Ann Centner, Ph.D., a researcher in the biomedical sciences lab of Assistant Professor Stephen Chelko, Ph.D., has been named a finalist in the American Society for Nutrition’s (ASN) Postdoctoral Research Award Competition, an educational activity that recognizes early-career scientists and clinicians presenting outstanding research.

Six finalists were chosen from 80 applicants and will be recognized during NUTRITION 2024, the ASN’s annual flagship meeting to be held June 29 to July 2 in Chicago. Centner’s abstract is titled “High-Fat Diet Amplifies Disease Phenotypes in Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy.”

“The Postdoctoral Research Award Competition recognizes early-career scientists and clinicians by providing a juried abstract review of submitted abstracts for ASN’s annual meeting. ASN and the ASN Early Career Nutrition Interest Group congratulate the selected finalists who demonstrated significant scientific accomplishments this year,” said Liliana Markes, Ph.D., a research assistant professor at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health who serves as chair of ASN’s Early Career Nutrition Interest Group.

Centner earned her Ph.D. in nutrition sciences at FSU in December 2022 and joined the Chelko Lab in January 2023. Chelko is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and his lab traditionally has studied pharmacological interventions to combat arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), a genetic heart disease characterized by cardiac fibrofatty infiltration, reduced ejection fractions, and arrhythmias.

Centner, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nutrition-related fields at the University of Georgia, brings her expertise in nutritional inventions to the team.