Dr. Stephanie Waldrop Joins Pennington Biomedical Research Center

Baton Rouge, LA, December 06, 2024 --(PR.com)-- Dr. Stephanie Waldrop recently joined Pennington Biomedical as an assistant professor in the Clinical Sciences division. With extensive medical and research training in pediatrics, Dr. Waldrop will work closely with the ongoing Pennington Biomedical studies for children and adolescents.

Dr. Waldrop’s unique professional experience started with an interest in nutrition and international health through her pursuit of a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree. Her research led her to Guatemala, a nation that at the time that was undergoing the Nutrition Transition, where the focus of her interest included malnutrition and maternal and child health. She brings this wealth of knowledge and comprehensive insight to Pennington Biomedical.

Get to know more about Dr. Stephanie Waldrop and the work she is doing in the field of childhood nutrition.

How did you originally get involved with this kind of work?
"I became interested in nutrition and chronic disease because of studies undertaken during my graduate education in public health and international health. I worked with groups of physician-scientists at the Center for Studies of Sensory Impairment, Aging, and Metabolism (CeSSIAM) under the direction of Dr. Noel Solomons and Manolo Mazariegos during my master's program in public health. These physician-scientists were interested in studying the effects of the Nutrition Transition occurring in low- and middle-income countries and its impact on the health of these populations," Waldrop said.

How has the Nutrition Transition impacted the direction of your research?
"The Nutrition Transition is defined as changes in dietary consumption habits and physical activity habits that result from larger economic, social, and demographic changes taking place worldwide. The investigators with which I worked were interested in studying the change from primarily plant-based diets that were high in fiber to dietary patterns characterized by increased intake of animal products, processed sugars, and saturated fats. They wanted to understand how such changes were affecting the health and prevalence of chronic diseases within these populations, particularly because of the history of endemic undernutrition and its results, such as stunted growth and suboptimal development. Thus, it was in Guatemala that I was exposed to Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) Theory, which left an indelible impression on me and is evident in my present research interests and endeavors," Waldrop said.

She added, "My interest in pediatrics was heavily influenced by my graduate studies in international health because health interventions and programs in the field at the time of my training were primarily focused on optimizing maternal and child health outcomes in low- and middle- income nations. While in Guatemala, I also realized that some of the same experiences faced by the children in low resource settings were also experienced by children in the United States living in low resource settings."

What drew you to this opportunity with Pennington Biomedical Research Center?
"Pennington Biomedical's history and reputation as a leader in nutrition and metabolism, as well as obesity research, and the potential for obesity phenotyping, is what drew me to the opportunity here. My "tools" as a physician were clinical assessment, evaluation, diagnosis, and management. My clinical experiences abroad and here in the U.S. in various settings continued to feed a curiosity about the origins of the health conditions I was seeing in my patients. Thus, I chose to pursue more specialized training in obesity medicine, serving as a physician nutrition specialist. I couple it with further advanced training in translational, epidemiologic and clinical research in pediatric nutrition and obesity, with a specific interest in epigenetics and DOHaD," Waldrop said.

What are some of the things you are looking forward to accomplishing at Pennington Biomedical?
"I am interested in the potential for epigenetic signatures, namely DNA methylation, to serve as a prognostic biomarker for risk of early onset severe obesity and, although a much loftier idea, whether such signatures could aid in the identification of more precise therapeutic strategies" Waldrop said. "From a clinical standpoint, I hope to contribute to the current studies in progress here on the evaluation of GLP-1 RAs in children and adolescents, serving as a medical investigator for many of these trials already in progress. Additionally, I will assist in the formulation of pediatric obesity clinical practice recommendations in primary care settings, as well as collaborate on studies evaluating energy expenditure in infancy. It would also be my desire to collaborate with pediatric hospitals in the region, including Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital, The Children's Hospital of New Orleans, and Ochsner Children’s Hospital, so that together we can advance work in the fields of pediatric nutrition and obesity medicine."