Robert Bertolo
Professor of Nutrition, Department of Biochemistry 
Memorial University of Newfoundland

Robert Bertolo is a Professor of Nutrition in the Department of Biochemistry at Memorial University of Newfoundland and held a Canada Research Chair in Human Nutrition from 2002-2013. Rob has had a central role in the evolution of our Society, serving on the Executive Board for 11 years. He started as Awards Councillor for the Canadian Society for Nutritional Sciences and helped navigate the merger with Canadian Society for Clinical Nutrition in 2009. He served as VP Research for CNS from 2009-2013 and as President from 2013-2015; during his tenure as President, he spear-headed the transition of the Society to an Executive Director-led organization that has grown our Society into a vital and dynamic nutrition force in Canada. Rob continues to serve on various CNS committees and has been involved in numerous strategic initiatives. For his extended service, Rob was awarded the President’s Volunteer Leadership Award in 2017. 

As a Professor of Nutrition and Metabolism, Rob’s current research explores how early nutrition can permanently change metabolism, increasing the risk for disease later in life, using the pig as a model for the human. More specifically, he investigates the role of amino acids and vitamins in liver and intestinal metabolism and how early nutritional stresses can program methyl metabolism. This extends to the mechanisms by which parenteral nutrition feeding early in life can program risk for disease later in life. Rob also has a research program on amino acids and intestinal stress, including optimizing parenteral nutrition formulations. He has received funding from CIHR, NSERC, CFI, ILSI, hospital foundations and industry to support this research and has served on many grants review panels in Canada and USA. 

Rob’s extensive board and society experience extends beyond CNS. He served as President of the Danone Institute of Canada, Chair of several committees and task forces at the American Society for Nutrition, and serves as a Board Member at IAFNS (formerly ILSI-North America). He has a strong commitment to student training having supervised over 100 students in research, serving as Deputy Head for Graduate Studies at MUN, helping establish the CNS Trainee Network, advising at several CIHR-INMD New Investigator Workshops and leading numerous other trainee activities and programs. 

Rob thoroughly enjoys his service activities to the broader nutrition community and has never learned to say ‘no’ to promoting nutrition.