Marleigh Hefner, PhD, RD, LD, CNSC
Email: marleigh.hefner@ttu.edu
Phone: 806-834-0679
Office: 277
Dr. Marleigh Hefner received her doctoral training from the TTU Nutritional Sciences Department with a focus on nutritional biochemistry and physiology. She graduated in May 2024 before transitioning to her role as assistant professor. She is passionate about dietetics and has practiced as a clinical registered dietitian nutritionist since 2021. Her focus in clinical practice is intensive care unit nutrition delivery across the lifespan. Within her research program, the Integrative Nutrition and Cardiometabolic Health (INCH) laboratory, Dr. Hefner values training and mentoring dietetics students to support the development of scientifically adept dietitians.
Education
2024 – PhD, Nutritional Sciences, Texas Tech University
2024 – MS, Nutritional Sciences, Texas Tech University
2020 – BS, Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Texas Tech University
Professional Licensing and Certification:
2024 – Certified Nutrition Support Clinician (CNSC), American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
2021 – Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN/RD), Commission on Dietetic Registration
2021 – Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist (LDN/LD), Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
Courses
NS 4360: Introduction to Nutrition Research
NS 6370: Design of Clinical Trials in Human Nutrition
Research
Dr. Marleigh Hefner’s research focuses on the intersection between nutrition and metabolic
health in a translational setting, including hormonal and genetic regulation of metabolism.
She is interested in studying: 1) Dietary and metabolism-related interventions for
obesity and its related conditions, such as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic
liver disease, 2) Nutrition and body composition optimization strategies for patients
receiving pharmacological obesity treatment, and 3) Sexual dimorphism of disease onset,
progression, and treatment response for obesity, insulin resistance, and other obesity-related
conditions. Dr. Hefner’s overall goal is to help progress the obesity paradigm beyond
its current overly-simplistic state and leverage her background in clinical practice,
basic science, and clinical nutrition research settings to conduct innovative, translational,
and integrative nutrition research.
Research Areas: Nutrient metabolism, obesity, MASLD, PCOS, diet, energetics
Links
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/marleigh.hefner.1/bibliography/public/
Nutritional Sciences
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Address
Texas Tech University, P.O. Box 41270, Lubbock, TX 79409-1270 -
Phone
806.742.5270 -
Email
hs.webmaster@ttu.edu