Professor
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Denise K. Houston, PhD, RD, is Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Section on Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, with a joint appointment in the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Dr. Houston received her PhD in nutrition, with a minor in epidemiology, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to that, she received training in dietetics while completing a master’s degree in Foods and Nutrition at the University of Georgia. Dr. Houston’s research focus is on the role of nutritional status, dietary patterns, and obesity and age-related changes in body composition on physical function in older adults. Because of the increase in obesity and the concern of the potential risks of weight loss among older adults, she is interested in the effects of intentional weight loss in older adults and the design of weight loss trials that minimize the loss of muscle mass and function through the provision of adequate protein and/or exercise. She is / has been PI or CoI on several NIH grants examining the effects of intentional weight loss on physical function in overweight and obese older adults. She is the author / co-author of over 125 peer-reviewed publications and is an associate editor for the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.