The Department of Nutritional Sciences is pleased to host distinguished experts in nutritional sciences each year for the Jean Andrews Centennial Lecture series.
2025 Jean Andrews Distinguished Lecture
Dr. Ed Viesturs
“No Shortcuts to the Top:
Nutrition and Science on the World’s Highest Mountains”
Near the edge of the Earth’s troposphere (the lowest layer of our atmosphere), the oxygen availability on the summit of Mount Everest is approximately one third that of sea level. In order to climb the world’s highest mountains, the body must adapt in multiple ways to survive. Dr. Ed Viesturs is the first American to summit all fourteen 8,000+ meter peaks in the Himalaya without bottled oxygen, reaching the top of Everest an astounding seven times! After earning his doctorate in Veterinary Medicine in 1987 while also serving as a guide on Mount Ranier, Dr. Viesturs decided to embrace his passion for climbing the highest peaks of the world full-time, and he has never looked back. Along the way, he has learned much about the nutritional needs of climbers at high altitude, which requires a balance between extremely high energy expenditure and decreasing appetite. In this lecture, along with providing a thrilling description of his path to summiting the world’s highest peaks, Dr. Viesturs will discuss the nutritional challenges of an Everest expedition, from the logistics of purchasing and transporting literally tons of food for an entire climbing team to keeping food from freezing in low temperatures to being able to ingest sufficient calories to meet the energy needs of strenuous climbing in low oxygen conditions. He will also provide insight into the physiological changes that occur with acclimatization, gleaned from his own experience and through his participation in several studies examining the acute and chronic effects of living and working at extreme high altitudes. Dr. Viesturs is a fascinating speaker who brings Everest to life and inspires those at sea level to set ambitious goals and work to achieve them.
Feb. 27, 2025
7 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Welch Hall Auditorium
105 E. 24th St
Room 2.122
The Jean Andrews Centennial Faculty Fellowship in Human Nutrition was established by the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System on June 17, 1983, for the benefit of the Department of Nutritional Sciences and the College of Natural Sciences. Gift funds were provided by Jean Andrews, Ph.D. of Austin, Texas, a 1944 graduate of The University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences.
Past speakers include
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2024 Stephen Hursting, phd |
Stephen Hursting, PhD, MPH, is an international leader in the areas of nutrition, obesity, metabolism, and cancer. He is the Director of the UNC Nutrition Research Institute, and he is also a Professor in the Departments of Nutrition and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. His lab focuses on the molecular and metabolic mechanisms underlying obesity-cancer associations, and the impact of obesity-energy balance modulation (e.g., calorie restriction and exercise) or pharmacologic agents on cancer development, progression, and responses to chemotherapy. Dr. Hursting’s lab has demonstrated that weight loss can reverse or reduce risk for obesity-associated metabolic, inflammatory, and pro-cancer effects. While weight loss can be challenging for many, Dr. Hursting is working to develop weight loss strategies that are both achievable and effective and to understand at the molecular level how the reduction of adiposity can impede cancer development and progression. |
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2023 Dr. Jamy Ard |
Dr. Jamy Ard is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in obesity research and treatment. He is a Professor of Epidemiology and Prevention and the Association Dean of Research at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. His clinical research is focused on studying strategies to treat obesity in adults using a variety of state-of-the-art approaches, ranging from surgery and medications to lifestyle therapy with remote monitoring. His approach to treatment is highly informed by his research, which includes asking relevant research questions that expand how we treat obesity. Dr. Ard’s special expertise is in treating adults where obesity treatment is particularly challenging. This includes individuals from ethnic minority groups, older adults, and those with severe obesity. In the clinic, he is also exploring how to use new obesity treatments to improve the control, or bring about the resolution, of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes. Dr. Ard is President of The Obesity Society, one of the largest professional organizations for obesity researchers and clinicians. | |
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2022 Dr. Emily Oken |
Dr. Emily Oken is a Professor in the Departments of Nutrition at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Population Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute. Dr. Oken’s ground-breaking research examines the role of nutrition, toxicants, and other modifiable factors on pregnancy, early childhood, and long-term maternal and child health. | |
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2021 Dr. Anne McTiernan |
Dr. Anne McTiernan is an internist and epidemiologist at the University of Washington Schools of Public Health and Medicine. Her research is focused on the role of obesity, diet, and exercise on breast cancer risk and prognosis. | |
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2019 Dr. Kevin Hall |
Dr. Kevin Hall is the Integrative Physiology Section Chief and a Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Biological Modeling at the National Institutes of Health. He is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the factors that regulate energy balance.
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| 2018 Dr. Rob Knight |
Dr. Rob Knight is a Professor at the University of California, San Diego. A world leader in gut microbiomes, he is the co-founder of the American Gut Project and the Earth Microbiome Project. | |
| 2017 Dr. Edward Giovanucci |
Dr. Edward Giovanucci is a Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He spoke about nutritional, hormonal, and genetic factors related to various malignancies, especially those of the prostate and large bowel. | |
| 2016 Dr. Bruce Spiegelman |
Dr. Bruce Spiegelman is the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Professor at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. | |
| 2015 Dr. David Heber |
Dr. David Heber is a Professor of Medicine and Public Health and Founding Chief of the Division of Clinical Nutrition in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. | |
| 2014 Dr. Randy Jirtle |
Dr. Randy Jirtle is Professor of Epigenetics at the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Bedfordshire, Bedford, UK and a senior scientist at McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. | |
| 2013 Dr. Walter Willett |
Dr. Walter Willett is the Fredrick John Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health. | |
| 2012 Dr. John Milner |
Dr. John Milner is Chief of the Nutritional Science Research Group in the Division of Cancer Prevention of the National Cancer Institute. | |