Meet the Food Doctors

Erin Kaplan is currently a visiting lecturer in the Economics Department at the University of Pittsburgh (www.econ.pitt.edu). Her interest in food began at a young age. As a child she always enjoyed watching Julia Child: Bon Appétit, convinced that Julia was her maternal grandmother, Gladys. She has been happily married for 3 years, and is the proud mother of a giant, energetic dog. Her economics research interests are broad within the field of applied microeconomics, and her most recent work has focused on the lasting effects of early onset depression.

Cindy Larive is an analytical chemist and chair of the Chemistry Department at the University of California – Riverside (www.chem.ucr.edu). Her interest in food started through cooking with her mother and grandmother as a toddler and was fostered by participation in 4-H growing up on a small farm in South Dakota. Through this column she hopes to use simple, easy to understand language to describe the science behind important cooking processes – and to make it interesting for our readers.  Cindy has been married for 33 years to Jim Larive and is the proud mother of two daughters, Erin Kaplan and Megan Larive. Her chemistry research involves determining the structure and biological activity of sugars, especially heparin – an important blood anticoagulant, understanding the stress response of plants to flooding and drought (work she carries out in collaboration with UCR professor Julia Bailey-Serres) and developing new methods to detect fruit juice adulteration. She is also involved efforts to improve chemistry teaching through the development of active learning modules published through the Analytical Sciences Digital Library (www.asdlib.org).

Disclaimer: We are not certified medical professionals. All of the information on this site is strictly for educational purposes, and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice.