Ana Maldonado-Contreras

Ana Maldonado-Contreras, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at UMass Chan Medical School where she holds the position of Marcellette G. Williams Scholar. She has multiple appointments across the institution including in the Department of Microbiology at the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, the Program in Microbial Dynamics, and several departments within the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences including Immunology and Microbiology Program, MD/PhD Program, Population Health Sciences, and Systems Computational and Quantitative Biology.

Dr. Maldonado-Contreras earned her BA from the University of Zulia in Venezuela, her MS in Microbiology from the Instituto Universitario de Tecnologia in Caracas, and her PhD in Microbiology from the University of Puerto Rico. She completed postdoctoral research at the University of Massachusetts in Beth McCormick's lab with support from the Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program.

Her research focuses on the gastrointestinal microbiome and diet-microbiome interactions, particularly in relation to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). She has developed the IBD-Anti-Inflammatory Diet (IBD-AID™), a whole-food nutritional therapy that targets the gut microbiome through probiotic and prebiotic foods to reduce inflammation in IBD patients. Her work extends to culturally adapted versions of this diet, including the Dieta Anti-Inflamatoria or DAIN for Puerto Ricans with Crohn's disease.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong focus on translational microbiome research with emphasis on dietary interventions for IBD, maternal-fetal microbiome transmission during pregnancy, and the relationship between diet, microbiome, and disease outcomes across different ethnic populations. Her work increasingly incorporates clinical trial design and implementation to validate microbiome-based dietary interventions.

• Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, The Medical Foundation Division (2013-2015)
• Research Scholar Award, American Gastroenterological Association (2016-2019)
• Faculty Diversity Scholar, Office of Faculty Affairs-UMMS (2015-2020)
• Dr. Marcellette G. Williams Distinguished Scholars (2020-21)

Dr. Maldonado-Contreras leads an active research program with multiple clinical trials including the MELODY Trial (examining diet intervention during pregnancy for women with IBD), the DAIN study (a culturally adapted anti-inflammatory diet for Puerto Ricans with Crohn's disease), and the Cranberry Study. Her lab has received recognition in National Geographic and other media outlets for work on how the microbiome may influence immune response to viral infections including COVID-19. She has successfully mentored students including John, who recently passed his PhD qualifying exam.

Her laboratory, the Maldonado-Contreras Lab, investigates how manipulation of the gut microbiota through diet can improve patient outcomes, with particular focus on chronic inflammatory illnesses, IBD during pregnancy, and IBD in Hispanic populations. The lab has collaborated with institutions including the University of Puerto Rico and has received visits from notable figures such as Congressman Jim McGovern.