William G. Helferich, Ph.D., and Hang Xiao, 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 in conjunction with Experimental Biology 2013 in Boston.

The Mary Swartz Rose Awards are jointly presented by the ASN and the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the dietary supplement industry’s leading trade association, and are given with the intent to recognize outstanding research on the safety and efficacy of bioactive compounds for human health.

“CRN is pleased to continue its enduring relationship with ASN, the world’s largest and most influential nutrition research society, by providing these grants to honor and support nutrition researchers,” said Taylor C. Wallace, Ph.D., senior director, scientific and regulatory affairs, CRN. “We are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with this prestigious organization to help advance the scientific agenda within the nutrition field.”

Dr. Helferich, professor in the Food Science & Human Nutrition department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne’s (UIUC) College Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, has spent over 20 years researching and teaching food safety and toxicology. His focus of study lies in the natural chemicals present in foods and the potential effects on chronic diseases. He is currently the director of the National Institute of Health-funded Botanical Research Center at UIUC, "Botanical Estrogens: Mechanisms, Dose and Target Tissues.”

Dr. Xiao, assistant professor and honors program director in the Food Science Department at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, conducts research on the enhancement of biological activity of dietary components by combination regimen, food processing and nanotechnology, as well as cancer preventive dietary components and diet-based strategies for cancer prevention.

The Mary Swartz Rose Awards are made possible by a $50,000 grant from CRN, funding the awards over five consecutive years—2013 to 2017. This year marks the first year of a consecutive five-year funding term, the first term running from 2008 to 2012—for a combined donation of $100,000 over 10 years in support of nutrition researchers. “Since its inception, CRN’s mission has been focused on advancing nutrition science as it is critical to the growth of the dietary supplement industry and to the health of our consumers,” said Duffy MacKay, ND, vice president, scientific and regulatory affairs, CRN. “CRN is proud to be able to encourage scientific advancement within the nutrition field by supporting those dedicated to advancing the science, and we are grateful to ASN for giving us the opportunity to do so.”

The awards are named in honor of the late Mary Swartz Rose (1874 to 1941), founder and president of what was then the American Institute of Nutrition (now ASN). The Mary Swartz Rose Senior Investigator Award is given to an investigator with ten years or more of postgraduate training, for outstanding preclinical and/or clinical research on the safety and efficacy of dietary supplements as well as essential nutrients and other bioactive food components that may be distributed as supplements or functional food components. The Mary Swartz Rose Young Investigator Award is based on the same qualifications but is given to an investigator with 10 years or less of postgraduate training.

The 2012 winners for the Senior Investigator and Young Investigator awards were Diane Birt, Ph.D., and Oliver Chen, Ph.D., respectively. For more information about the Mary Swartz Rose awards, visit ASN’s website.