Email

alexis.wood@bcm.edu

Positions

Associate Professor

Pediatrics-Nutrition
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX US

Addresses

Children's Nutrition Research Center (Office)

Room: CNRC-2036
Houston, TX 77030
United States
Phone: (713) 798-7055

Education

BS from University of Warwick

06/2002 - Coventry, United Kingdom

Psychology and Philosophy

MS from Kings College London

10/2006 - London

Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry

PhD from Kings College London

10/2009 - London

Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry

Post-Doctoral Fellowship at University of Alabama at Birmingham

06/2012 - Birmingham, Alabama

Statistical Genetics, Epidemiology

Honors & Awards

Conference Award Finalist

MD Anderson Energy Balance Retreat (02/2014)

Scott Grundy Award for Excellence in Metabolism Research

American Heart Association (03/2013)

2nd place

UAB Annual Postdoctoral Research Day (02/2012)

1st Place

NORC “Creativity is Decision" (06/2011)

1st Place

Center for Cardiovascular Disease Biology Annual Retreat (05/2011)

2nd place

Center for Cardiovascular Disease Biology Annual Retreat (05/2011)

1st Place

SOPH 3rd Annual Public Health Research day (04/2011)

Young Investigator Award Finalist

American Heart Association EPI/NPAM conference (03/2011)

Young Investigator Award

2nd Annual International Congress on ADHD (05/2009)

Best paper winner

Our paper "Cognitive performance and BMI: shared genetics between BMI and reaction time, but not response inhibition, across childhood" was selected as one of 6 winning entries to the society's annual conference and featured in a special symposium.

The Obesity Society (11/2014)

Associate Faculty Member F1000 Prime

Appointed an Associate Faculty Member of the Faculty of 1000 http://f1000.com/

F1000 Prime (09/2014)

Mark Bieber Award for Excellence in Nutrition Research

American Heart Association (03/2015)

Fellow of The American Heart Association

09/2017

Young Investigator Award

Baylor College of Medicine -- Department of Pediatrics (12/2020)

Top abstract

CVRI annual conference (04/2017)

Professional Statement

My research focuses on analyzing complex biological data such as genome, epigenome, transcriptome, metabolome, and proteome to explore how environmental and behavioral factors influence chronic diseases. I am particularly interested in cognitive development and decline, including Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias (ADRD), as well as type 2 diabetes (T2D). My overarching aim is to advance Precision Medicine by improving disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment strategies.

Websites

Selected Publications

• "The need for greater rigor in childhood nutrition and obesity research." JAMA Peds. 2019;173(4):311-2.
• Djonlagic I, Mariani S, Fitzpatrick AL, Van Der Klei VMGTH, Johnson DA, Wood AC, et al "Macro and micro sleep architecture and cognitive performance in older adults." Nat Hum Behav. 2021;5(1) Pubmed PMID: 33199858
• Wood AC, Blissett JM, Brunstrom JM, Carnell S, Faith MS, Fisher JO, Hayman LL, Khalsa AS, Hughes SO, Miller AL, Momin SR, Welsh JA, Woo JG, Haycraft E "Caregiver influences on eating behaviors in young children: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association." J Am Heart Assoc. 2020;9(10) Pubmed PMID: 32389066
• Wood, A. C., Graca, G., Gadgil, M., Senn, M. K., Allison, M. A., Tzoulaki, I., ... & Herrington, D. (2023). "Untargeted metabolomic analysis investigating links between unprocessed red meat intake and markers of inflammation." AJCN. 2023;13(3):989-999. Pubmed PMID: 37660929

Memberships

American Heart Association

American Society of Nutrition

Funding

Longitudinal associations of preschoolers’ technology and digital media (TDM) use and executive functioning: a mechanism linking TDM with young children’s weight status - #NIH P01 HD109876

( 09/09/2022 - 09/08/2027 )

Grant funding from NIH

Role: MPI (Wood, Hughes & Bridgett).

Molecular Markers of Beef Intake: A Personalized Nutrition Approach to Understanding the Relationship of Red Meat to Health - #70348-I

( 10/01/2023 - 09/30/2025 )

Beef Checkoff

Role: PI

Subclinical Vascular Contributions to Alzheimer's Disease: The Multi Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) Multisite Study of AD - #R01 AG058969

( 07/01/2024 - 06/30/2029 )

NIH-NIA

Role: Site PI

Longitudinal Omics-Based Trajectories of Type 2 Diabetes Subtypes: The T2D Heterogeneity Consortium - #U01 DK058969

( 07/01/2024 - 06/30/2029 )

NIH-NIDDK

Role: MPI (Manning, Wood, Qi, Rotter). Our overarching goal is to integrate clinical and multi-omic data into prediabetes and type 2 diabetes classification and build prediction models of disease trajectories over the lifespan. Our central hypothesis is that multi-omic data can refine definitions of type 2 diabetes, identify those patients most like to develop complications, and better identify people at risk for future development of type 2 diabetes. Our approach is to apply sophisticated clustering in diverse, longitudinal cohorts over rich omics data to identify subgroups of individuals who develop type 2 diabetes.