Murray-Kolb’s research integrates her training in nutrition, child development, and cognitive psychology to study the neurophysiological and neuropsychological consequences of micronutrient deficiencies. Her work focuses primarily on iron deficiency in young mothers and their children, and she conducts many of her studies in low- and middle-income countries. Murray-Kolb has received numerous awards, including several from the American Society for Nutrition, one in recognition of her substantial body of independent research with relevance to improving child health, and another for her innovative work in advancing the field of global nutrition. She has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in global nutrition, public health, nutritional epidemiology, micronutrient metabolism, and nutritional pathophysiology, and has received multiple teaching awards. Additionally, she has served on the editorial board of The Journal of Nutrition for over a decade and sits on multiple taskforces and working groups aimed at better understanding the effects of micronutrient deficiencies on brain development.
This year, Murray-Kolb is chair of the Academic Nutrition Departments and Programs, an organization composed of heads of nutrition science programs throughout the United States. She was also recently elected to the board of directors for the American Society for Nutrition. Murray-Kolb earned her MS (1998) and PhD (2003) in nutritional sciences from Penn State, and completed a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral fellowship in psychology and human development.