{"id":292,"date":"2023-01-20T16:15:33","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T21:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/mckeown\/?page_id=292"},"modified":"2026-03-17T13:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:27:14","slug":"people","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/mckeown\/people\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Team"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

\"Nicola<\/p>\n

\n

Nicola McKeown, PhD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Principal Investigator<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

Cheryl Gilhooly, PhD, MPH, RD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Gilhooly is a Nutrition Research professional with extensive experience in dietary assessment data collection and management and nutrition interventions in single and multi-site protocols. Dr. Gilhooly has contributed to projects investigating dietary patterns and eating behaviors, including meal patterns, timing, diet quality, and composition. In addition, Dr. Gilhooly has been a co-investigator on multiple dietary intervention trials, contributing to intervention design, implementation, and oversight of quality-controlled intervention delivery. Dr. Gilhooly is a part-time Lecturer at Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Boston University and an Adjunct Instructor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Member<\/p>\n

\n

Nick Siegel<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sr. Graduate Research Assistant (Fall 2023 – Present) | Didactic Program in Dietetics \/ Master of Science in Nutrition + Dietetic Internship \u201826 | Recipient of 2024 Sargent Research Grant<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

\"Eliana<\/p>\n

\n

Eliana Wong<\/strong><\/p>\n

Graduate Research Assistant (Fall 2025 \u2013 Present) | Master of Science in Nutrition + Dietetic Internship (BIDMC Hospital) \u201927<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

Emily Albanese<\/strong><\/p>\n

Graduate Research Assistant (Fall 2024 – Present) | Master of Science in Nutrition + Dietetic Internship (Brigham and Women’s Hospital) ’26<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ana Bel\u00e9n Alonso G\u00f3mez<\/strong><\/p>\n

Graduate Research Assistant (2025) | Master of Science in Nutrition + Dietetic Internship (Boston Medical Center) ’26<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"Member<\/p>\n

\n

Lukas Shan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Undergraduate Research Assistant (Spring 2024-Present) | BS Nutrition \/ BA Biology, Psychology ’27<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Emily Ma<\/strong><\/p>\n

Graduate Research Assistant (Summer 2025 – Present) | Didactic Program in Dietetics \/ MS in Nutrition + Dietetic Internship ’28<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"Mariana<\/p>\n

\n

Mariana Gianulis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Graduate Research Assistant (Fall 2025 \u2013 Present) | Master of Science in Nutrition + Dietetic Internship (Brigham and Women’s Hospital) \u201927<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

For undergraduate and graduate students: The lab has a range of opportunities for students. Please email Dr. McKeown<\/a> with your CV to express your interest. Note: please reach out at the beginning or end of the semester only to ensure ample time to start a project.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Member Accomplishments<\/h2>\n

\"Lukas<\/p>\n

\n

In October 2025, Lukas Shan presented at the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).Lukas’ project, “Development and Testing of an e-Dietary Fiber Tracker,” focuses on creating and evaluating a digital tool to monitor dietary fiber intake.The goal of this project is to develop and test an evidence-based clinical tool that provides physicians with information to help increase their patients\u2019 fiber intake and improve health outcomes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In June 2025, Nick Siegel presented his poster “The Role of Gut Microbial Diversity in the Protective Association Between Plant-Based Diets and Metabolic Syndrome Risk” at Nutrition 2025, the American Society for Nutrition’s (ASN) annual conference in Orlando, FL.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In June 2025, Nick Siegel presented a poster on behalf of Dian Fu, titled “Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis of Dietary Fiber and Bone-Related Outcomes in Children” at Nutrtion 2025, the American Society for Nutrition’s (ASN) annual conference in Orlando, FL.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n
Congratulations to Lukas Shan for earning Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) funding for the Spring 2025 semester. Lukas’s project is “Design and Implementation of an Electronic Dietary Fiber Tracker for Monitoring Intake and Guiding Healthcare Professionals.” The UROP Student Research Award (SRA) will provide a $6,000 stipend for student research over the summer 2025.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Congratulations to both Lukas Shan and Shayna Gutfreund for earning Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) funding for the Fall 2024 semester. Lukas’s project is “Dietary Fiber and Cardiometabolic-Related Outcomes in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis” and Shayna’s project is “E Fiber Screener — Development and Testing of Novel e-Fiber Screener”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"Accomplishment<\/p>\n

\n

Congratulations to M\u00e9lanie Guirette, who successfully defended her doctoral thesis on July 19th, 2024, titled “Application of targeted metabolomics to reveal associations between carbohydrate quality and cardiometabolic risk factors!” Dr. Guirette has now earned a PhD in nutritional epidemiology and data science.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"Accomplishment<\/p>\n

\n

In June 2024, Nick Siegel attended the 2024 Microbiome Bootcamp hosted by Columbia University and Oregon State University. Siegel said the bootcamp gave him “the opportunity to network with fellow microbiome researchers from various fields and locations, worldwide,” and taught him “the necessary skills and background information to begin [his] dive into the field of the gut microbiome.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"Accomplishment<\/p>\n

\n

Congratulations to Shuhan Yang, who was awarded the Sargent College Professional Contribution Award! This award is given to students who show great potential in their chosen profession through scholarship, research, clinical experience, and promotion of one\u2019s program to the community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"Accomplishment<\/p>\n

\n

In June 2023, M\u00e9lanie Guirette presented her talk, “Cross-Sectional Associations between Sweetened Beverage Consumption and Circulating Concentrations of Branched Chain Amino Acids in Five Population-Based Cohorts,” at the Metabolomics Conference in Niagara Falls, Ontario.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"Accomplishment<\/p>\n

\n

In July 2023, Elizabeth Zalis (Crawford) presented her poster “Achieving public health recommendations among followers of self-identified popular dietary patterns” at the Nutrition Conference (American Society for Nutrition) in Boston, MA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Past Members<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

M\u00e9lanie Guirette, PhD<\/p>\n

Defended “Application of targeted metabolomics to reveal associations between carbohydrate quality and cardiometabolic risk factors” thesis summer 2024.<\/p>\n

\n

Shayna Gutfreund<\/p>\n

Undergraduate Research Assistant 2024 | BS\/MPH Dual Degree<\/p>\n

\n

Bella Scherer, MS<\/p>\n

Graduate Research Assistant (2023-2024) | MS Nutrition ’24 | Dietetic Internship 2024<\/p>\n

\n

Dian Fu<\/p>\n

Currently Pursuing an MPH at Harvard University | Undergraduate Research Assistant | UROP Award Recipient (Fall 2023) | BS Nutritional Sciences ’24<\/p>\n

\n

Shuhan Yang<\/p>\n

Currently Pursuing an MPH at Johns Hopkins University | Undergraduate Research Assistant (Fall 2022 – Present) | UROP Award Recipient Spring ’23 and Spring ’24 | BS in Nutrition & Health \u201824 | Sargent College Professional Contribution Award recipient<\/p>\n

\n

Mariana Lozano<\/p>\n

Graduate Research Assistant (Fall 2023) | MS in Nutrition + Dietetic Internship ’24<\/p>\n

\n

Varsha Krishnan<\/p>\n

Graduate Research Assistant (Fall 2023) | MS in Nutrition + Dietetic Internship ’25<\/p>\n

\n

Riya Gopal<\/p>\n

Undergraduate Practicum Experience (2023) | BS in Health Science ’23, MPH Candidate ’24<\/p>\n

\n

Elizabeth Crawford<\/p>\n

Graduate Research Assistant for Dietary Fiber Project (Summer 2022 – January 2024) | DPD\/MS\/DI ’24<\/p>\n

\n

Katherine Newell<\/p>\n

Graduate Research Assistant for Dietary Assessment Project | DPD\/MS\/DI ’23<\/p>\n

\n

Greta Schneider<\/p>\n

Graduate Practicum Experience (May 2023 – Oct. 2023) | MPH Epidemiology & Biostatistics \u201824<\/p>\n

\n

Yunkeli Lin<\/p>\n

Undergraduate Practicum Experience (Fall 2023) | Nutrition Sciences ’24<\/p>\n

\n

Surui Chuai<\/p>\n

Undergraduate Practicum Experience (Fall 2023) | BS in Nutrition & Health \u201924<\/p>\n

\n

Zoe Habershaw<\/p>\n

Graduate Practicum Experience (Spring 2023) | DPD\/MS\/DI ’25<\/p>\n

\n

Aileen Indra<\/p>\n

Undergraduate Practicum Experience (Fall 2022) | BS in Nutrition & Public Health \u201824<\/p>\n

\n

Kirsten Bohnenberger<\/p>\n

Graduate Research Assistant for Dietary Fiber Project (Summer 2022) | DPD\/MS\/DI \u201823<\/p>\n

\n

Xamantha Tjakra<\/p>\n

Website Designer (Fall 2022) | BS in Health Science \u201822, MPH Candidate \u201824<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nicola McKeown, PhD Principal Investigator Cheryl Gilhooly, PhD, MPH, RD Dr. Gilhooly is a Nutrition Research professional with extensive experience in dietary assessment data collection and management and nutrition interventions in single and multi-site protocols. Dr. Gilhooly has contributed to projects investigating dietary patterns and eating behaviors, including meal patterns, timing, diet quality, and composition. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21796,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/no-sidebars.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/mckeown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/mckeown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/mckeown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/mckeown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21796"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/mckeown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/mckeown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":525,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/mckeown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/292\/revisions\/525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/mckeown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}