Sylvia Crowder, Ph.D., RDN

A former doctoral student in the Nourish to Flourish Cancer Research Lab, Crowder is currently an assistant member in the Department of Health Outcomes and Behavior at Moffitt Cancer Center. Her independent research program employs interdisciplinary, mixed-methods approaches to examine the complex relationships among dietary patterns, eating behaviors, nutritional status, and patient-centered survivorship outcomes such as quality of life and symptom burden in cancer survivors. During her doctoral training, Crowder led The SYNQ Study: Symptoms, Nutrition, and Quality of Life in Head and Neck Cancer Survivors, work that earned her recognition as Ph.D. Student of the Year and selection as a CSTAR Fellow. Her accomplishments also include a top 16 abstract award at the American Society of Preventive Oncology with publication in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, and a featured cover publication in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Hania M. Taha, Ph.D., RDN, LDN

Taha is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, where her research focuses on colorectal cancer prevention in rural communities. She previously served as a graduate research assistant in the Nourish to Flourish Cancer Research Lab while pursuing her doctorate in food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. While there she contributed to a pilot study testing a carbohydrate-restricted, high-fat medically tailored meal intervention for head and neck cancer patients undergoing curative radiotherapy.

Christian Maino Vieytes, Ph.D.

A graduate student in the Nourish to Flourish Cancer Research Lab from 2018–2023, Maino Vieytes earned a doctorate in nutritional sciences and a master's degree in statistics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. During this time, he was also recognized as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Research Scholar (2020-2023). After completing his doctorate, he pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute on Aging (2023-2024). He works as a statistician in the Center for Policy, Planning and Evaluation at DC Health (Washington, D.C.) and as a data analyst with the World Bank.

Amirah Burton, Ph.D.

Burton first joined the Nourish to Flourish Cancer Research Lab at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a predoctoral student in the summer of 2018 and remained an active member until graduating in spring 2023 with her doctorate in nutritional sciences. Her dissertation research focused on understanding the nutritional challenges of food-insecure cancer survivors. Currently Burton is a postdoctoral fellow at the Cancer Health Equity Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine. Her research continues to explore the multi-level factors impacting nutritious food access, diet quality, and overall health status of cancer survivors living in under-resourced communities. 

Amy Jeffers 

• 2023 – 2025 (Primary Advisor; research), Doctor of Clinical Nutrition (DCN)

Peggy Palsgaard

• Medical Student 

Hanan Alshaqsi, M.S.

Alshaqsi previously worked as a research assistant in the Nourish to Flourish Cancer Research Lab, where she contributed to the NLIT and CARE studies. Her work included assisting with data collection during study visits, managing data entry in REDCap, and developing data collection tools. Alshaqsi is currently a clinical dietitian at the Sultan Qaboos Comprehensive Cancer Care and Research Center in Oman.

Shatabdi Goon, M.S.

As a master’s degree student in human nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Goon worked in Dr. Arthur’s lab on two projects focused on diet and cancer survivorship. The first was a cross-sectional study examining relationships between vegetable intake, seasoning use and nutrition impact symptoms among head and neck cancer survivors. The second analyzed NHANES data to evaluate associations between vegetable intake and oral HPV infection, a risk factor for oral cancer. She is currently a second-year doctoral candidate at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, where she is developing and testing a digital intervention to promote SNAP screening, enrollment and benefit access among college students, aiming to reduce food insecurity and improve nutritional outcomes.

Helen Hoi Ting Cheung, Ph.D., M.S., RDN

Ting Cheung was a graduate research fellow under the supervision of Dr. Arthur at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2017 to 2019. Her research focused on examining fruit and vegetable intake and quality of life among breast cancer survivors. She is currently a lecturer at the University of Hong Kong School of Biological Sciences, where she teaches courses in human physiology, clinical nutrition and public health nutrition.

Sara Clark (formerly Sara Rima)

• 2021 – 2022 (Master’s student), Master’s in Dietetics & Nutrition (KU)

Genevieve Cohen

• 2024 – 2025 (Master’s, non‑thesis), Master’s in Dietetics & Nutrition (non‑thesis) — completed 2025

Emma Thomas

• 2022 – 2023 (Master’s, non‑thesis), Master’s in Dietetics & Nutrition (non‑thesis) — completed 2023

Anna Keyes

• 2016 (Undergraduate; Dietetics)

Rachel Zwilling

• 2016 – 2018 (Undergraduate; MCB, Human Nutrition minor)

Aleksas Valaitis

• 2016 – 2018 (Undergraduate; Biochemistry)

Jonathan Heitz

• 2017 – 2018 (Undergraduate; Human Nutrition)

Yi Tang Chen

• 2017 – 2018 (Undergraduate; Statistics)

Sophia Kim

• 2018 – 2019 (Undergraduate; Kinesiology)

Katherine Douglas 

• 2017 – 2020 (Undergraduate; MCB, Human Nutrition minor)

Natasha Najam

• 2019 – 2020 (Undergraduate; Neuroscience)

Donna Looney

Looney is an undergraduate student at Rockhurst University majoring in exercise science as part of the doctoral program in physical therapy. During her time in the Nourish to Flourish Cancer Research Lab, she contributed to the CARE Cohort Study and the NOURISH Study, meeting with patients, evaluating data and tracking medical information.

Ivanka Joshi

Through the KU Medical Center Educational Experience program for high school students, Joshi spent June 2024–March 2025 in the Nourish to Flourish Cancer Research Lab where she studied the challenges faced by head and neck cancer survivors that can contribute to malnutrition and increased disease risk. Through data collection and literature research for future studies, she gained a deeper appreciation for the interconnectedness between survivors and caregivers — an experience that strengthened her commitment to providing holistic care in her future medical career. She is now a medical student at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.

Karl Frees, DVM, M.S., DACVS, CIVCA

As an equine veterinary surgeon for nearly three decades, Dr. Frees addressed the medical and surgical care needs of horses, including those with cancer. But it was not until his own personal journey with cancer, which began in 2011 with a diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma, that he and his family learned of the countless other supportive needs involved in the battle against cancer. The KU Cancer Center PIVOT program has given them a unique opportunity to be advocates for cancer research.

In addition to his work through PIVOT, Dr. Frees has become an invaluable contributor to the Nourish to Flourish Lab, where his lived experience as a head and neck cancer survivor has helped guide research focused on improving nutrition-related outcomes for patients. He has served as a patient partner on multiple studies, including the Nutrition Literacy in Cancer Care and Head and Neck Cancer trials, where his insights have helped shape interventions aimed at enhancing nutritional literacy and supporting caregivers during treatment. He is also an engaged collaborator on the FORCE Trial, lending his voice to strengthen patient-centered approaches that address the complex nutrition challenges faced by individuals undergoing cancer therapy.

Laura Frees

Frees joined PIVOT in 2016 after navigating her husband's tongue cancer diagnosis and treatment while raising their two young boys. She turned her caregiving experience into advocacy and has played an important role in the Nourish to Flourish Lab’s research by contributing her caregiver perspective and science‑education background to the Nutrition Literacy in Cancer Care and Head and Neck Cancer trials. In this work, she helped refine educational materials, identify caregiver needs, and strengthen approaches to improve nutritional understanding for patients and families navigating head and neck cancer treatment. Her involvement ensures that the interventions being developed are both practical and responsive to the real challenges families face during recovery.