Debra Sullivan’s research career has been less like an arc and more like a snowball — ever-expanding by taking advantage of opportunities for collaboration within the University of Kansas Medical Center.

“I have an insatiable curiosity,” said Sullivan, Ph.D., RD, who is chair of the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition and the Midwest Dairy Endowed Professor of Clinical Nutrition in the School of Health Professions.

She’s always thinking about ways she could use her expertise to help other populations.

“If I can get more researchers including nutrition in their own research programs, I think that benefits everyone because nutrition has such a powerful impact on health.”

The University of Kansas named Sullivan one of five 2025 University Distinguished Professors, among the highest honors for KU faculty.

“Dr. Debra Sullivan has transformed the field of nutrition science and education,” said Robert Klein, Ph.D., vice chancellor of academic and student affairs at KU Medical Center. Klein added, “Her exemplary mentorship of future nutrition scientists ensures that her impact will be felt for generations.”

Klein praised Sullivan’s broad research initiatives. The Sullivan Nutrition Assessment Laboratory has investigated dietary intake measurement and behavior modification across the lifespan, including interdisciplinary collaborations across KU and with national and international partners. Sullivan’s clinical trials highlight nutrition’s critical role in bran health and aging, including therapeutic diets for Alzheimer’s disease and the Nutrition Interventions for Cognitive Enhancement (NICE) study.

Early in her career Sullivan focused on pediatric obesity and how to prevent it. She expanded to obesity treatment in adults, eventually exploring how her work could apply to special populations such as people with intellectual disabilities, breast cancer survivors, people in rural areas and people at risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Sullivan called the distinguished professor award an “incredible honor.”

She said much of her work has been inspired by KU Medical Center’s research strengths.

“If you’ve got an expert in an area, they may not be doing nutrition. But if I think they should, because there’s research suggesting that it could have an impact, I approach them and say, ‘Hey, let’s collaborate,’” Sullivan said. “I’m not afraid to try new areas.”

Sullivan has secured over $8 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal funding as principal investigator and has collaborated on projects totaling over $30 million. In addition to writing or co-writing more than 145 peer-reviewed publications, she’s guided the work of numerous NIH-funded junior faculty and more than 130 master’s and doctoral students.

Sullivan said she is perhaps most proud of her mentorship of the next generation of dietitians and researchers. She can name numerous researchers currently on campus who are former Ph.D. students of hers, plus former students now training dietitians in other countries.

“I think about when you throw a pebble into the lake and it ripples out,” Sullivan said. “As they go out and have their careers, I feel like that’s my base impact is those ripples that keep going out, and that’s what excites me.”

Sullivan is one of two current University Distinguished Professors from the School of Health Professions. Susan Carlson, Ph.D., AJ Rice Professor of Nutrition in the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, was named a University Distinguished Professor in 2017.