Dr. Ock K. Chun, Ph.D., MPH

is a Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Connecticut. She completed her B.A in Food and Nutrition in Seoul National University, South Korea, in 1988 and received a PhD in Public Health from the Seoul National University in 1999. Dr. Chun received postdoctoral training in Cornell University (2002-2003) and Michigan State University (2003-2007). She has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is serving as an editorial board member of 14 reputed journals and ad hoc reviewer of more than 60 journals. Dr. Chun chaired in American Society for Nutrition (ASN) Community and Public Health Nutrition RIS in 2016-2018. DR. Chun is a nutritional epidemiologist and her research focuses on the impact of dietary behaviors and bioactive compounds in foods on reducing risk of chronic diseases and improving health outcomes.

Briana Nosal, Honors Undergraduate Student (4+1 MS Program)

is a rising senior, and this summer has done extensive laboratory work through UConn's Summer Undergraduate Research Fund (SURF) and McNair Scholars Program, where she is assessing coffee constituents such as polyphenols and estrogenic chemicals through biochemical assays. She is also assisting with a clinical trial that is evaluating the effect of blackcurrant supplementation on bone health in older women.

Manije Darooghegi, PhD Student

is a first year PhD student in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Connecticut https://today.uconn.edu/2022/12/meet-the-researcher-manije-darooghegi-mofrad-cahnr/. She completed her BSc in Nutritional Sciences in Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in 2016 and received a MSc in Nutritional Sciences in Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2019. She has published 27 papers, including 15 that featured her as the first author, in peer-reviewed journals. Her research interest is nutritional epidemiology especially assessing the role of dietary factors with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Matthew Madore, M.S. Student

is beginning his MS studies in fall 2021, focusing on nutritional epidemiology. He enjoys researching and sharing the implications of dietary patterns in the prevention and management of various chronic diseases. In the few years following the completion of a Bachelor's in Nutritional Sciences, he discovered a strong passion for epidemiology. Through graduate study, he intends to further his knowledge, accumulate work experience and learn how to best communicate the value and utility of nutritional epidemiology in improving human health to others.

Dr. Kijoon Kim, Korean MD, Ph.D.

is a research scientist in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and he is also an Adjunct Professor of the Department of Food and Nutrition at Sookmyung Women’s University. He founded the Kim Kijoon BOM Clinic and the BOM Institute of Nutrition and Natural Medicine. Dr. Kim completed a bachelor’s and master’s degree in material science and engineering at Seoul National University, afterwards earning an additional bachelor’s degree in Korean medicine from Kyung Hee University. Then, he completed his Ph.D. in Nutritional Science from Seoul National University, Korea.

His research scope includes the following: update the flavonoid database and investigate flavonoid intake level; investigate the impact of antioxidant intake on cardiovascular disease risk and mortality; examine the cadmium intake level in U.S. and the impact of smoking on cadmium burden and mortality; examine the association of children’s growth and skeletal development with nutritional adequacy and food intake of U.S. children by NHANES datasets; examine the effect of functional herb ingredients on dietary intake, picky eating behaviors, and growth indices in children; Integrative research approaches by combining Korean personalized medicine and clinical nutrition.