Richard N. Baumgartner received a PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology from the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston in 1982. He was a Research Assistant Professor at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio from 1985 to 1990, where he worked on the Fels Longitudinal Growth Study and other research in human growth, development, body composition and cardiovascular disease risk. In 1991, he transferred to the University of New Mexico and refocused his research on body composition changes in old age and chronic disease risk, including injurious falls and disability. He served as the Principal Investigator of the "New Mexico Aging Process Study", a longitudinal cohort study of elderly men and women, from 1998-2004. He also developed a research program in nutrition, physical activity and breast cancer prognosis, known as the "Health, Eating, Activity and Lifestyle" (HEAL) Study. He served as the Associate Director of the UNM Clinical Nutrition Program from 1991-1998, and as the Director of the Aging and Genetic Epidemiology Program from 1998-2004. He was Interim Chief of the Division of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine from 2003-2004. Dr. Baumgartner joined the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health in July 2005 as a tenured Professor and Distinguished University Scholar.