Dr. Nicola McKeown is a Scientist I in the Nutritional Epidemiology Program at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and Associate Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. She is internationally renowned for her research examining the role of whole grains in promoting health. She has made significant contributions to improving our understanding of the impact of different carbohydrate sources on abdominal adiposity, weight gain, metabolic syndrome, and CVD risk. She is the PI of an innovative project to develop a publically available dietary fiber database, which compiles and synthesizes the current and emerging body of literature linking dietary fibers to human health outcomes. She is a scientific advisor to the Whole Grains Council, serves on the editorial board of Nutrition Today, is a fellow of the Obesity Society and is the 2014 recipient of the General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition Innovation Award. Her current research employs large observational datasets to examine the interaction between diet and genetic predisposition to cardiometabolic risk. In addition, she is PI of the Adhering to Dietary Approaches for Personal Taste (ADAPT) cohort, a web-based study to capture data on diet and behavior among followers of popular diets. Dr. McKeown received a BS in Human Nutrition from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland and a PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology from the University of Cambridge in England.