Two School of Medicine Faculty Named Fulbright Scholars
Lawrence David, PhD, associate professor of molecular genetics and microbiology, and Melanie Thomas, MD, associate professor of medicine, have been named Fulbright Scholars for the 2024-2025 academic year. The Fulbright Scholars Program awards fellowships to faculty, administrators, and other professionals to teach, research, and conduct professional projects for up to one year in more than 135 different countries.
David will spend the year in the Philippines addressing the double burden of malnutrition where undernutrition and obesity coexist. He has developed a DNA sequencing-based tool called FoodSeq to track food intake to help better understand the links between diet and health in the Philippines. FoodSeq uses DNA sequencing to amplify and sequence plant and animal DNA from human stool.
“By tailoring this tool to the Filipino diet,” David said, “we aim to capture accurate dietary data and explore how different food patterns affects health outcomes like stunting and obesity.”