.jpg "Lauren E. O'Connor, PhD, MPH photo")
Nutrition Scientist
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Dr. O’Connor is a Nutrition Scientist at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, part of the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA. In her research at USDA, she aims to better understand how meat and processed foods contribute to the dietary patterns and health of US populations using a variety of methodological approaches. She previously served on the Data Analysis Team for the 2020-25 Dietary Guidelines for Americans; assists with the evidence scans for the Dietary Reference Intakes; and plays an integral role in advancements for the National Cancer Institute’s Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour (ASA24®) Dietary Assessment Tool. She currently serves as a Chair for the American Society for Nutrition (ASN)’s Climate/Environment, Health, Agriculture, and Improved Nutrition (CHAIN) Research Interest Group; an Awards Chair and Mentoring Program Lead for ASN’s Early Career Membership Group; a member of the FASEB Early Career Representative Engagement Task Force; and is on the Editorial Board for Frontiers in Nutrition’s Nutrition Methodology Section. Before coming to USDA, Dr. O’Connor was a Cancer Prevention Research Fellow at the National Cancer Institute. During her fellowship at NCI, Dr. O’Connor completed an MPH at Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistical methods. Prior to NCI, Dr. O’Connor obtained her PhD in Nutrition Science from Purdue University with an emphasis on Human Clinical Nutrition, as well as a dual BS in Dietetics and Nutrition, Fitness, and Health from Purdue University.