Nutrition Through the Lifespan
April 16th and 17th
Hilton Fort Collins
425 W. Prospect Road
Fort Collins, Co. 80526
Join us for the 40th Lillian Fountain Smith Nutrition Conference: Nutrition Through the Lifespan, April 16-17, 2026, at the Hilton in Fort Collins, CO! The conference will feature presentations from leaders in the field of nutrition and health science and will bring together healthcare professionals, research scientists, trainees, and the general public to learn and network with peers.
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
The Lillian Fountain Smith Conference honors Mrs. Smith, a 1918 graduate in home economics at Colorado State University (then Colorado A&M). Recognizing the importance of nutrition in her own life and the lives of her family members, Mrs. Smith chose to assist the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Colorado State University in improving and extending its nutrition outreach activities.
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The Lillian Fountain Smith Conference was first made possible with charitable gifts from the Lillian Fountain Smith Trust, established by Mr. and Mrs. J. Fish Smith. The conference – including the affordable registration costs – is now sustained by the Lillian Fountain Smith Conference Endowment, established with a bequest from Mrs. Smith’s estate. People have attended this conference from across the United States during the past three decades. It is an honor to continue this legacy.
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Event Schedule
Thursday, April 16th
AM
8:00
Check In, Light Breakfast, Introductions
9:30
Protein-Rich Food Choices for Cardiometabolic Health; Does it Really Matter?
Speaker - Wayne Campbell, PhD
10:30
Symposium - Novel Therapies for Nutrition Related Diseases
Dan Bessesen - The Evolving Landscape of Antiobesity Medications, Implications for our Understanding of Body Weight Regulation
Amandine Chaix - Ketogenic Diet for Type 2 Diabetes Management: Fat Chance!
Lisa Beutler - Dissecting the Gut-Brain Dynamics of Anorexia and Aversion
PM
12:00
Lunch/Break
1:30
Symposium - Infant and Maternal Nutrition
Minghua Tang - Why Diet Matters for the Little Ones: the Impact of Complementary Feeding on Infant Growth and Development
Teri Hernandez - In Defense of Carbs: Challenging the Low-Carbohydrate Diet for Gestational Diabetes
Michelle Baack - As a Matter of Fat: Periconceptual Diets to Shape Pregnancy Outcomes and Generational Health
3:00
Insights from Diet, Nature & Evolution on the Cause of Metabolic Diseases
Speaker - Richard Johnson, MD
4:15
Poster Session & Happy Hour
Friday, April 17th
AM
8:00
Breakfast
8:30
RBD
Speaker - Christopher Gardner, PhD
9:45
Lightning Talks
11:00
Navigating Change in Today's Public Health Nutrition Landscape
Speaker - Carmen Byker Shanks, PhD, RDN
PM
12:00
Lunch/Break
1:30
Symposium - Nutrition and Aging
Tom LaRocca - Brain Aging, Molecular Genetics, and Nutraceuticals
Josie Broussard - Sleep and Circadian Disruption: a Model of Accelerated Aging Across Multiple Physiological Systems
Sarah Elzinga - At the Nexus of Obesity, Prediabetes, and Aging: Is Neuroinflammation the Common Denominator in Dementia?
3:30
Awards & Closing Remarks
***CEU credits are available for each main speaker and symposium with a total of 8.5 credits.
Please submit attendance to Zara Hopkins for your certificate. Zara.Hopkins@colostate.edu