UAB Alumni Cook Up New Flavors for Cancer Patients

By Susannah Felts

Birmingham oncologist Luis Pineda attended culinary school to teach himself how to make food more palatable to cancer patients. He has shared the fruits of his learning in a cookbook and in person at workshops in partnership with UAB's Comprehensive Cancer Center.A brief bout with nausea or stomach flu is enough to remind most of us that enjoying food is a wonderful thing. For people struggling with cancer and many other long-term medical conditions, a changed relationship with food can be one of the most troubling outcomes.  

Chemotherapy and radiation treatment, in particular, wreak havoc on taste, smell, and digestion, leaving patients with little appetite and difficulty consuming meats and hot or crunchy foods. Both treatments damage salivary glands and taste receptors in the mouth and nose. They also create a wide range of gastrointestinal problems, along with mouth inflammation, ulcers, and dryness.

In his Birmingham oncology practice, Luis Pineda, M.D., observed many patients turning down meals and meal-replacement shakes. Those skipped meals ultimately translate to “poor nutrition and, eventually, poor outcomes,” notes Pineda, who completed a fellowship at the UAB School of Medicine in 1982 and was one of the original members of UAB’s bone marrow transplant program.

A lifelong food-lover, Pineda decided to address the problem. So he enrolled in Birmingham’s Culinard cooking school to explore how to make food that was more palatable for cancer patients.

A Free-flowing Conversation with UAB’s Dr. Gridlock

By Matt Windsor

Everyone likes to complain about traffic. UAB transportation expert Virginia Sisiopiku, Ph.D., is actually doing something about it. Sisiopiku, an associate professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, is following several parallel lanes of traffic-related research that could lead to a quicker, happier, healthier commute for the rest of us—without years of paralyzing construction.

UAB transportation expert Virginia Sisiopiku creates 3D digital replicas of local roadways to help tame traffic."In the past, the answer to traffic was to build new roads and add new lanes, but we have come to the conclusion that this does not work,” she says. “Eventually, your money and available space run out, and the traffic is still clogged. We are looking at ways to reduce traffic congestion and the consequences—everything from increased travel times to pollution—without building more infrastructure.”

Here is a quick spin through the science of traffic research—and four potential solutions being pursued by Sisiopiku and other researchers at the UAB School of Engineering.