Interim Chair and Associate Professor
Georgia State University
Dr. Wanders received her B.S. in Nutrition and Food Science, her M.S. in Nutrition, and her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from Auburn University. Dr. Wanders completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Pennington Biomedical Research Center where she studied nutritional physiology under the direction of Dr. Tom Gettys. Dr. Wanders was awarded an NIH postdoctoral fellowship to study the role of uncoupling protein 1 in mediating the effects of dietary methionine restriction on energy balance and glucose and lipid metabolism. Dr. Wanders joined Georgia State University as an Assistant Professor in 2015.
Dr. Wanders is now Interim Chair of the Department of Nutrition and an Associate Professor with tenure and runs an active research program that has received funding from the Center for Obesity Reversal, the Center for Neuroinflammation and Cardiometabolic Diseases, and the United States Department of Agriculture. Dr. Wanders studies dietary and pharmacologic interventions for obesity and its comorbidities. Currently, Dr. Wanders is investigating the role of fibroblast growth factor 21 in mediating the effects of high-fat diet-induced obesity on cognition and neurometabolism. Through ongoing collaborations, Dr. Wanders also studies the metabolic and health benefits of berries and tocotrienols (members of the vitamin E family).
Dr. Wanders has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles, many in the top journals of the field (Diabetes, Cell Reports, Obesity) and is a coauthor on over 60 abstracts that were presented at local, regional, and national scientific meetings.
In addition to running an active research program, Dr. Wanders enjoys teaching courses related to nutritional physiology and metabolism and mentoring students.