Dr. Emily Sonestedt

Dr. Emily Sonestedt holds an MSc in Nutrition from Stockholm University (2003), and a PhD in Public Health and Nutritional Epidemiology from Lund University (2009). Since 2015, Emily has been an associate professor (docent) in Nutritional Epidemiology. In 2017, Emily became the head of the Nutritional Epidemiology research group and is currently the formal main supervisor of four PhD students. Emily was the chairperson of the carbohydrate expert group on the revision of the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations where a systematic literature review was performed on sugar and health effects (Sonestedt et al., 2012). In 2010, Emily joined the lab of Professor Ronald Krauss in Oakland (California, USA) as a visiting researcher. Emily is currently involved in several high-impact international collaborations, including NCD risk factor collaboration, CHARGE, EPIC, and STROBE-nut. Already during her PhD, Emily had a strong research interest in carbohydrate quality, fiber, and the influence of microbiota on health. The title of Emily’s thesis was “Plant foods, plasma enterolactone and breast cancer – with a focus on estrogen receptor status and genetic variation” (PI: Elisabet Wirfält). Emily gained extensive knowledge in genetic studies and changed focus from breast cancer to cardiovascular disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes during her postdoctoral fellowship in Professor Marju Orho-Melander’s research group.