Team Member Profile

Michael A. Pellizzon, Ph.D.

Vice President, Science Director

My interest in nutrition started pretty early and led me to a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutritional Sciences from the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Michigan State University where I gained my first laboratory animal diet study experiences in the lab of Dr. Maurice Bennink. I decided to continue my nutrition education with a Master of Science degree and a doctorate from the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at Wayne State University, both under the advisement of Dr. K-L Catherine Jen studying how weight cycling and different fat sources affected body composition and metabolic disease in rats, and how modifying dietary fatty acids and calcium intake affected cholesterol metabolism in hamsters. After working with rodent models for all of my graduate studies, my 3-year post-doctoral fellowship included 6 months at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in clinical research and then after many challenges, I returned to basic science in the Department of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania mentored by Dr. Daniel Rader, studying how different fat sources affected HDL cholesterol metabolism and how flaxseed affected mainly LDL cholesterol metabolism using various mouse models. During this time, I found myself enjoying conversations with many of my lab colleagues, who were not nutritionally trained, about the diets they were feeding their mouse models. At the same time, I was having very useful conversations with Research Diets and my now colleague, Dr. Matthew Ricci, who was helping me formulate my diets and providing other invaluable support. Since joining as a scientist in 2005, I’ve had the opportunity to work with great colleagues here, travel to many conferences, build our outstanding science group, present data, do in-person talks and webinars, publish papers, and collaborate with many researchers all over the world. While I’m not working, I enjoy spending time with my family, playing guitar, traveling, and staying active.