Kathleen Rasmussen
Professor
2007
HENutrSci

Web Bio Page

Current Activities

Current Professional Activities
Cornell University Graduate Field Membership: Nutrition

Member, Board of Trustees, Cornell University (2004-2008)

Chair, Committee to Rexamine IOM Pregnancy Weight Guidelines, Institute of Medicine (2007-2009)


Current Research Activities
We are studying the association of maternal obesity with lactation performance and infant growth among women living in upstate New York and Denmark and are developing and testing interventions to mitigate this negative relationship.  We are studying the effects of several interventions to improve maternal nutritional status on birthweight and the duration of exclusive breastfeeding among poor women living in Bangladesh.  Finally, we are examining trade-offs between well-nourished mothers and their infants in response to changes in nutritional characteristics during pregnancy using data from the Danish National Birth Cohort.

Biography

Biographical Statement
Dr. Kathleen M. Rasmussen is Professor of Nutrition in the Division of Nutritional Sciences and International Professor of Nutritional Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. She received her AB degree from Brown University in molecular biology and both her ScM and ScD degrees from Harvard University in nutrition. Professor Rasmussen is internationally known for her research on maternal and child nutrition. Her research has included studies in experimental species, observational and intervention studies in human subjects in the US and several developing countries, and epidemiologic studies based on data from medical records and large cohorts. She and her students have established that interventions to improve maternal nutritional status can increase the volume and improve the composition of human milk and, thereby, infant nutritional status. They have also shown that women who are overweight or obese at conception have problems establishing and maintaining breastfeeding and have babies who are heavier at one year of age than those of normal-weight women. Her research has been supported by NIH, USDA and numerous other organizations. Professor Rasmussen has been a member of several expert committees at the Institute of Medicine and is currently the chair of the new Committee on Reexamination of IOM Pregnancy Weight Guidelines.

Professor Rasmussen has served as program director for Cornell’s NIH-sponsored training grant in maternal and child nutrition since 1986 and has also directed a training grant from NIH’s Fogarty International Center that supported international trainees. She has taught a nationally recognized course in maternal and child nutrition for graduate students since 1980 and has co-taught a unique course on public health nutrition for undergraduate students since 1998. Continuing her long interest in mentoring the future leaders in nutrition, Dr. Rasmussen serves as the principal faculty member at the Dannon Nutrition Leadership Institute, which she helped to develop in 1998. Professor Rasmussen has served as the Secretary and then the President of the American Society of Nutritional Sciences (now the American Society for Nutrition) and also as the President of the International Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation. She has previously been the Associate Dean and Secretary of the University Faculty is currently a member of Cornell’s Board of Trustees, elected by the University Faculty.

Education
  • Sc.D. 1978 - Harvard University, Nutrition
  • Sc.M. 1975 - Harvard University, Nutrition
  • A.B. 1970 - Brown University, Molecular Biology


  • Administrative Responsibilities
    Program Director, Training in Maternal and Child Nutrition, NIH/NICHD


    Courses, Websites, Pubs

    Courses Taught

    NS 450 Public Health Nutrition
    NS 614 Topics in Maternal and Child Nutrition



    Publications
    Rasmussen KM. Association of maternal obesity before conception with poor lactational performance. Annu Rev Nutr 2007;27:103-21.

    Baker JL, Michaelsen KF, Sørensen TIA, Rasmussen KM. High prepregnant body mass index is associated with early termination of full and any breastfeeding among Danish women. Am J Clin Nutr 2007;86:404-11.

    Nøhr EA, Bech BH, Væth M, Rasmussen KM, Hendriksen TB, Olsen J. Obesity, gestational weight gain and preterm birth. A study within the Danish National Birth Cohort. Pædiatr Perinat Epidemiol 2007;21:5-14.

    Rasmussen KM. Maternal obesity and the outcome of breastfeeding. In: Hale TW, Hartmann PE, eds. Hale & Hartmann’s Textbook on Human Lactation. Amarillo, TX: Hale Publishing, 2007, pp. 387-402 (Chapter 20).

    Hilson JA, Rasmussen KM, Kjolhede CL. Excessive weight gain during pregnancy is associated with earlier termination of breastfeeding among white women. J Nutr 2006;136:140-146.

    Rasmussen KM, Lee VE, Ledkovsky TB, Kjolhede CL. A description of counseling practices that are used with obese mothers. J Hum Lac 2006;22:322-327.

    Zeisel SH, Freake HC, Bauman DE, Bier DM, Burrin DG, German JB, Klein S, Marquis GS, Milner JA, Pelto GH, Rasmussen KM. The nutritional phenotype in the age of metabolomics. J Nutr 2005;135:1613-1616.

    Gigante DP, Rasmussen KM, Victora CG. Pregnancy increases BMI in adolescents of a population-based birth cohort. J Nutr 2005;135:74-80.

    Altucher K, Rasmussen KM, Barden E, Habicht J-P. Identifying those who respond to the WIC Program: predictors of improvement in hemoglobin concentration among toddlers enrolled in the Massachusetts WIC Program. J Am Dietet Assoc 2005;105:709-715.

    Baker JL, Michaelsen KF, Rasmussen KM, Srrensen TIA. Maternal prepregnant body mass index, duration of breastfeeding and timing of solid food introduction are associated with infant weight gain. Am J Clin Nutr 2004;80:1579-1588.

    Studdert LJ, Soekirman, Rasmussen KM, Habicht J-P. Community-based school feeding during Indonesia's economic crisis: implementation, benefits and sustainability. Food Nutr Bull 2004;25:156-165.

    Gigante DP, Victora CG, Goncalves H, Lima RC, Barros FC, Rasmussen KM. Risk factors for childbearing during adolescence in a population-based birth cohort. Pan Am J Public Health. Rev Panam Salud Publica 2004;16:1-10.

    Rasmussen KM, Kjolhede CL. Prepregnant overweight and obesity diminish the prolactin response to suckling in the first week postpartum. Pediatrics 2004;113:e465-471.

    Kugyelka JG, Rasmussen KM, Frongillo Jr EA. Maternal obesity and breastfeeding success among Black and Hispanic women. J Nutr 2004;134:1746-1753.

    Hilson JA, Rasmussen KM, Kjolhede CL. High prepregnant body mass index is associated with poor lactation outcomes among white, rural women independent of psychosocial and demographic correlates. J Hum Lact 2004;20:18-29.

    German JB, Bauman DE, Burrin DG, Failla ML, Freake HC, King JC, Klein S, Milner JA, Pelto JH, Rasmussen KM, Zeisel SH. Metabolomics in the opening decade of the 21st century: Building the roads to individualized health. J Nutr 2004;134:2729-2732.

    Winkvist A, Rasmussen KM, Lissner L. Associations between reproduction and maternal body weight: Examining the component parts of a full reproductive cycle. Eur J Clin Nutr 2003;57:114-127.

    Rasmussen KM, Stoltzfus RJ. New evidence that iron supplementation during pregnancy improves birth weight: new scientific questions. Am J Clin Nutr 2003;78:673-674.

    Rasmussen KM, Hilson JA, Kjolhede CL. Obesity as a risk factor for failure to initiate and sustain lactation. In: Integrating Population Outcomes, Biological Mechanisms, and Research Methods in the Study of Human Milk and Lactation, Davis M, ed. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2002.

    Rasmussen KM, Hilson JA, Kjolhede CL. Obesity may impair lactogenesis II. J Nutr 2001;131:3009S-3011S.

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