Position(s):
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Bioscience & Biotechnology

Office: 231 Stratton Hall

Phone: (215) 895-5834 (Office)
           
Email: irene.olsen@drexel.edu

B.S. - Food Science & Nutrition, University of Massechusetts, Amherst
M.S. - Nutrition Science, Tufts University
Ph.D. - Nutrition Science, Tufts University
Post-Doc - Gastroenterology & Nutrition, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia

Courses Taught

BIO121: Physiology and Nutrition
NFS 730: Nutritional Assessment

My research focuses on the early origins of obesity and disease in premature infants and the role that nutrition plays as an early exposure. Premature infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) seem to accrete more body fat than fetuses of the same gestational age yet the long term sequelae of this are unknown. Research has shown that being small in weight at birth and experiencing rapid weight gain postnatally puts full-term infants at higher risk for obesity and adult diseases. For all of these reasons, it seems that premature infants may be at high risk for these adverse outcomes as well. Based on my clinical experience, I believe that an initial step in understanding the risks of premature infants should include the addition of a measure of body proportionality, like body mass index (BMI) used in children and adults, to the growth assessment of premature infants in the NICU as a proxy for body fatness. I have conducted a retrospective analysis of a large database of premature infants from Cincinnati that supports the need for such a measure in the NICU setting. My early research focused on the impact of nutrition on the growth of premature infants in a multi-site retrospective study that found that protein intake was the strongest predictor of growth in premature infants after controlling for other factors known to impact growth. The next step in my research is to start a longitudinal cohort of premature infants enrolled at birth and followed during their NICU stay and after discharge. Prospective data on dietary intake, growth measurements, body composition and blood samples will be collected to answer questions about the early and later risks of obesity and related diseases in premature infants based on their early NICU exposures, in particular dietary intake.

For some of Dr. Olsen's published work [...click here...]

Post-Docs and Graduate Students

Personal/Laboratory Website(s):