Dr. Alice H Lichtenstein is the Stanley N. Gershoff Professor of Nutrition Science and Policy in the Friedman School, and Director and Senior Scientist of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA), both at Tufts University. She holds secondary appointments as an Associated Faculty member in the Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies at Tufts Medical Center and Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. In 2005 Dr. Lichtenstein was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from the medical faculty of the University of Kuopio in Finland. Dr. Lichtenstein completed her undergraduate work at Cornell University, holds a Master’s degree from the Pennsylvania State University, and masters and doctoral degrees from Harvard University. She received her post-doctoral training in the field of lipid metabolism at the Cardiovascular Institute at Boston University School of Medicine.
At the HNRCA Dr. Lichtenstein’s research group focuses on assessing the interplay between diet and cardiovascular disease risk factors. Past and current work includes addressing issues related to trans fatty acids, soy protein and isoflavones, sterol/stanol esters, novel vegetable oils differing in fatty acid profile and glycemic index, in postmenopausal females and older males. Selected issues are investigated in animal models and cell systems with the aim of determining the mechanisms by which dietary factors alter cardiovascular disease risk. Additional work is focused on population-based studies to assess the relationship between nutrient biomarkers and cardiovascular disease risk, application of systematic review methodology to the field of nutrition and most recently the impact of taste perception on diet quality.
Dr. Lichtenstein has served on committees for the American Heart Association, National Academies of Sciences, Food and Drug Administration, and US Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. She received the 2019 Conrad A. Elvehjem Award for Public Service in Nutrition from the American Society for Nutrition, 2020 Mozaffarian Family Award for Public Impact from the Friedman School at Tufts University, 2022 Kritchevsky Lectureship from the American Heart Association Lifestyle Council, and the 2022 Atwater Lectureship from American Society for Nutrition. She currently serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Lipid Research, and Executive Editor of the Tufts Health and Nutrition Letter.