PhD Candidate and graduate research assistant
Florida State University
My name is Leila Khalili, and I am a second-year PhD candidate under supervision of Dr. Gloria Salazar in the Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology at Florida State University. My research experience and training in doing research on aging-related cardiovascular diseases (CVD).
The main research goal of our lab is to investigate mechanisms involved in aging-related cardiovascular disease (CVD) with focus on atherosclerosis and to develop nutritional interventions to alleviate the progression of the diseases of the cardiovascular system. My project, as a research assistant, focuses on nutritional interventions that we hope will lead to discoveries that can impact patients by reducing the progression of CVD.
Management of chronic age-related diseases has been a constant motivation through my entire education. I have published 15 articles and 9 book chapters, with more than 670 citations, that show the beneficial effect of nutritional intervention in management of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cancer.
During my PhD, I plan to build upon my previous work by continuing my research on dietary interventions in cardiovascular disease focusing on the gut microbiome. To develop the aims of my dissertation, I searched the literature for studies in mouse models testing the effects of phytochemical (polyphenols, alkaloids) and probiotics that reduce atherosclerosis and improved the microbiome diversity and function. The results of these studies were published in a meta-analysis and a systematic review article.