Stephanie Ann Atkinson, PhD, DSc (honoris causa), FCAHS, FASN
Professor
Department of Pediatrics
McMaster University
Dr. Stephanie Atkinson is a tenured Professor and nutrition clinician-scientist in the Department of Pediatrics, Associate Member, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University and Special Professional Staff in McMaster Children's Hospital and former Associate Chair, Research, Department of Pediatrics. Her career-long research in vitamin D and bone health extend from premature infants to children at risk of skeletal disorders due to nutritional deficiencies, glucocorticoid drug exposure and/or diseases such as lymphoblastic leukemia and cystic fibrosis and in pregnancy. Current research is approached through the lens of the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD), in the conduct of randomized clinical trials and epidemiological investigations of the environmental (nutrition), genetic and biochemical factors during fetal, neonatal and early childhood life that play a role in defining the offspring phenotype and as risk determinants for non-communicable diseases including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. Distinguished elected positions include a Governor-in-Council appointment to the inaugural Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), President of the American Society for Nutrition, Chair of the Institute Advisory Board of the CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Maternal, Infant, Child and Youth Health Research Network (MICYRN). Dr. Atkinson is an elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the American Society of Nutrition and received an honorary Doctor of Science from Western University. Invitational knowledge translation activities directed to inform practice and policy include serving as member or chair of expert advisory panels for the World Health Organization/Food & Agricultural Organization, the National Academies of Science, Engineering & Medicine, the National Institutes of Health (NICCHD), Health Canada, and Osteoporosis Canada.