Gordon L. Jensen, M.D., Ph.D.
In January 2016 Gordon Jensen became Senior Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Medicine and Nutrition at the Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont. In June 2019 he was also named the University of Vermont Health Network Director of Research. From 2007-2015 he served as Professor and Head of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State University. He was at Vanderbilt University Medical Center from 1998-2007 where he was Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Human Nutrition and Professor of Medicine. He received his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College and his Ph.D. in nutritional biochemistry from Cornell University. He completed residency training in Internal Medicine and fellowship training in Clinical Nutrition at New England Deaconess Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He is a Past-President of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), a Past-President of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN), and a Past-Chair of the Association of Nutrition Programs and Departments. He has served on advisory panels, study sections or work groups for the National Institutes of Health, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the Food and Nutrition Board. His research interests have focused on the impact of nutritional status on health and functional outcomes in older persons. He has authored more than 205 journal articles, reviews, and book chapters. His contributions have been recognized with the 2014 Jonathan Rhoads Lecture, ASPEN’s most prestigious award, and his selection as a 2019 Fellow of ASN.
Remote speaker / Presenting virtually
This presentation will provide an overview of our current understanding of disease related malnutrition. Over the past two decades diagnosis of malnutrition has evolved to include an appreciation of underlying disease and inflammation. Malnutrition is promoted by inflammation-associated anorexia, altered metabolism including increased resting energy expenditure and muscle catabolism, decreased micronutrient status, and blunted response to nutrition interventions. Potential laboratory markers of inflammation include C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, procalcitonin, decline in albumin or prealbumin, immune dysfunction, and metabolic phenotyping. Conditions associated with inflammation have the potential to serve as proxy indicators of inflammation. Severe acute inflammatory response may be observed with critical illness, major infection/sepsis, ARDS, SIRS, severe burns, major abdominal surgery, multi-trauma, and closed head injury.Mild/moderate chronic inflammatory response may be observed with cardiovascular disease, congestive heart failure, cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, chronic pancreatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, sarcopenic obesity, metabolic syndrome, malignancies, infections, cerebrovascular accident, dementia, neuromuscular disease, pressure wounds, periodontal disease, and organ failure / transplant. Existing challenges in assessment of inflammation include the following. A consensus approach is not yet established. Currently available laboratory indicators of inflammation suffer a variety of limitations. The use of underlying medical diagnosis as an inflammation indicator requires a degree of clinical acumen and the interpretation of the degree of inflammation severity is subjective.