Alumna Returns as this Year’s Humphreys Lecturer

Vitamin D and how it relates to patients undergoing Bariatric surgery is the topic of this year’s Mary E. Humphreys Biology Lecture.

Leigh Ann Peterson ’06, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Surgery at the Johns Hopkins Bloomburg School of Public Health, will deliver this year’s talk at 7 p.m. October 21 in James D. Francis Auditorium.

Peterson’s research on vitamin D as an immune modulatory hormone — particularly its role in wound infection and healing — led her to investigate the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and extended recovery periods in bariatric surgery patients. Working at the intersection of immunity and nutrition, Peterson oversees more than a dozen ongoing clinical trials and research projects at the Johns Hopkins Center for Bariatric Surgery. She earned her bachelor of science in biochemistry from Mary Baldwin University and currently serves on the Advisory Board of Visitors. Peterson is a member of Iota Sigma Pi and Beta Beta Beta. She earned her master of health science and doctorate in human nutrition and international health at Johns Hopkins.

Established in 1992, the Humphreys lecture series brings scientists to the campus to present public lectures and talk about their work and interact with students, faculty, and staff. The program is sponsored by friends and former students of Mary Humphreys, the late professor emerita of biology, who served on the biology faculty at Mary Baldwin University for 25 years (1943–68).

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