that changes to gut microbiota composition have on the functioning of the immune system and on nervous system activity.
Xiaokui (Molly) Mo, PhD
Dr. Mo is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. She contributes a unique skill set with a background in chemistry and expertise in basic experimental design, general data analysis, high dimensional data analysis, correlation data analysis using publicly available databases (GEO, TCGA, etc.), and data summarization and interpretation using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA certified analyst).
Ingrid Adams, PhD, RDN, LD
Dr. Adams is an Associate Extension Professor and Specialist for Nutrition and Weight Management at The Ohio State University. Her research focuses on ensuring evidence-based interventions are effectively delivered within clinical practices and community settings, so as to bridge the gap between bench science and community programming. Her professional areas of interest include critical thinking, food, health and human behaviors, diabetes and other chronic diseases, program development/evaluation, dissemination/implementation research, and health disparity.
