University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Carle Illinois College of Medicine

Sharon M Donovan

Sharon M Donovan
Sharon M Donovan
Professor
Biomedical and Translational Sciences

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Education

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, 1989-1991, Stanford University School of Medicine
  • R.D., 1989, University of California, Davis
  • Ph.D., 1988, University of California, Davis
  • B.S., 1983, University of California, Davis

Biography

Dr. Donovan received her B.S. and Ph.D. in Nutrition at the University of California at Davis in 1983 and 1988, respectively. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, she joined the faculty at UIUC in February 1991 as an Assistant Professor of Nutrition. She was promoted to Associate Professor with indefinite tenure and to Full Professor in August 1997 and August 2001, respectively. She served as Director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences between 1999 and 2009. Dr. Donovan teaches both basic and advanced nutrition classes and has been included on the "List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students" more than 25 times for 9 different courses. Dr. Donovan has ~ 225 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and receives grant support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), foundations and the food and pharmaceutical industry. Her research efforts have been recognized by both national and international organizations with several awards, and her graduate students have been the recipients of prestigious fellowships, scholarships and awards for their research accomplishments. She served as President of the American Society for Nutrition for 2011-2012 and served as the President of the International Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation (ISRHML) for 2018-2020.

Academic Positions

  • Center for Advanced Study Professor, 2020-
  • Melissa M. Noel Endowed Chair in Diet and Health, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, 2003-
  • Professor, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and Division of Nutritional Sciences, 2001-
  • Director, Division of Nutritional Sciences, 1999-2009
  • Associate Professor, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and Division of Nutritional Sciences, 1997-2001

Resident Instruction

  • FSHN 421 - Pediatric Clinical Nutrition
  • FSHN 520/NUTR 561 - Advanced Clinical Nutrition
  • NUTR 550 - Grantsmanship and Ethics
  • NUTR 590 - Disciplinary Concentration Seminar

Research Interests

  • The Donovan laboratory conducts basic and translational research in the area of pediatric nutrition. During this phase of life, proper nutrition is of key importance for growth, development and long-term functional outcomes, such as cognition and immune response. On-going work in the lab is focusing on optimizing intestinal and cognitive development of neonates, development of the gut microbiome and prevention of childhood obesity.

Other Publications

  • Berding, K.B., Donovan, S.M. (2018) Diet can impact microbiota composition in children with autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in Neuroscience 12:515. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00515
  • Cole, N.C., Musaad, S.M., Lee, S.Y., Donovan, S.M., and the STRONG kids Research Team. (2018) Home feeding environment and picky eating behavior in preschool-aged children: a prospective analysis. Eating Behaviors 30:76-82.
  • Reznikov, E.A., Comstock, S.S., Hoeflinger, J.L., Wan,g M., Miller, M.J., Donovan, S.M. (2018) Dietary bovine lactoferrin reduces Staphylococcus aureus in the tissues and modulates the immune response in piglets systemically infected with Staphylococcus aureus. Current Developments in Nutrition 2:nzy001. doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzy001
  • Wang, A.A., Harrison, K., Musaad, S., Donovan, S.M., Teran-Garcia, M.; STRONG Kids Research Team (2019) Genetic risk scores demonstrate the cumulative association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in gut microbiome-related genes with obesity phenotypes in preschool age children. Pediatric Obesity 2019 14(9):e12530. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.12530
  • Fiese, B.H., Musaad, S., Bost, K.K., McBride, B.A., Lee, S.Y., Teran-Garcia, M., Donovan, S.M. (2019)The STRONG Kids2 Birth Cohort Study: A cell-to-society approach to dietary habits and weight trajectories across the first five years of life. Current Developments in Nutrition 3(3):nzz007 https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzz007.
  • Berding K.B., Donovan SM. (2020) Dietary patterns impact temporal dynamics of fecal microbiota composition in children with autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in Nutrition 6:193. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2019.00193
  • Davis, E.C., Dinsmoor, A.M., Wang, M., Donovan, S.M. (2020) Microbiome composition in pediatric populations from birth to adolescence: Impact of dietary and prebiotic and probiotic interventions. Digestive Diseases and Sciences 65: 706-722
  • McGuire, M.K., Seppo, A., Goga, A.M. Buonsenso, D., Collado, M.C., Donovan, S.M., Müller, J.A., Ofman, G., Monroy-Valle, M., O’Connor, D.L., Pace, R.M., Van de Perre, P. Best practices for human milk collection for COVID-19 research. Breastfeeding Medicine (2021) 16: 29-38.
  • He, K., Donovan, S.M., Ivanov, I., Goldsby, J., Davidson, L.A., Chapkin, R.S. Assessing the multivariate relationship between the human infant intestinal exfoliated cell transcriptome (exfoliome) and microbiome in response to diet. Microorganisms 8(12):E2032. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms8122032.
  • Lackey, K.A., Pace, R.M., Williams, J.E., Bode, L., Donovan, S.M., Järvinen, K.M., Seppo, A.E., Raiten, D.J., Meehan, C.L., McGuire, M.A., McGuire, M.K. SARS-CoV-2 and human milk: what is the evidence? Maternal & Child Nutrition (2020) 16(4):e13032. doi: 10.1111/mcn.13032.
  • Patel, M.D., Donovan, S.M., Lee, S.-Y. Considering nature and nurture in the etiology and prevention of picky eating: A narrative review. Nutrients (2020) 12(11), 3409. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12113409

Honors

  • Member, Center of Advanced Study, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2020)
  • Member, 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Advisory Committee, (2019-2020)
  • Elected member of the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine (2017)
  • Lucille S. Hurley Distinguished Lecturer (Department of Nutrition, UC, Davis) (2016)
  • Team Award for Excellence in Research for STRONG Kids/I-TOPP (College of ACES) (2015)
  • Spitze Landgrant Professorial Career Excellence Award (College of ACES) (2014)
  • Paul A. Funk Recognition Award (College of ACES) (2010)
  • Senior Award for Excellence in Research (College of ACES) (2006)
  • Norman A. Kretchmer Award (American Society for Nutrition) (2006)
  • Jonas Salk Health Leadership Award, Central Illinois Division of the March of Dimes (2003)
  • Melissa N. Noel Endowed Chair in Nutrition and Health (2003)
  • University Scholar (UIUC) (1998-2001)
  • Mead Johnson Award (American Society for Nutritional Sciences) (1997)
  • Award for Excellence in Research (College of ACES) (1997)
  • Ehrlich-Koldovsky Young Investigator Award (International Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation) (1995)
  • International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Future Leader Award (1992)

Recent Courses Taught

  • FSHN 421 - Pediatric Clinical Nutrition
  • FSHN 595 - Global Food Regulation
  • FSHN 598 - Advanced Special Problems
  • NUTR 500 - Personalized Nutrition
  • NUTR 550 (FSHN 550) - Grantsmanship and Ethics