President: Sue Fenton, PhD
Dr. Sue Fenton is Director of the Center for Human Health and the Environment and Professor of Biological Sciences at NC State University. She has been reporting on the health effects of endocrine disruptors for nearly 3 decades. Her current research focuses on emerging perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure effects on infant development and latent disease onset, lactation, and cancer risk. Her prior work at the US EPA and NIEHS defined critical windows of disease susceptibility in breast tissue, the placenta as a sensitive target for PFAS, and mechanisms responsible for PFAS effects. Dr. Fenton is a three-time University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate (BS, MS, PhD).
Vice President: Alina Maloyan, PhD, FAHA
Dr. Alina Maloyan earned her Ph.D. in Physiology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and is currently an Associate Professor in the Knight Cardiovascular Institute at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Her research program focuses on the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD), particularly how maternal obesity shapes placental function, fetal development, and the long-term cardiometabolic health of offspring. Dr. Maloyan’s laboratory employs molecular, cellular, and physiological approaches to investigate mechanisms of immunometabolic programming and placental adaptation. Her NIH-funded research seeks to elucidate pathways linking adverse maternal environments to offspring outcomes and to identify therapeutic targets that may mitigate the intergenerational and transgenerational transmission of cardiometabolic disease associated with maternal obesity.
Secretary: Sathish Kumar Natarajan, PhD
Sathish Kumar Natarajan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition & Health Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and his research focus is to improve the outcome of newborn in mothers infected with Zika virus (ZIKV) and to establish dietary palmitoleate as an effective nutrition intervention for the prevention of placenta and fetal brain injury and congenital Zika Syndrome. He has broad background and expertise in studying the mechanism of cell injury with ZIKV infection, protective nutrient signaling and apoptotic signaling pathways, mitochondrial function, and mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation disorders. He has established the pro-apoptotic role of FoxO3 and microRNA-34a in cholangiocyte lipoapoptosis in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and have identified that palmitoleate protects against palmitate-induced cholangiocyte lipoapoptosis and trophoblast lipoapoptosis. His lab recently demonstrated that ZIKV infection induces ER stress and apoptosis to placental trophoblasts and neuronal cells; established omega-3 fatty acid metabolites regulate placental trophoblast function; demonstrated that placenta and liver lipotoxicity in acute fatty liver of pregnancy; established that proline and pipecolate metabolism promote cell survival signaling pathways like mTORC2-AKT. He has published 62 peer-reviewed articles including, 1 preprint, 1 editorial comment and 1 book chapter. These articles have been placed in journals like Hepatology, Cell Death & Disease, Cell Death & Discovery, Molecular Psychiatry, Vaccines, Molecular Nutrition Food Research, AJP Liver Physiology, Journal of Lipid Research, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, and Journal of Virology. He has been cited in 2,761 documents including editorial comments (Source: Scopus.com, ID#9035955300; h-index:24).
Treasurer: Banu Gumusoglu, PhD
Dr. Gumusoglu is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Psychiatry at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Her research focuses on the placenta-brain axis, and in particular on the molecular mechanisms by which obstetric disease increases risk for psychiatric disease in pregnant people and in the next generation. She completed her PhD in Neuroscience with Dr. Hanna Stevens at the University of Iowa, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Reproductive Science with Dr. Mark Santillan at the Carver College of Medicine. She looks forward to serving as Treasurer of the US DOHaD Society and contributing to the continued growth of this unique, interdisciplinary society. Her work with DOHaD is motivated by her passion for mentorship of diverse trainees, creating collaboration across fields, and growing recognition for the importance of prenatal life in shaping health across the lifespan.
Faculty Representative: Mike Petriello, PhD
Dr. Petriello is an Associate Professor at Wayne State University in Detroit within the Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and Department of Pharmacology. He received his PhD in Toxicology from University of Kentucky in 2015 and completed additional postdoctoral training in Lexington and at Boston Children’s hospital before transitioning to Wayne State in 2019. His research is directly relatable to understanding mechanisms that link nutrition and toxicology and may lead to translatable prevention strategies that may limit pollutant-induced metabolic across the lifespan. He is an active member of Wayne State’s NIEHS P30 Center, CURES, as the new leader of the career enhancement core and with Wayne State’s P42 Superfund Research Center, CLEAR, as the co-director of their Research Experience and Training Coordination Core. He is also a funded investigator with Michigan’s ECHO-2 site.
Faculty Representative: Linda May, PhD, MS, FAHA
Dr. Linda May is a tenured professor at East Carolina University (ECU) in Greenville, North Carolina. She is in the Department of Kinesiology for Health and Human Performance as well as an adjunct faculty member in Obstetrics and Gynecology for the Brody School of Medicine. She is the Director of the Human Performance Lab at ECU in Greenville, NC. As the Chair and Co-founder of the American College of Sports Medicine Pregnancy and Postpartum Special Interest Group and co-chair of the Physical Activity in Pregnancy and Postpartum Special Interest Group for the European Congress of Sports Science, she actively promotes physical activity during and after pregnancy for improved maternal and child health. She is excited to now be a Faculty representative for the US DOHaD society.
Dr. May researches the influence of different maternal environments (i.e., exercise, diet, race, BMI, GDM, HDP, PTB) throughout pregnancy on maternal, placental, and child cell and whole-body health outcomes before and after birth. Dr. May is involved in community service to help pregnant and postpartum women as well. Her research is presented in worldwide media outlets, including the New York Times, Good Morning America, Tehran Times, podcasts, and webinars. Dr. May’s lab was ranked #7 worldwide; she has published numerous works in the field of exercise during pregnancy, such as one book with another 2 being updated now, 6 book chapters, and 100+ peer-reviewed articles. Dr. May has received funds from the American Heart Association, NIH, BlueCross BlueShield, etc., and runs a grant-funded lab with funded postdoctoral fellows, as well as OB residents, graduate students at the PhD, medical, master’s, and undergraduate levels. She is a member of professional organizations such as the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) international and US societies, the American Heart Association, ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine), CSEP (Canadian Society of Exercise Physiologists), European Congress of Sports Science, International Society of Physical Activity, and the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.
She delivers numerous presentations on maternal and child health, both locally and internationally, and has won awards, including the ECU 2025 Trendsetter Research award. She enjoys helping others and mentoring students to share her passion and continue this critical work. Her passion is for all babies to be born healthy and on time.
ECHO Representative: Rebecca Schmidt, PhD
Dr. Schmidt is a tenured professor and molecular epidemiologist with over 20 years of research experience in epidemiology, biologically relevant gene-environment interactions, epigenetics, maternal and child health, and a primary emphasis on neurodevelopment and autism. Her pioneering research focuses on how early life environmental and nutritional exposures interact with genetics, epigenetics, gene expression, metabolism, molecular mechanisms, and developmental programming, to influence the neurodevelopmental outcomes of children. She leads a large biorepository and several child development cohort studies, including the MARBLES autism pregnancy cohort, the B-SAFE wildfire pregnancy cohort, and the PEACH cohort site for the national ECHO Program.
Trainee Representative: Sara Fortin-Miller, PhD, RDN
Dr. Fortin-Miller is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Kansas Medical Center and Children’s Mercy Kansas City, supported by The Center for Children’s Healthy Lifestyles & Nutrition and the Department of Population Health. She earned her Ph.D. in Medical Nutrition Sciences from the University of Kansas Medical Center and holds dual master’s degrees in Dietetics and Nutritional Sciences from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Her research seeks to understand how early nutrition influences neurocognitive development and eating behaviors. She works with pregnant women, infants, and children, aiming to advance knowledge of how early-life nutrition shapes brain development and long-term health outcomes. As Trainee Representative, her main goal is that members feel connected, supported, and empowered as the next generation of DOHaD leaders.
Trainee Representative: Jade Truong, BS
Jade Truong is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Human Physiology department at the University of Oregon. She is interested in learning about maternal diets as well as fetal development and metabolism at the cellular level. Specifically, her research focuses on the impact of maternal metformin and Western-style diets during pregnancy on fetal skeletal muscle growth and metabolism. Using the non-human primate model, she can investigate the changes at the cellular level and identify the mechanisms of how maternal diets and drugs used in pregnancy can alter fetal skeletal growth. As Trainee Representative, she hopes to contribute her efforts to encourage other graduate students, expand the inclusive and diverse environment, and provide more opportunities for future scientists in learning fetal health and disease.
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