VLAG FLASH - December 2007, Edition 12
Between 13-27 October 2007, 26 PhD students from the Division of Human Nutrition visited 7 well-known universities and research institutes in the North-eastern part of the United States of America. After spending a sunny Sunday in Boston for sight seeing, the scientific part of the tour started at Tufts University on Monday the 15th. High quality presentations were given by our PhD students as well as by PhD students from Tufts during the seminar on ageing and during poster sessions. After the staff seminar given by our professor Lisette de Groot, Tufts invited us for a wine and cheese reception, during which we could meet their researchers, including dr. Nevin Scrimshaw, who is famous for his work in the field of Nutritional deficiency.
The next day we went to Harvard University, also located in Boston. Many faculty members working at the Harvard School of Public Health were present, with whom we had fascinating debates about the pro's and con's of folate fortification of flour and whether alcohol intake should be considered a risk or protective factor in relation to certain diseases. In the evening we had dinner with dr. Walter Willett.
On Wednesday, we travelled from Boston to New York City. Halfway we stopped for a Yale campus tour. In New York, we had a day off. Friday morning very early we left for Cornell University in Ithaca. At Cornell, the topics of our symposia were molecular nutrition, which is one of their specialties, as well as on international nutrition, leading to interesting and interactive talks and posters. After sharing hotel rooms in Boston and sharing dorms in New York, it was very pleasant to spend a few nights in the houses of students and faculty members of Cornell University. Most of us were provided with a private bedroom, and some even with their own bathroom! It was a really good opportunity to spend some time in an American family home. During our stay at Ithaca, Cornell organised its annual Cooking Event, during which students and staff cooked their own special dishes at the University, which everybody could taste. We introduced some nice Dutch and Indonesian dishes which were very much appreciated by the Americans.
After a long bus ride to Philadelphia including a short visit to an Amish farm market, we went to Penn State University in University Park where we had presentations on eating behaviour and diabetes. After the presentations, we addressed several case-studies of weight management strategies in discussion groups.
The next day, Wednesday 24th, we spent at Monell Chemical Senses Laboratory. We were impressed by the wide range of research activities and the intensive interaction between different expertises in the field of chemical senses present at Monell. After presentations on our research and their research, they showed us the research facilities of Monell, including the animal laboratories.
Thursday, our bus took us to Baltimore to visit Johns Hopkins University. The main topics of the presentations were cardiovascular diseases and cancer, including a very interesting presentation by dr. Eliso Guallar from Johns Hopkins on the disadvantages of inappropriate multivitamin use.
For the last day of our scientific program, we were invited by the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. The NIH comprises 27 Institutes and Centers, including the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, which hosted our visit. We first exchanged a general overview of research activities at Human Nutrition and NIH, followed by parallel tours to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and to the NIH Clinical Center: America's largest hospital devoted entirely to clinical research. During the afternoon we had 4 more parallel sessions on ageing, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and micronutrients.
Saturday morning we had a few hours for some sightseeing in Washington DC. In the afternoon we returned to the Netherlands. In summary, we broadened our scientific knowledge, expanded and strengthened our networks, we made plans for collaboration and we were impressed by all the hospitable people that we met: we had a wonderful time as well in the scientific as the social perspective!!!!
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| Poster session and reception at Cornell University, Ithaca | Harvard University, Boston |