Kathleen Rasmussen, Cornell University

Professor Ithaca, New York kmr5@cornell.edu Office: (607) 255-2290

Expert In

Breastfeeding Infancy Lactation Nutrition Pregnancy

Bio/Research

Dr. Kathleen M. Rasmussen is the Nancy Schlegel Meinig Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition in the Division of Nutritional Sciences and International Professor of Nutritional Science at Cornell University. She received her AB degree from Brown University in molecular biology and both her ScM and ScD degrees from Harvard University in nutrition. Professor Rasmussen is internationally known for her research on maternal and child nutrition. Her research has included studies in experimental species, observational and intervention studies in human subjects in the US and several developing countries, and epidemiologic studies based on data from medical records and large cohorts. She and her students have established that interventions to improve maternal nutritional status can increase the volume and improve the composition of human milk and, thereby, improve infant nutritional status. They have also shown that women who are overweight or obese at conception have problems establishing and maintaining breastfeeding and have babies who are heavier at one year of age than those of normal-weight women. In addition, they have shown that there is a trade-off between meeting the needs of the pregnant or lactating mother and the needs of her fetus/breastfed infant, respectively. Professor Rasmussen has been a member of several expert committees at the Institute of Medicine. She served as the chair of the Committee on Reexamination of IOM Pregnancy Weight Guidelines, and is currently the Chair of the Committee to Review WIC Food Packages. Her research was recognized by the Agnes Higgins Award of the American Public Health Association in 2012.

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