Director's Message

A Life in Nutrition: Robert Russell to step down as HNRCA director

Now thirty years old, the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) is one of the nation's premier research institutes. The public health impact of the HNRCA's research accomplishments has been enormous. For example, its findings have provided a substantial underpinning for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the Recommended Dietary Reference Intakes. HNRCA scientists contribute to national and international boards that create nutrition policy to ensure healthier and productive societies.

It is only during the last three decades that an appreciation has grown for the important role that nutrition plays in the prevention of chronic disease - including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, bone disease, and diseases which effect the eye, brain and kidneys. This recognition has substantially resulted from the work emerging from the HNRCA. There has also been an expanded appreciation of the effect of sound nutrition and exercise in health maintenance by preventing, for example, the muscle loss of aging.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has partnered with Tufts University to create the HNRCA and to support our research activities. In 1979, the HNRCA was established within the Agriculture Research Service (ARS), the USDA's chief scientific branch. This close partnership between the USDA-ARS and Tufts has enabled us to become the leader in nutrition research which focuses on the prevention and delay of diseases by nutritional means. We have greatly expanded our funding sources for our efforts to include substantial support from the National Institutes of Health, many foundations, as well as industry and trade organizations.

The mapping of the human genome has lead us to an exciting junction. In future decades we will take giant steps forward in understanding the role of nutrients in gene expression, and the role of genetic inheritance in defining nutrient requirements and the variability of dietary response. With this new knowledge, nutrition scientists will create diets to optimize the health of individuals. In this endeavor, the HNRCA is in the best position to continue its journey at the forefront of nutrition science research.

Robert M. Russell, M.D.
Director, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging
Professor, Nutrition and Medicine, Tufts University