Carol J. Haggans, M.S., R.D. is a Scientific and Health Communications Consultant with the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS). In this role, she handles a variety of health communications activities including writing and updating the ODS dietary supplement fact sheets and the consumer-focused e-newsletter, The Scoop. She also leads the ODS public inquiry program and researches and responds to questions from consumers, health professionals, and the media about dietary supplements. In addition, Ms. Haggans is a member of the NIH Nutrition Education Subcommittee, a committee that reviews federally developed nutrition education materials for the public to ensure that they are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Before becoming a consultant, Ms. Haggans was a Program Analyst with ODS from 1999 to 2004. During that time, she coordinated the development and implementation of the Computer Access to Research on Dietary Supplements database of federally funded research on dietary supplements and was involved with the design and maintenance of the ODS website. Prior to that, she worked in the information technology field as a manufacturing and technical service engineer.
Ms. Haggans is a member of the American Society for Nutrition and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
She received her B.S. in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and her M.S. in nutrition from the University of Minnesota, where she conducted clinical research on the effects of flaxseed consumption on estrogen metabolism and breast cancer risk in premenopausal and postmenopausal women.