ActivEarth: Can Your Commute Get You Healthier?

Guest Bio: Janet Walberg Rankin, MD

Dr. Janet Walberg Rankin joined the Graduate School in August 2009. On campus, Dr. Rankin served as Chair of the Food, Nutrition, and Health Initiative during 2001. She was Acting Department Head for the department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise in Spring 2002. She was appointed as Associate Director in August 2003 and then Interim Director in October 2003-July 2006 of the new Institute for Biomedical and Public Health Sciences at Virginia Tech.

Dr. Rankin is a Professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise at Virginia Tech. She received her academic training at Duke University (B.S. in Zoology 1977) and University of California at Davis (Ph.D. in Nutrition 1982). She has taught courses in Exercise Physiology, Preventive and Therapeutic Value of Exercise, Sports Nutrition, and Exercise Metabolism. She was awarded the Certificate of Teaching Excellence in 1993.

Research from her laboratory is related to sports nutrition or interventions for obesity. The overarching goal of current research in her laboratory is to clarify the optimal nutritional strategy to reduce inflammation and related health complications. Specific interventions evaluated include variations of dietary macronutrient mix, energy balance, specific foods, and dietary supplements.

Her involvement with professional organizations has included membership on the Executive Board and later as President of the Southeast Chapter of American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). She is a Fellow of ACSM, served as Vice President for ACSM, is an Associate Editor for the official ACSM journal, and has been a member or chair on many national committees for this organization. Dr. Rankin has served as a panelist for NASA Peer Review Services and USDA Intramural grant review of Diet and Disease Prevention and Health Promotion proposals. She was on the writing team for the revision of the ACSM position stand on exercise and obesity and on the Institute of Medicine committee charged with making recommendations related to use of dietary supplements in military personnel. She was a member of the Science Advisory Board for the Gatorade Sports Science Institute from 1996-2008.