Nancy Rodriguez

Background

About Nancy Rodriguez

Nancy Rodriguez is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Connecticut where she served as Director of Sports Nutrition in the Division of Athletics for 17 years A University of Connecticut Teaching Fellow, she established and directed the Nutrition for Exercise and Sport program (1997-2017). Dr. Rodriguez completed a 3-year appointment (2014-2016) to the Science Board for the President’s Council on Fitness, Sport and Nutrition, serving as Chair in 2015, was a member of the Board of Trustees for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM, 2017-2020), and on the Sports Nutrition Advisory Board for Danone USA (2020-2021). Recently elected Vice-President Elect of ACSM, Dr. Rodriguez’s research initiatives in protein, exercise, and health, earned her international recognition. Her work contributed to establishing current protein recommendations for athletes, health, and performance, and was pivotal in demonstrating the role of chocolate milk as a recovery beverage. Her current research endeavors focus on relationships between protein quantity, protein quality and muscle health with specific regard for healthy aging and rehabilitative nutrition. Dr. Rodriguez received her B.S. in Human Nutrition and Foods at Virginia Tech, earned her MS in nutrition and PhD in biochemistry at West Virginia University. She was an NIH Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Mayo Clinic – Rochester. Dr. Rodriguez is an active member of the American Society of Nutrition, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the American College of Sports Medicine. She is on the editorial boards for Medicine & Science for Sports & Exercise (MSSE) and the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism (IJSNEM). She has been a practicing dietitian for over 35 years.