CAHNR alum Nancy Kirkiles-Smith \u201985 (CLAS) \u201996 (CAHNR), is not one for idleness. In addition to working as a full-time research scientist at a cancer startup company, she runs a retail kitchen store, hosts and teaches cooking classes, and is a Duke Certified Integrative Health and Wellness coach. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine not having everything that I do,\u201d Kirkiles-Smith says.<\/p>\n
![\"CAHNR](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/cahnr_10th_blue-green-300x139.png\")
Kirkiles-Smith\u2019s interest in health and nutrition began in childhood. Her father, a Greek immigrant, owned a restaurant in New Haven. When Kirkiles-Smith was in third grade her father had a heart attack. This made the whole family more aware of their diet. \u201cWe were always very conscious of what we ate and how that could relate to health,\u201d Kirkiles-Smith says.<\/p>\n
As an undergraduate at UConn, Kirkiles-Smith studied cell biology, intending to go to medical school. But when she decided to pursue a master\u2019s degree before applying for medical school, her path changed. Kirkiles-Smith studied Animal and Nutritional Science at the University of New Hampshire, where she worked on studies of beta carotene metabolism. Carotenoids, including beta carotene, are colorful plant pigments found in foods like carrots and green leafy vegetables, that have potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Kirkiles-Smith decided to pursue a career in research and earned her PhD in nutritional sciences at UConn, working under Professor Harold Furr.<\/p>\n
After graduating, Kirkiles-Smith did a postdoctoral fellowship in immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought that someday I would link nutritional science and immunology together but that was before the microbiome became huge.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Yale, after her postdoctoral work, Kirkiles-Smith stayed on as a staff scientist and laboratory manager in Dr. Jordan Pober\u2019s laboratory. There, she developed \u00a0humanized mouse models, a novelty at the start of her career, to study the allogeneic immune response to organ transplants. Now, humanized mice are common models in many fields of research.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been sort of ahead of the curve on things,\u201d Kirkiles-Smith says.<\/p>\n
Smith is now working for a biotech startup, called Normunity, developing novel cancer treatments. There are two types of tumors: \u201chot\u201d and \u201ccold.\u201d The body\u2019s immune system can infiltrate and fight \u201chot\u201d tumors but not \u201ccold\u201d tumors, which constitute most solid tumors. As a senior scientist at Normunity, Kirkiles-Smith is working to turn \u201ccold\u201d tumors \u201chot.\u201d Using the humanized mouse models with which Kirkiles-Smith has worked for most of her career, she investigates what happens when she introduces Normunity\u2019s compounds to various cancer models.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to be in that kind of discovery that\u2019s groundbreaking and against the current dogma,\u201d Kirkiles-Smith says. Normunity is closely allied with the Yale labortatory led by Dr. Lieping Chen, a pioneer in the field of immuno-oncology.<\/p>\n
In another chapter of her life, Kirkiles-Smith has returned to her roots in nutritional science. One day, Kirkiles-Smith\u2019s brother, a sculptor and metalsmith, asked her to help fill his kitchen design showroom with small retail items people could purchase as they visited. She enjoyed setting up a retail space and bringing in products that had design and quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinally, after about six months he said: \u2018You\u2019re covering up my stuff, you need to get your own place\u2019,\u201d Kirkiles-Smith says. She realized how much she enjoyed the retail space, so she and her husband opened a kitchen shop in Essex.<\/p>\n
As the business grew, people would continually ask her if she hosted cooking classes. This inspired Kirkiles-Smith to put an addition on her house allowing classes with up to 12 students.<\/p>\n She brought in local chefs to teach, many of whom had come into the kitchen shop. During the COVID-19 pandemic, with in-person cooking classes halted, Kirkiles-Smith, who has been a vegetarian since high school, earned professional certifications as a plant-based chef and culinary coach.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are what you eat,\u201d Kirkiles-Smith says. \u201cAnd if you don\u2019t have the basic skills to prepare a meal, you often rely on ready-made and ultraprocessed foods which can lead to chronic illness.\u201d<\/p>\n Kirkiles-Smith has started teaching more of the Weekend Kitchen cooking classes herself. She says she teaches her cooking classes \u201clike a lab class\u201d with procedural efficiency and detailed explanations. She makes an effort to highlight the history of the dish they are making and its ingredients, as well as its nutritional content. Lately, Kirkiles-Smith has been doing a cookbook series, highlighting recipes from new plant-based cookbooks including a vegan Chinese cookbook and plant-based Indian cookbook.<\/p>\n Kirkiles-Smith is currently working on getting board certified as a health and wellness coach. She says she wants her \u201cretirement career\u201d to refocus on her passion for food and nutrition.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though I scientifically ventured away from my roots in nutrition, it\u2019s a way for me to tie everything back in with food and health.\u201d<\/p>\n This work relates to CAHNR\u2019s Strategic Vision area focused on\u00a0<\/em>Enhancing Health Locally,<\/em><\/a> Nationally, and Globally.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/DSC08502-edited-1024x684.jpg\")