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Or: So.... You've read an article or two from the Picnic Basket and you have a question. Or, you haven't read an article and you still have a question. Or you just need some info on HIV Nutrition and somehow you found yourself here. How fortuitous! You're in the right place! These are the folks to ask, a hand-picked, hyper-intelligent, home-grown, honey-suckled, hermetically-sealed, HIV-savvy team of experts who are standing by their modems ready to take your questions. So let me introduce them to you in order of the most tenure on the Faculty....
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Chester Myers, PhD, MS
Virtual Faculty Member Emeritus
(Administrator's note:It is my sad duty to report that Chester Myers died from non-Hodgkins lymphoma on August 16, 1999. Chester was the first and founding member of the Virtual Faculty, and though he is Emeritus now, his position on this page will always be first. Please go to Remembering Chester Myers on this website for more information.)
Chester is a Canadian, who hails from...where else...Canada!! Toronto, to be precise. He holds an M.Sc. degree in chemistry from Dalhousie University and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto where he studied the mechanism of action of one of the gut digestive enzymes. Cool! Since then, he has worked in research for the food and agricultural industries, specializing in protein chemistry, antioxidants, and dietary fibre. (Love the way those Canadians spell!) He has published in the scientific literature and is co-author of several food-related patents.
In addition to extensive peer review duties for the scientific literature, and for the Canadian research granting system, Chester provides written and spoken information about nutrition for the HIV/AIDS community. He is also a scientific advisor to the Community AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE), a member of the Ethics Review Board for the Community Research Initiative of Toronto (CRIT), and has written extensively for the Canadian Public Health journal, Canadian AIDS News. (For a listing of Chester's articles on CATIE, go to their HIV and Nutrition section.)
Ready to ask a question? Go to:
Q&A
Charlie Smigelski, RD
And now, from south of the border (the Canadian border, that is) comes...yes, you guessed it...an American!! From the state that gave us the Boston Tea Party (lots of yummy antioxidants in green tea, by the way), Charlie is a Registered Dietitian at The Fenway Community Health Center, one of Boston's main HIV care centers, and at Harvard University. He is also affiliated with the Boston University School of Public Health and has been involved in the Framingham Heart Study and other research projects for more than 10 years. And he co-edits the Tufts Medical School HIV nutrition newsletter, Nutrition for Life. (Is there a school in Boston that Charlie isn't affiliated with?) Along with several other Boston-area dietitians, he runs the HIV Nutrition Coalition, a nutrition education group serving both medical professionals and the public. He is also the author of the book, EAT UP! Nutrition Advice and Food Ideas For People With HIV and AIDS. It's a yummy book...goes down great with that Boston Tea!
(Charlie can also be contacted at Nutrishn@aol.com.)
Ready to ask a question? Go to:
Q&A
Barbara J. Scott, MPH, RD
Not only is Barbara another Yankee, but she's also a fellow Bruin! We were both in UCLA's graduate nutrition program, albeit (love that word) several years apart. "Wow" is the only word that comes to mind when I look at her accomplishments. Nutritionally speaking, Barbara is expert not only in HIV disease but also has vast experience in, and written often about, pediatrics, geriatrics, world hunger, and the advocacy of more nutritional education in medical schools. And she is a real professor, not just a virtual one, at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. She chairs the HIV/AIDS Service Providers of Northern Nevada and was a co-investigator in a US Public Health Special Project entitled "Early Nutrition Intervention in HIV and AIDS". Read enough? Okay, just a couple more things I want to mention... In 1996 Barbara received the University of Nevada Thornton Peace Prize and in 1997 she was voted the Nevada Dietetic Association's Outstanding Dietitian of the Year. Now that's what I call Nutrition Power! Guess she didn't win anything in 1998, but in 1999 she joined the Virtual Faculty and am I glad she did!
Ready to ask a question? Go to:
Q&A
Donna Tinnerello, MS, RD, CD/N
And now for the newest member of the Faculty...Donna Tinnerello, a fellow Scandinavian just like me. Jensen...Tinnerello...good solid Scandinavian names. Oh, you were thinking maybe Sicilian? Fuhgetaboutit! But she is definitely "connected," if you get my meanin'. Like in the HIV/nutrition community. She's been working as a Registered Dietitian for over 10 years, largely out of the Cabrini Medical Center in lower Manhattan. (Cabrini...another good solid Scandinavian name.) She does a lot of educational speaking for the HIV community, students, and healthcare providers. She's also a frequent contributor to Body Positive and other patient education newsletters, and was recently made senior editor of HIV ReSources Review, a peer designated HIV/AIDS nutrition newsletter. Donna's subspecialties include cardiovascular, renal, and gastrointestinal disease, diabetes, and weight loss. And no stranger to the Web, you can find all of her patient handouts and much more at the Nutrition Consultation section of Always Your Choice, a New York medical practice specializing in HIV disease.
You'd think that would be enough for one person but fuhgetaboutthattoo! Donna is not only the past Chair, and still very active member, of Nutritionists in AIDS Care (NIAC), a special interest group of the Greater New York Dietetic Association, but also the Chair Elect of the HIVDPG (HIV Dietetic Practice Group) of the American Dietetic Association. Trust me, that's like a BIG DEAL! I don't call her "the Don" of HIV nutrition just because her name is Donna.
(Donna is available for private consultation by referral only...as in "Luigi sent me"...and can be contacted at DTinerello@aol.com.)
Ready to ask a question? Go to:
Q&A
Diana Peabody, RD
Virtual Faculty Member Emeritus
Diana is another Canadian, hailing from...all together now, Class...that's right...Canada!! This time, Vancouver. She is a Registered Dietitian specializing in HIV/AIDS, working at the Women and Family HIV Centre where there are approximately 450 patients, 75% women and children. She also does outreach nutritional counseling to the inner city where the majority of patients have a history of injection drug use. She chairs the provincial HIV-Nutrition Practice Group and is a member of the national Practice Group. Her special interests include women and children, liquid nutritional supplements, tube feeding, and micronutrient supplementation. Oh, and did I mention that in her "spare" time she also sits on the Board of Directors of "A Loving Spoonful", a Vancouver-based daily meals program for people living with AIDS. That's a service very near and dear to my heart too. Though technically "retired" now from active status on the Virtual Faculty, anyone wishing to contact her can do so by e-mailing the Administrator of this site...AKA my husband!
To ask your question, go to:
Q&A
AND FROM THE "CYA" DEPARTMENT....
A DISCLAIMER....
First do no harm. If any of the advice you receive through this Website or from the Virtual Faculty is, or seems to be, connected to adverse consequences, call your doctor or dietitian -- or both.
The information on this Site is not intended as medical advice, is not tailored to the needs of your specific situation and should not be used in place of appropriate medical treatment, or indeed, a personal nutritional consult. Further, information relevant to nutrition and medicine is constantly evolving as research continues. The Faculty Members are doing this as a public service, and their willingness to give their answers to your questions should not be construed as a warranty or guarantee, either express or implied, regarding the completeness, accuracy, or currency of this information, nor its suitability for any particular purpose.