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Sue A. Shapses, Ph.D., RD

Professor of Nutritional Sciences, Rutgers
Director, NEXT Center at the NJ-IFNH
Ph.D. Columbia University, 1988
Sue A. Shapses headshot.

Sue Shapses brings together clinical experience and academic training to study nutritional aspects of disease and works closely with the Department of Medicine at Rutgers-RWJH. She received her MS and PhD from Columbia University followed by postdoctoral training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Critical Care Medicine) and a fellowship at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons (Orthopaedic Biochemistry). She earned her RDN after an internship at Rochester Strong Memorial Medical Center and more recently spent a sabbatical learning in the Department of Medicine/ Division of Endocrinology/Bone Biology, University of Sydney. She served as interim-Chair in the Department of Kinesiology and Health at Rutgers for three years and is currently the Director of the human Nutrition, Exercise and Metabolism Center (NEXT Center) at the NJ-IFNH. Sue held numerous committee and leadership roles at the Institute of Medicine (National Academy of Sciences), NIH, NASA and has served as advisor on industry boards (i.e., Merck, Bayer). She has supervised PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and Assistant Professors (K awards).

The major focus in the laboratory is to determine how obesity and loss of body weight contributes to the risk of osteoporosis and the comorbidities of obesity. A focus in the lab is to determine mechanisms that regulate the rate bone loss during caloric restriction and the role of specific nutrients such as vitamin D, protein and calcium. Hormones, bone turnover and gut peptides are measured using techniques of spectrophotometry, HPLC, and radioimmunoassay, stable isotopes and mass spec to assess absorption. The lab examines healthy individuals with a focus on obesity including gastric bypass patients, and patients with spinal cord injury and diabetes and racial differences in metabolic syndrome. In recent years, Sue's attention has turned to the intersection of how diet affects inflammation, the microbiome, and the timing of food intake to impact bone and glycemic indices.

Obesity, the intestine and bone chart.

Publications can be viewed at: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3128-2325.

Selected Articles and Reviews

Chapters