4/29/08

Nutritionist invested with inaugural Rice Professorship at KU Medical Center

KANSAS CITY, KAN. — Professor Susan Carlson, Ph.D., was invested April 29 with a professorship established by a gift from the estate of A.J. Rice of Graham County, Kan. The professorship will help support her research on docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid found in high concentrations in the brain and retina.

Carlson, a faculty member at the University of Kansas School of Allied Health, is conducting several clinical trials including one in pregnant women designed to determine if supplementing pregnant women with DHA can benefit infant and childhood development. She is working with KU researcher John Colombo, Ph.D. The goal of their trials is to determine the effects of pre- and postnatal DHA on visual and cognitive development. DHA is found in high concentrations in the brain and retina.

The Rice Professorship will provide salary support to Carlson, who had been the Midwest Dairy Professor of Nutrition since 1999. She is a member of the American Nutrition Society and the American Pediatric Society, She is a charter member of the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids and consulting editor for the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

A.J. Rice moved to Atchison County, Kan., from New York in 1873. He started buying farmland and at one time held the title to over 18,000 acres in Graham, Rooks and Atchison counties. Although Rice was respected for his knowledge of Kansas soils and the ability to improve the farms he acquired, he had many interests beside agriculture. An avid reader, Rice became interested in medical topics concerning public health and the prevention of diseases. His will reflected these interests and divided the proceeds from his investments chiefly between
the University of Kansas and Kansas Wesleyan University.

“I am very proud of Dr. Carlson's research accomplishments concerning DHA supplementation,” said Karen Miller, RN, PhD, Dean of the School of Allied Health and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs at KU Medical Center. “Her work has been vital in producing healthy outcomes for some of our smallest and most important patients.”

The KU School of Allied Health was established in 1974 and has more than 20 academic programs in nine departments, with an enrollment of 193 undergraduate and 363 graduate students. Approximately 200 students graduate from the school annually. Several of KU School of Allied Health programs are consistently ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report.

The Rice gift is managed by KU Endowment, the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

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