Our team includes board members, staff, alumni, ambassadors, and advisors. All of these individuals greatly contribute their time, energy and intellect toward making the Institute for Responsible Nutrition's vision a reality.
Our Board
Robert H. Lustig, MD, MSL – Board
Board President, Founder
Jordan Shlain, MD, FACP – Board
Chairman of the Board, Founder
Alan Greene, MD – Board
Board Member, Advisory Board Chair
Rajiv Bhatia, MD, MPH – Board
Board Member
David Faigman, MA, JD – Board
Founding Board Member
Russell Hirsch, MD, PhD – Board
Founding Board Member
Ben Katz, MBA – Board
Founding Board Member, Chief Financial Officer
Nadja Pinnavaia, PhD – Board
Board Member
Jim Warren, BA - Board
Board Member
Our Advisors and Alumni
Kelly L. Close, MBA – Alumni
Founding Board Member, Alumni & Advisor
Raj Patel, PhD – Alumni
Founding Board Member, Alumni & Advisor
Shawn Gauthier, BS – Advisor
Founding Advisory Board Member, Copywriting, Digital Content & Design
Matthew Ryan Hanson, LPN – Advisor
Advisor
United States Army Veteran
Critical Care Nurse and Combat Medic
Shannon Burke, BS - Advisor
Advisor
Sue Cimbriz - Alumni
Founding Board Member, Secretary
Ken Nochimson, J.D. - Advisor
ADVISOR
Founder and president of Advise & Consent with more than 25 years of production experience in broadcast television and web-based media, including Sweet Revenge.
Our Ambassadors
Chantal Bonneau (Canada)
Canadian Ambassador
Sustainable Santa (Richard Eckfield)
Richard Eckfield is Sustainable Santa - brilliant red guy with a real white beard who is the genius behind the Sustainable Santa movement and the Real Santa’s United to End Childhood Obesity. You can find his Facebook page here.
Our Staff
Wolfram Alderson, MS – Staff
Founding Executive Director, Chief Operations Officer
Anthony Adessa, DM - Staff
Director of Advancement
Leslie Lee, MS, RD, CNSC - Staff
Director of Education & Community Engagement
Our Interns
Rebecca McDowell - Intern
Rebecca is a San Francisco native with a Bachelor's degree in Nutritional Science. She is advancing her education with a degree in Public Affairs, focused on public health policy. Rebecca seeks to bridge the gap between sound public policy, public health law and public health, and bring awareness to the interdependence of these sectors with environmental health, global health and social justice.
Rebecca's LinkedIn
Barbara Ducry - Intern
Barbara Ducry is a Swiss national and has a Bachelor’s degree in nursing. She just finished her Master’s degree in Global Health and Development at the University College London. She is passionate about global trade, agricultural and food policies, and their impact on the food environment, specifically on health and food security.
Barbara's LinkedIn
Ali Van Zandt - Intern
Ali is a recent graduate of UC Davis with a BS in Clinical Nutrition. At Davis, she assisted in research and contributed to a manuscript that is in the process of being published. Her primary research focus was breast milk proteins and how they influence infant immune development, and her secondary focus was dietary proteins and how certain types and quantities of protein may influence certain physiological or disease states, such as post bariatric surgery, chronic kidney disease, or Crohn's Disease. She is currently taking community college courses for web development and Microsoft Excel and volunteering at the Council on Aging in Santa Rosa in addition to the IRN.
Ali's LinkedIn
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