Advisory Committee John D. Fernstrom, Ph.D. John D. Fernstrom is Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Research Director of the UPMC Health System Weight Management Center, and Director of the Basic Neuroendocrinology Program of the Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic. He received his S.B. in Biology and his Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry & Metabolism from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology in Nutley NJ. Before coming to the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Fernstrom was Assistant and then Associate Professor of Physiology in the Department of Nutrition & Food Science at MIT. He has served on numerous advisory committees; he is presently a member of the International Advisory Council, Monell Chemical Senses Center. He is a past member of the Standing Committee on the Scientific Evaluation of Dietary Reference Intakes, National Academy of Sciences, the Finance Committee of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, the Council of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, and a former chairman of the Nervous System Section of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences. He is a member of numerous professional societies, including the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, the Endocrine Society, the American Society for Clinical Nutrition, the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, the American Society for Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, the American Physiological Society, the American Society for Neurochemistry, and the Society for Neuroscience. Among other awards, Dr. Fernstrom received the Mead-Johnson Award of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, a Research Scientist Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (US), a Wellcome Visiting Professorship in the Basic Medical Sciences, and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in Neurochemistry. His current research interests concern the influence of diet and drugs on the synthesis of neurotransmitters in the central and peripheral nervous systems, and the pharmacologic and surgical treatment of obesity. Dr. Fernstrom has published over 200 articles and reviews in his areas of expertise, and has edited the proceedings of three scientific conferences. Jeffrey I. Mechanick, M.D. Dr. Mechanick received his M.D. degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 1985. He then completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in 1988. After returning to Mount Sinai to complete fellowship training in Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition in 1990, Dr. Mechanick started private practice in Manhattan in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Support. Since then, he has become the Director of Metabolic Support and an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease at The Mount Sinai Hospital. He continues to care for patients with diabetes and nutritional disorders, as well as train physicians in endocrinology and nutrition. Dr. Mechanick has authored over 80 scientific publications in endocrinology and nutrition. His research interests are in the fields of parenteral nutrition support, chronic critical illness and stress hyperglycemia. He is on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and also serves as the Chairman of the AACE Nutrition and Publication Committees. Dr. Mechanick is an Associate Editor for Endocrine Practice. In addition, Dr. Mechanick is currently serving as President of the American Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists. Dr. Mechanick lectures extensively around the country in endocrinology and nutrition. Stuart M. Phillips, Ph.D. Stuart Phillips is currently an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology and an associate member of the Graduate Faculty in the Health Sciences (Department of Medicine) at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He received a B.Sc. (Honours) in Biochemistry (1989) and an M.Sc. in Nutritional Biochemistry (1991), both from McMaster University, and a Ph.D. in Kinesiology from Waterloo University (1995). He was then a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Robert Wolfe at the University of Texas Medical branch (’95-’97) and a research fellow in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University (’97-’99) before becoming an assistant professor in the same department in 1999. He was promoted to associate professor in 2001. Dr. Phillips’ research program is centered around the interaction between protein and amino acids, in combination with exercise, on human tissue protein turnover. Dr. Phillips is a past recipient of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology’s Graduate Student and Young Investigator Award. He is currently a recipient of the Ontario Premier’s Research Excellence Award as well as New Investigator Award Recipient from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. Dr. Phillips is also the assistant coach to the McMaster University Men’s Varsity Rugby Team and has a keen interest in the impact of nutrition on sports performance. Kunio Torii, Ph.D. Dr. Kunio Torii is the Director of Ajinomoto Co. Inc.’s Institute of Life Sciences in Kawasaki, Japan where he leads research for the Nutritional Neuroscience Physiology and Nutrition Group. Dr. Torii received a DVM in Animal Physiology from the Tokyo University Department of Veterinary Science in 1971 and later went on to receive a Ph.D. in Animal Nutrition from the Tokyo University Department of Agricultural Chemistry. Dr. Torii has conducted extensive research that focuses on the central mechanism of homeostatic control by the brain and adaptive functions to prolonged marginal malnutrition and/or metabolic disorders with neuronal plasticity such as L-lysine deficiency, exercise and diabetes mellitus. He is a council member of several international societies, including the American Society for Neuroscience, American Society for Chemical Senses, and the International Behavioral Neuroscience. He lectures at more than 20 universities in Japan annually to encourage young students to become creative scientists. Robert R. Wolfe, Ph.D. Dr. Robert R. Wolfe holds a B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Institute of Environmental Stress. His broad area of investigation is the metabolic response to stress, including exercise. His particular focus is muscle metabolism in human subjects, quantified using stable isotope tracer methodologies. He is currently Professor, Department of Surgery and John H. Sealy Distinguished Chair in Clinical Research at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and Chief, Metabolism Unit at Shriners Hospital for Children, Galveston Burns Hospital, Galveston, Texas.