CRN, ASN Honor Two Doctors

WASHINGTONJoel Mason, M.D., and Hong Chen, Ph.D., were honored with the Mary Swartz Rose Senior Investigator Award and the Mary Swartz Rose Young Investigator Award respectively, at the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting held in conjunction with Experimental Biology 2010 in Anaheim, Calif. The awards, jointly presented by ASN and the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), are given with the intent to recognize outstanding research on the safety and efficacy of bioactive compounds for human health. 

It is gratifying to partner with ASN to honor scientists for their work, and it is a particular privilege to present the 2010 Mary Swartz Rose awards to both Mason and Chen as their work is critical for further understanding the role of nutrition in colon cancer, said Andrew Shao, Ph.D., senior vice president, scientific and regulatory affairs, CRN. As a new Sustaining Member of ASN, we look forward to collaborating with this fine organization for years to come.

Mason, scientist I, Vitamins and Carcinogen Lab, Human Nutrition Research Center, Tufts University, first began studying how the intake of folate and other 1-carbon nutrients modulate the risk of developing cancer in the 1980s, helping turn the field of which he was a pioneer into one of the most popular fields in nutrition research. His laboratorys clinical trials were among the first to define how folate supplementation impacts on molecular events in the colon. More recently, he has been a proponent of the duel effect of folate on cancer, hypothesizing that the rise in colorectal cancer rates in North America in the mid-1990s was related to excessive amounts of folic acid in the foodstream. Mason currently serves on the Professional Education Committee of the American Society for Nutrition and the editorial board of the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.

Chen, assistant professor, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois, Urbana, has established herself as an important contributor to the understanding of the role of epigenetic modifications on colon cancer and prevention, as well as how they are regulated by dietary components in colon tumor cells and animal models. In the future, Chens current hypothesis which is under investigation could help in the understanding of soy bioactives and their effects on the epigenome and may ultimately aid in the development of efficacious dietary interventions for colon cancer prevention.