News Releases: Iowa State University

QUICK LINKS
Today's News
News releases
ISU homepage

NEWS RELEASE

04-01-03

Contacts:
D. Lee Alekel, food science and human nutrition, (515) 294-3552
Lani McKinney, food science and human nutrition communications,
(515) 294-4432
Teddi Barron, News Service, (515) 294-4778

ISU PROFESSOR RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD FOR RESEARCH

AMES, Iowa -- D. Lee Alekel, associate professor of nutrition at Iowa State University, is recipient of the 2003 Mead Johnson Award for research in nutrition from the American Society for Nutritional Sciences (ASNS).

The award honors a single outstanding piece of nutrition research or a series of papers on the same subject accomplished within 10 years of postgraduate training.

ASNS honored Alekel for her multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to research on the effect of isoflavone-rich soy in perimenopausal women. On the basis of this research, she has initiated a multi-center clinical trial on the effect of isoflavones on bone health of postmenopausal women.

The award, which includes a plaque and $2,500, will be presented April 12 in San Diego at the Experimental Biology 2003 annual meeting.

Alekel joined the faculty at Iowa State in 1996. Her research focuses on how the skeletal system of mid-life women responds to various dietary factors--such as soy isoflavones--and to physical activity, and whether these factors impact other physiological systems.

Alekel earned a bachelor's degree in 1979 from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; master's degree in 1985 from Pennsylvania State University, State College; and doctoral degree in 1993 from the University of Illinois-Urbana. All of her degrees are in nutrition sciences. In 1980, she completed a clinical internship from Kansas University Medical Center.

-30-