2007 Laureate

Connie M. Weaver, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor and Head of the Department of Foods & Nutrition at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.  In 2000, she also became Director of a National Institutes of Health funded Botanical Research Center to study dietary supplements containing polyphenolics for age-related diseases.  Her research interests include mineral bioavailability, calcium metabolism, and bone health. 

She was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Food and Nutrition Board Panel to develop new recommendations for requirements for calcium and related minerals.  Dr. Weaver is past-president of American Society for Nutritional Sciences.  She is on the Board of Trustees of the International Life Sciences Institute, National Osteoporosis Foundation, McCormick Science Institute Health and Wellness Board, Global Nutrition Advisory Panel, Cadbury Schweppes Board, Wyeth Global Nutrition Advisory Board, Science Advisory Board Pharmavite, and ORAFTI Board.  For her contributions in teaching, Dr. Weaver was awarded Purdue University's Outstanding Teaching Award. 

In 1993, she was honored with the Purdue University Health Promotion Award for Women, and in 1997, she received the Institute of Food Technologists Babcock Hart Award.  In April 2003, she received the USDA A.O. Atwater Lecture Award at the annual Experimental Biology meeting.  In 2006 she received the NAMS/Glaxo Smith Kline Consumer Healthcare Calcium Research Award and the Purdue University Sigma Xi Faculty Research Award.   Dr. Weaver was appointed to the 2005 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.  She has published over 200 research articles.  Dr. Weaver received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Nutrition from Oregon State University.  She received a Ph.D. in Nutrition from Florida State University and holds minors in chemistry and plant physiology.