Heidi J. Kalkwarf, PhD, RD

My research focuses on ways to characterize bone density and body composition during growth and maturation processes. My colleagues and I are also looking at how lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise, and chronic pediatric health conditions impact bone density and body composition.

In our research, my team is attempting to solve how to carefully identify the tempo of bone accrual and fluctuations in lean mass and fat mass in healthy children during development and maturation. These findings help us develop tools to assist physicians in recognizing children with chronic medical conditions who are at risk of bone fragility, obesity and sarcopenia.

Throughout our research, we aim to find the right lifestyle factors, physical activity patterns and dietary changes linked to ideal bone health in children. In my lab, important developments include designing bone density 'growth charts' that are being utilized across the globe to better diagnose skeletal fragility in children.

During my dietetics training, I realized there were many gaps in our knowledge about what people should eat to keep themselves healthy. These gaps prevent nutritionists from providing their patients the optimal guidance on what to eat. When I started my career as a nutrition researcher several decades ago, there was little knowledge available about how bone density changed in children as they matured. I was determined to uncover standard, healthy changes in bone density as children grow before assessing other factors that may influence bone density, such as diet, fitness and disease.

I have over 30 years’ experience in the nutritional epidemiology field and first began working at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in 1990. I was a standing member of the NIH study section Neurological, Aging and Musculoskeletal Epidemiology (NAME). The National Institutes of Health have funded my research for the last three decades. I’ve been published in prestigious journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, the Journal of Pediatrics and Neuromuscular Disorders.

Over the years, I have been fortunate to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to progress clinical research. We are constantly learning from each other as we pursue scientific discoveries.