Linda Van Horn, PhD, RD

Linda Van Horn, PhD, RDN is Professor and Chief, Nutrition Division, Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University in Chicago. She is a clinical nutrition epidemiologist whose research focuses on primary prevention of cardiometabolic and other chronic diseases beginning in utero and continuing throughout the life course. Her research experience includes the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT), the study of Cardiovascular Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA), the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (SOL) and its ancillary SOL Youth Study. As Principal Investigator she served on several multi-center collaborative trials, including the Diet Intervention Study in Children (DISC), the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) and currently the International Study of Macro/Micro Nutrient Intake and Blood Pressure (INTERMAP). She is also studying DASH diet intervention among the offspring of mothers with overweight/obesity recruited from MOMFIT, a randomized clinical trial preventing excessive gestational weight gain. Dr Van Horn served as Editor of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics from 2003-2013. She Chaired the 2010 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) and recently served as a member of the 2020 US DGAC. She chaired /served on several NIH Task Forces and Workshops including the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s Workshop on Medical Nutrition Education. She served as a panelist regarding diet and cardiometabolic risk factors for the NIH-hosted “Precision Nutrition Workshop” held in January,2021. She is an active member of the American Heart Association’s Council on Epidemiology and Lifestyle specifically serving on the Nutrition Committee. Dr Van Horn did her undergraduate training in Nutrition and Dietetics at Purdue, her master’s degree in exercise physiology from the University of Pittsburgh and her doctoral work at the University of Illinois, Chicago involving adolescent blood pressure response to a sodium restricted diet.