Penny Gordon-Larsen
· W. R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor and Vice Chancellor for ResearchUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · Nutrition
Active 2008–2024
About
Penny Gordon-Larsen, PhD, is the W. R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor in Nutrition and the Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She has been a faculty member at Carolina since 2002. Her research focuses on the linkages between biology, behavior, and environment to inform efforts to prevent, manage, and treat obesity and associated cardiometabolic diseases. She leads large, collaborative projects such as the 'Heterogeneity in Obesity Creativity Hub,' which aims to understand why individuals with similar diets and exercise habits can have vastly different susceptibilities to weight gain, with the goal of developing more personalized treatment approaches. Dr. Gordon-Larsen has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on research totaling over $23.6 million and has contributed to interdisciplinary projects with a total funding of over $49 million. She has authored more than 270 scientific papers, with her work cited over 103,000 times. She has held leadership roles including president of The Obesity Society and member of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Advisory Council. In her administrative roles, she has served as associate dean for research at Gillings School of Global Public Health and, since 2022, as the university’s vice chancellor for research, where she oversees research infrastructure, operations, and strategic partnerships across UNC.
Research topics
- Environmental health
- Medicine
- Gerontology
- Psychology
- Geography
- Psychiatry
Selected publications
British Journal Of Nutrition · 2024
- Environmental health
- Medicine
- Gerontology
(95 % CI) 0·06 (0·01, 0·10)), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (0·07 (95 % CI 0·03, 0·11)) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol (-0·08 (95 % CI -0·12, -0·04)). Weight concern was associated with DBP (0·06 (95 % CI 0·02, 0·10)), triglyceride (0·06 (95 % CI 0·02, 0·10)) and HDL-cholesterol (-0·10 (95 % CI -0·14, -0·07)). Higher scores on DE characteristics were associated with higher BMI, and higher BMI was further associated with lower HDL-cholesterol and higher other CMR. In summary, we observed significant associations between shape and weight concerns with some CMR in Chinese women, and these associations were potentially partially mediated by BMI. Our findings suggest that prevention and intervention strategies focusing on addressing DE could potentially help reduce the burden of CMR in China, possibly through controlling BMI.
Circulation · 2024
Senior authorCorresponding- Medicine
- Gerontology
- Environmental health
Background: Declines in cognitive and physical function in later adulthood can have an impact whether or not individuals remain in the workforce, although the relationship is complex and often bidirectional. Little is also known about how this relationship differs in rural versus urban populations. We capitalized on longitudinal data in an urbanizing population to estimate the differential impact of urbanization level with cognitive and physical function on remaining in the work force. Methods: We used longitudinal data from 5,228 adults in the China Health and Nutrition Survey aged 58+ to assess the association between cognitive and physical function at the 2015 survey with whether older adults remained in the work force, based on self-report of either formal or informal work, in 2018. We defined cognitive function using a global cognitive score based on a subset of the modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) and physical function using limitations as measured by instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Given differences in demographics of working status in urban (urban areas or small towns) versus rural villages, we included an interaction term for cognitive function by urban versus rural village residence. In minimally adjusted models, we controlled for age and gender and in fully adjusted models we additionally adjusted for birth cohort, education, region, marital status, and income. Results: In 2018, 48% of adults lived in rural villages and 41% were currently working. In rural villages, we found individuals with any (versus no) physical limitations in 2015 in were more likely to be working in 2018: Any IADL limitations versus no limitations: (OR=0.47 [95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.34-0.65). However, in urban areas, individuals with any (versus no) physical limitations in 2015 were more likely to be working in 2018: Any IADL limitations versus no limitations: OR=2.44 (1.18,5.03). We found no evidence of differential association between cognitive function and subsequent working status in the total sample or by rural village residence in the minimally or fully adjusted models. Conclusion: Physical (but not cognitive) function at baseline impacts future occupational status differently for those in rural versus urban areas which could reflect differences in the types of work being done as well as differences in the availability of economic resources between rural versus urban areas.
Genetic drivers of heterogeneity in type 2 diabetes pathophysiology
Nature · 2024 · 480 citations
- Biology
- Genetics
- Evolutionary biology
in a further 279,552 individuals of diverse ancestry, including 30,288 cases of T2D, and test their association with T2D-related vascular outcomes. Cluster-specific partitioned polygenic scores are associated with coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease and end-stage diabetic nephropathy across ancestry groups, highlighting the importance of obesity-related processes in the development of vascular outcomes. Our findings show the value of integrating multi-ancestry genome-wide association study data with single-cell epigenomics to disentangle the aetiological heterogeneity that drives the development and progression of T2D. This might offer a route to optimize global access to genetically informed diabetes care.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · 2023 · 18 citations
- Medicine
- Internal medicine
- Endocrinology
BACKGROUND: The potential role for choline metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) in cardiovascular disease (CVD) has garnered much attention, but there have been limited data from diverse population-based cohorts. Furthermore, few studies have included circulating choline and betaine, which can serve as precursors to TMAO and may independently influence CVD. OBJECTIVE: We quantified prospective associations between 3 choline metabolites and 19-y incident CVD in a population-based cohort and tested effect modification of metabolite-CVD associations by kidney function. METHODS: Data were from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study, a prospective cohort with recruitment from 4 US urban centers (year 0: 1985-1986, n = 5115, ages 18-30). The analytic sample included 3444 White and Black males and females, aged 33 to 45, who attended the year 15 follow-up exam and did not have prevalent CVD. TMAO, choline, and betaine were quantitated from stored plasma (-70°C) using liquid-chromatography mass-spectrometry. Nineteen-year incident CVD events (n = 221), including coronary heart disease and stroke, were identified through adjudicated hospitalization records and linkage with the National Death Register. RESULTS: Plasma choline was positively associated with CVD in Cox proportional hazards regression analysis adjusted for demographics, health behaviors, CVD risk factors, and metabolites (hazard ratio: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.09, 1.40 per standard deviation-unit choline). TMAO and betaine were not associated with CVD in an identically adjusted analysis. There was statistical evidence for effect modification by kidney function with CVD positively associated with TMAO and negatively associated with betaine at lower values of estimated glomerular filtration rate (interaction P values: 0.0046 and 0.020, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings are consistent with a positive association between plasma choline and incident CVD. Among participants with lower kidney function, TMAO was positively, and betaine negatively, associated with CVD. These results further our understanding of the potential role for choline metabolism on CVD risk.
Nature Genetics · 2022 · 724 citations
- Biology
- Genetics
- Evolutionary biology
A saturated map of common genetic variants associated with human height
Nature · 2022 · 877 citations
- Genetics
- Biology
- Evolutionary biology
) account for 40% (45%) of phenotypic variance in populations of European ancestry but only around 10-20% (14-24%) in populations of other ancestries. Effect sizes, associated regions and gene prioritization are similar across ancestries, indicating that reduced prediction accuracy is likely to be explained by linkage disequilibrium and differences in allele frequency within associated regions. Finally, we show that the relevant biological pathways are detectable with smaller sample sizes than are needed to implicate causal genes and variants. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive map of specific genomic regions that contain the vast majority of common height-associated variants. Although this map is saturated for populations of European ancestry, further research is needed to achieve equivalent saturation in other ancestries.
The power of genetic diversity in genome-wide association studies of lipids
Nature · 2021 · 1032 citations
- Biology
- Genetics
- Evolutionary biology
The trans-ancestral genomic architecture of glycemic traits
Nature Genetics · 2021 · 877 citations
- Biology
- Genetics
- Evolutionary biology
Recent grants
Emergence of Cardiometabolic Risk Across the Lifecycle in China
NIH · $2.7M · 2012–2018
Transition to a Western diet and cardiometabolic risk: biomarkers derived from the microbiome
NIH · $2.5M · 2015–2022
Environmental Changes and Health Outcomes across 25 Years: Four US Cities
NIH · $2.1M · 2011–2017
Monitoring Social Change: Health and Human Capital from Childhood to Adulthood
NIH · $29.5M · 1994–2026
Obesity and Metabolic Risk Disparities: Underlying Food Environment Factors
NIH · $2.2M · 2010–2016
Frequent coauthors
- 8 shared
Barry M. Popkin
- 6 shared
Shufa Du
- 6 shared
Annie Green Howard
University of North Carolina Health Care
- 5 shared
Linda S. Adair
University of North Carolina Health Care
- 5 shared
Bing Zhang
Huzhou Central Hospital
- 4 shared
Hillary Spangler
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- 4 shared
Lynne R. Wilkens
- 4 shared
Unhee Lim
University of Southern California
Education
- 1997
PhD, Human Biology
University of Pennsylvania
Awards & honors
- George A. Bray Founders Award 2020, The Obesity Society
- NIH Council of Councils Behavioral and Social Sciences Resea…
- NIDDK Advisory Council 2020-2023, NIH, National institute of…
- President 2015, The Obesity Society
- Editor’s Choice Reviewer Award 2010, 2005, Obesity
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