Texas Tech University

Allison Childress, Ph.D., RDN, CSSD, LD

Associate Professor of Practice, Director of Online Graduate Programs, Clinical Dietitian
Nutritional Sciences

Email: Allison.Childress@ttu.edu

Phone: (806) 834-6371

Room: HS 405


Dr. Allison Childress RDN, CSSD, LD is an Associate Professor of Practice in the Nutritional Sciences Department, where she teaches and serves as the Director of the Graduate Online Programs. She is a registered and licensed clinical dietitian with over 14 years of experience in patient care and works as an outpatient dietitian at the Nutrition and Metabolic Health Initiative specializing in cardiac, pediatric, geriatric and sports nutrition as well as diabetes and weight management counseling. She is Board Certified in Sports Dietetics and was also certified by The Cooper Institute as a Personal Trainer. Her research focuses on culinary medicine and sports nutrition. Allison has experience as an author and speaker. She has had her work published in several academic journals and has been a featured speaker at statewide conferences for several disciplines. Her collaborative book, The Ultimate New Mom’s Cookbook, has won several awards and is a top seller on Amazon. Allison is the past Director of Communications for the Texas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and she has featured in several media outlets including Forbes, MyFitnessPal, InStyle, Shape, Prevention, WebMD, Women’s Health Magazine, MSN, Fox News and more. She is the recipient of the several teaching awards as well as several state and national awards including The Distinguished Scientist Award and the Emerging Dietetics Leader from the Texas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and she is a member of the TTU Teaching Academy.

Dr. Childress is also the CEO and Co-Founder of 3 CulinaryMed Docs where she and her team are working with the TTU Office of Research Commercialization to commercialize their research in Culinary Medicine. The team has created samTM , a culinary medicine smartphone app that creates customized medically tailored meal plans for people with chronic conditions, specifically for those who have multiple chronic conditions. 3 CulinaryMed Docs is a Texas HUB Certified business and the founders have received a Prototype Grant from the TTU Innovation Hub, participated in the NSF National I-Corps program and competed in the iLaunch Competition at the TTU Innovation Hub, where the team won the People’s Choice Award. In addition 3 CulinaryMed Docs recently won the Texas Tech University President’s Innovative Start Up Award where they took the top prize of $25,0000 and completed Cohort 6 of the esteemed Accelerator Program at the TTU Innovation Hub to launch their start up.

Allison Childress

Education

BS, MS and PhD in Nutritional Sciences from Texas Tech University.
Dietetic Internship at Texas Tech University, Lubbock.

Courses

Undergraduate

  • NS 1325 Nutrition Food and Healthy Living
  • NS 2380 Cultural Aspects of Food
  • NS 2330 Nutrition for Health, Fitness and Sport
  • NS 3340 Nutrition in the Lifecycle
  • NS 3310 Intro to Medical Nutrition Therapy
  • NS 3325 Sports Nutrition
  • NS 4201 Professional Issues in Dietetics
  • NS 4350 Emerging Issues in Food Science and Nutrition

Graduate

  • NS 5330 Introduction to Nutrition Research
  • NS 5335 Issues in Sports Nutrition
  • NS 5355 Culinary Medicine
  • NS 6325 Nutrition, Exercise and Sport
  • NS 6330 Nutritional Supplements and Ergogenic Aids
  • NS 6318 Maternal and Child Nutrition
  • NS 6365 Obesity Management for the Clinical Practitioner
  • NS 6375 Nutrition and Cardiovascular Disease
  • NS 6341 The Role of Nutrition and Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer
  • NS 7118 Nutrition Communication Seminar-Oral Presentation

Publications

Salas-Groves, E., Alcorn, M., Childress, A., & Galyean, S. (2023). The effect of online culinary medicine to enhance protein intake on muscle quality in older adults: Randomized control trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research Formative Research.https://doi.org/10.2196/49322

Salas-Groves, E., Childress, A., Albracht-Schulte, K., Alcorn, M., & Galyean, S. (2023). Effectiveness of a home-based exercise and nutrition program for senior adults on muscle quality: A scoping review. Clinical Interventions in Aging, 18, 1067-1091. https://doi.org/10.2147/cia.s400994

Chrisman, M., Childress, A., Bailey, D., Klobodu, S., Kerin, A., Benavides, M. (2023) Obesity education may not be sufficient in US dietetic internship programs. Nutrition Today. 58(1), 14-21. DOI: 10.1097/NT.0000000000000589 

Salas-Groves, E., Galyean, S., Alcorn, M., & Childress, A. Behavior Change Effectiveness using Nutrition Apps in People with Chronic Disease: A Scoping Review. (2023) JMIR mHealth and uHealth Journal.  http://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.41235.

Zhu, Y., Bailey, D., Childress, A., Dawson, JA, Binks, M., Dhurandhar, N. (2022) Greater protein quality of an egg breakfast may be inadequate to induce satiety during weight loss, compared with a cereal breakfast of equal protein quantity. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 73(8), 1096-1103. https://doi.org/10.1080/09637486.2022.2133097.

Peng L, Childress A, Dawson JA, Jai TM, Punyanunt-Carter N, Oldewage-Theron W. (2021) Food Safety Education for Elementary Students Worldwide. International Journal of School Health, 8(1), 3-13. doi: 10.30476/intjsh.2021.88232.1107. https://intjsh.sums.ac.ir/article_47338.html. 

Childress A, Dawson JA, George J, Dhurandhar NV. Accuracy of a 24-Hour Recall Following a Measured Highly Palatable Snack. (2021) Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, 15(2), 637-638. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsx.2021.02.028. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33685847/.

Moyo G, Jackson S, Childress A, Dawson JA, Thompson L, Oldewage-Theron W. Chrononutrition and Breastmilk: A review of circadian variation in breastmilk nutrient composition (2021) ClinicalLactation. 12 (2), 74-82. doi: 10.1891/CLINLACT-D-20-00027. https://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrcl/12/2/74.abstract.

Moyo G, Jackson S, Childress A, Dawson JA, Thompson L, Oldewage-Theron W. (2021) Chrononutrition and Breastmilk: A review of circadian variation of hormones in breastmilk. Clinical Lactation. 12(3), 114-123. doi:

10.1891/CLINLACT-D-20-0003. https://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrcl/12/3/114.abstract.  

Moyo G, Jackson S, Childress A, Dawson JA, Thompson L, Oldewage-Theron W. (2021) Chrononutrition and Breastmilk: A review of circadian variation observed in human milk immune factors. Clinical Lactation. 13(1), 7-17. doi: 10.1891/CL.2021-0003.

Dhanasekara C,Dawson JA, Childress A, Dhurandhar NV. Egg and Saturated Fat-Containing Breakfasts Have No Acute Effect on Glycemic Control in Health Adults: A Randomized Partial Crossover Trial. (2021) Nutrition and Diabetes. Nov 9;11(1):34. doi: 10.1038/s41387-021-00176-x. PMID: 34753900.

Gonzalez E, Childress A, Dawson JA, McCutchin, D. Prevalence of Eating Disorders and Their Association with a Previously Suffered Concussion Among Student-Athletes at a Power Five Conference University. (2020) Current Developments in Nutrition. 4(2) 1753.

Zhu Y, Bailey D, Childress A, Dawson JA, Binks M, Dhurandhar NV. Greater Protein Quality Without Greater Protein Quantity May Not Be Adequate to Induce Satiety or Reduce Energy Intake in a Weight Loss Setting. (2021) International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. 73(8), 1096-1103. https://doi.org/10.1080/09637486.2022.2133097.

Nutritional Sciences

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