Nutrition-Focused Summer Research Practicum

The vision for the PVAHCS Nutrition-Focused Summer Research Practicum is to provide superior whole health and nutritional sciences research training to drive positive change for Veterans, by putting innovation, diversity and daring leadership at the forefront. The underpinnings of this experience are based on Dr. Brené Brown’s philosophy to “bring [our] whole selves including [our] unarmored, whole hearts—so that we can innovate, solve problems, and serve people[PKN1] ” (Brené Brown, Dare to Lead). Our mission is to provide experiences in nutrition and other research to the future VA workforce, particularly those under-represented in science to foster insight, inquiry, and innovation in VA healthcare. Our program focuses primarily on the nutritional sciences and other areas of VA research.

The SRP is a 3-month paid research practicum from May to August that includes intensive research education and experiences. Scholars are each assigned to one research project with a Research Mentor or Primary Investigator (PI). During the summer, Scholars attend weekly educational seminars, work on active research projects. Key elements of the program include research design, data analysis, and research dissemination. Scholars will also learn more about the VA and Veteran experience, gain experiences in networking and clinical areas, and develop personally and professionally. Scholars can continue in the program for up to 3 years. The program also offers scholars the opportunity to attend conferences, contingent on the availability of scholarships or recognition of exceptional merit. We hope scholars can benefit from these valuable experiences and have the opportunity to enhance their learning and professional growth.

Program Values:

Daring Leadership

• We learn about others’ experiences and respond with curiosity and respect.
• We strive to show up as our whole selves with authenticity and courage.
• We seek inclusion and acceptance of diverse voices and experiences.

Compassion

• We learn about others’ experiences and respond with
• We serve our community and Veterans through our actions in and out of research

Honest Inquiry

• We endeavor to act ethically in every situation
• We approach problems with curiosity

APPLY NOW

For more information, contact Katherine Petersen or Kevin Kupferer.

PVAHCS Summer Research Practicum Faculty

Katherine Petersen, MS, RD, CSO is the Co-Director for the PVAHCS Summer Research Practicum. She received her Master’s degree in Clinical Nutrition at Arizona State University. She is an Advanced Practice Oncology Dietitian with clinical and research interests in head and neck cancer, nutrition support, body composition, the cancer cachexia syndrome, nutrition-related quality of life, and interactions between the gut microbiome and cancer treatment. Current projects include:

• The evaluation of cancer center nutrition referral models withing the VHA,
• Prophylactic vs Reactive feeding tube placement in Veterans with head and neck cancer receiving chemoradiotherapy,
• Sarcopenia screening, evaluation, and treatment in outpatient Veterans with cancer, and
• Education on a high fiber diet to improve immunotherapy response in Veterans with cancer.

She is passionate about oncology nutrition, promoting RD involvement in nutrition research, and educating health trainees. Her favorite animal is a chicken. In her free time, she enjoys being outdoors hiking, camping, paddle boarding, and gardening.

Kevin Kupferer, DHSc, PA-C, MsCl is the Co-Director of the PVAHCS Summer Research Practicum alongside Katherine Petersen. He is a Physician Assistant and the Director of Operations for the PVAHCS Research Clinical Science Center.  He also provides clinical service through the VA Lung Cancer Screening Service and assists with clinical study navigation for the Research Department.  He retired from the Air Force in 2016 and has lived in AZ since 2018, working with the VA since 2020 at the onset of COVID. His research interests primarily center around primary care, emergency medicine, military trauma and cognitive clinical areas.  He is also an Adjunct professor with ASU and AT Still University, teaching capstone and research methodology for doctoral programs.  His hobbies include being a dad, working on cars, woodworking and general tinkering.  He thoroughly enjoys solving problems and being outside whenever possible.

Mary Mancini Chew, MS, RD is an Instructor for the Summer Research Program. In her role as a research dietitian, she is responsible for the overall support and alignment of all nutrition research issues. She plans, organizes, manages, and implements nutritional research and quality improvement projects; and works with the clinical nutrition department and national committees to identify opportunities for future research opportunities to improve programs. In addition, she proactively extracts, reviews, and summarizes relevant information within current research literature that guide best practice. She writes study proposals, analyzes, and compiles research data, and develops guidelines, protocols and procedures selective to clinical nutrition within the VA health care system. Her research interests are in nutrition support in the oncology and critical care populations. She is involved in the Summer Research Program to inspire and engage the future VA nutrition workforce to work at the top of their scope.

Julie Kurtz, MS, RD, CDE is the Team Lead for Mentoring, Professional Development, and Program Outcomes for the PVAHCS Summer Research Practicum. She is currently Chief of Nutrition, Hospitality, and Food Service at PVAHCS where she manages 120 employees within the facility. Her career in research has focused on improving the Veteran’s lifestyle through the design of innovative nutrition intervention models. Early in her research career, she designed a research intervention that evaluated a medically supervised weight-loss program to produce weight loss necessary to achieve surgical clearance. This collaboration-built research confidence and a passion for diabetes education. She subsequently led a team to design and implement two successful diabetes education care delivery models at the Phoenix VA. Her work in diabetes led to a collaboration in endocrinology to assist in the design of a hypercaloric, high-fat liquid shake testing a GLP-1 receptor agonist’s impact on postprandial lipid elevation.

Since this time, she has transitioned her focus and passion into studying whole-food, plant-based nutrition interventions in collaboration with other Phoenix VA researchers to examine the feasibility of such a diet on cardiovascular risk factors in Veterans. More recently as her interests have evolved, she has been interested in effectiveness research as it relates to nutrition care process documentation and communication.  She is part of the team that revised and validated an audit tool which was determined to improve accuracy and confidence in chart and streamline integration of the Nutrition Care Process in the Health Records.

Through her role in the Summer Research Practicum, she has developed the mentoring program and focused on resume and interviewing skills with Scholars. She enjoys watching the students grow as they learn new skills and turn those skills into personal mastery!

In her spare time, she loves to do anything outdoors!  You will find her walking or biking through the Phoenix Mountain preserve.  She is an avid birder, enjoys wine tasting, and working in her garden!

Janet Fawcett, PhD is an Instructor for data analysis and management, and research methodology for the PVACHS Summer Research Practicum. Dr. Fawcett is a Health Scientist and Methodologist.  She has worked at the Phoenix VA for over 20 years. Her research interests include diabetes (from her days as a bench scientist that she can’t get out of her system) and now it’s all things data. She LOVES SQL programming. As an Instructor in the Summer Research Practicum, she hopes to give insight into all things (or at least some things!) data and methodology.  She enjoys her pups, Jazzercise, jigsaws, trying to increase her “cultured” side – and increase the local experiences.

Joseph Roberts, PhD is an Instructor and Research Mentor for the PVAHCS Summer Research Practicum. He is an assistant professor of nutrition at Arizona State University. He investigates how nutritional and lifestyle-based approaches can be used as adjuvant therapies to improve quality of life while simultaneously enhancing healing in patients suffering from musculoskeletal injuries. Specifically, his laboratory studies how the gut microbiota contributes to pain and metabolism during convalescence after traumatic bone injuries. Before joining the faculty at ASU in 2022, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University School of Medicine and Atlanta VA Health Care System, where he studied the effects of probiotic supplements on fracture repair during aging. Roberts earned his doctorate in nutrition and health sciences from Emory University.

Accomplishments

Patsy Diaz Delgado, BS completed two years as a Scholar in the PVAHCS Summer Research Practicum. Her growing interest in research has her returning to the VA to expand her research skills, and this past year she also served as a Peer Mentor. She completed projects related to sarcopenia in Veterans with cancer, and the effect of an evolutionary mismatch education on diet quality. Her abstract “Is Sarcopenia Screening and Diagnosis Feasible in the Outpatient Oncology Setting?” was accepted for a poster presentation at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS) 2024. She continues to work with the researchers she met during her time in the SRP. She will complete her Master’s in December and will be applying for dietetic internships this Spring.

Lindsay Chapman, DTR was a first-year Scholar for the summer of 2023. She worked on a project with Dr. Anthony Basile on evaluating the effect of an evolutionary mismatch education on diet quality. As part of this project, she submitted an abstract to ABRCMS 2024 that was accepted for a poster presentation. She also worked on the development of a fiber tool for a research project to implement a high fiber diet for Veterans receiving Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in order to affect cancer outcomes. She feels that the SRP helped to reinforce her career goals, expand her areas of interest, and increase her interest in research as a career goal. She is applying for the PVAHCS Dietetic Internship this Fall.

Kylie Waynick comes from a family of Veterans and her passion for serving Veterans came through in her work with the Summer Research Practicum. In her first year in the Summer Research Program, she worked on a project that examined the congruence between malnutrition diagnoses between dietitians and physicians in hospitalized Veterans – and how this relates to important patient outcomes like readmissions. Her work on this project was also accepted for a poster presentation at ABRCMS 2024. The things she found most helpful about the SRP were the weekly Research Seminars and working with a Professional Mentor. She is applying for the PVAHCS Dietetic Internship this Fall.

Viviana Aguilar, has completed one year as a Scholar with the Summer Research Practicum at PVAHCS where she worked on a project with Dr. Peter Reaven involving Veterans with diabetes living in rural areas. She plans to complete her BS this Fall and return to the SRP this summer before applying to PA or medical school. Advice she would offer to future Scholars is to be patient with yourself and be OK with failure. Ask for help, and utilize all of your resources.

Angelina Joy Roose, DTR was a Scholar with the Summer Research Practicum in 2022. She worked with Dr. Anthony Basile on the effect of an evolutionary mismatch education on diet quality. Her favorite part of the program was witnessing dietitians, doctors, and other healthcare professionals living their passions and making an impact on Veterans and individuals in their orbit. She was energized seeing passionate people pursuing research. In the SRP she knowledge about the history of research, the importance of the Belmont Report, and confidence that a career in research at the VA is within reach. She was accepted into a Coordinated DPG Program in Chicago for 2024.

Emma Martin, BS was a graduate Scholar in the Summer Research Practicum for 2023. She worked with Dr. Ray Migrino on a project: “What is the association between medin, vascular dysfunction, and cognitive decline in a study with 91 brain donors?”. In addition to technical knowledge she gained in the lab, she learned a lot about dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, and that negative study results can often be just as valuable science as a positive result. She is completing her MS at Eastern Illinois University this Fall before starting her dietetic internship at OSF Medical Center in Illinois in January. She ultimately hopes to become a PhD RD. She found the connections she gained with other professionals as part of the SRP to be especially helpful and her confidence improved over the summer.

Chelsea Brammeier, BS, DTR was a Scholar in the Summer Research Practicum for two consecutive years – one as an undergrad, and one as a graduate student during her dietetic internship with PVAHCS. Chelsea worked on two projects: 1) Enhanced Recover After Surgery (ERAS), and 2) Prophylactic vs Reactive Feeding Tube Placement in Veterans with Head and Neck Cancer Receiving Chemoradiotherapy. She submitted an abstract based on her work with the ERAS project to the Association of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) Conference for January 2024. Chelsea will complete her dietetic internship in Spring of 2024 and hopes to become a clinical RD with the Phoenix VA.

Summer Research Program Elements

• Opportunity to tour research facilities with community partners (e.g. NIH, TGen, ASU)
• Networking and collaboration with over  20 VA investigators
• Research, professional, and peer mentors
• Writing groups to develop and refine your professional and scientific writing

• Personal development
• Career exploration through tailored shadowing, mentoring, and interviews with people in your chosen field
• “Meet the Investigator”: >20 Interviews with diverse VA researchers to learn and be inspired by their pathways
• “American Veteran”: Learn about the experiences of local Veterans and gain a passion for working with Veterans in this 6-session series
• 8-hour weekly seminars on research topics and professional and personal development

Our students have:

• Program-sponsored attendance at conferences
• 5 abstracts accepted to major conferences
• Increased Dietetic Intern Desirability scores
• % acceptance to higher educational opportunities
• Increased confidence

Lev L, Petersen K, Roberts JL, Kupferer K, Werder S. Exploring the Impact of Folic Acid Supplementation and Vitamin B12 Deficiency on Maternal and Fetal Outcomes in Pregnant Women with Celiac Disease. Nutrients. 2024, 16(18), 3194. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16183194

Diaz Delgado P, Petersen K, Nitzsche L, Askren P. Can screening for sarcopenia lead to early identification of nutrition risk in cancer patients?: A quality improvement project. Poster presentation at ABRCMS Conference November 2023.

Waynick K, Karlan E, Kurtz J, Petersen K, Chew M.  Congruency between physician and dietitian of malnutrition identification for inpatient Veterans at the Phoenix VA Health Care System (PVAHCS). Poster presentation at ABRCMS, November 2023.

Martin E, Migrino R. Comparison of thrombomodulin in cerebral arteries of Alzheimer’s disease vs non-demented brain donors.  Poster presentation at ABRCMS, November 2023.

Brammeier C. The Impact of Prophylactic Gastrostomy Tube Placement and Rates of Malnutrition in Veterans with Advanced Stage Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma in the Phoenix Veteran Affairs Population. Thesis in partial fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree Master of Science. Approved April 2024

Chapman L, Basile A. Effect of an Evolutionary Mismatch Narrative Education on Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods and Quality of Life Among Veterans with Diabetes: A Feasibility Study. Poster presentation at ABRCMS Conference November 2023.

Lev L, Petersen K, Roberts JL, Kupferer K, Werder S. Interactions Between Folic Acid Supplementation and Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Pregnant Women with Celiac Disease.  Poster presentation at ABRCMS, November 2024.

Milyard, K, Petersen K.  Prevalence, Severity, and Duration of Oral Pain, Dysgeusia, and Fatigue in Veterans with Head and Neck Cancer Undergoing Chemoradiotherapy.  Poster presentation at ABRCMS, November 2024.

Tewalt E, Petersen K, Chew M. The Impact of Carbohydrate Loading on Surgical Outcomes for Veterans Undergoing Colorectal Surgery.  Poster presentation at ABRCMS, November 2024.