Meet the Dean

As an award-winning researcher, Tappenden’s work focuses on intestinal failure, mechanisms of intestinal adaptation, and patient malnutrition. She has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and delivered numerous invited lectures and her commitment to education has been recognized with the American Society for Nutrition Excellence in Nutrition Education Award and the American Gastroenterological Association Research Mentor Award. In 2024, she was named the Jonathan E. Rhoads Lecturer by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition — the organization's highest research honor, recognizing major international contributions to the field of nutrition and metabolic support.

Before joining the University of Utah, Tappenden served at the University of Illinois Chicago as professor and head of the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition, as well as interim head of the Department of Occupational Therapy. She is a past president of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition and was named the organization’s inaugural fellow in 2012. She has also served as a board member for the American Gastroenterological Association and the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

Tappenden received her PhD in nutrition and metabolism from the University of Alberta and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Integrative Biology, Physiology & Pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Before her time at the University of Illinois Chicago, she served as a provost fellow and endowed professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.