M. Yanina Pepino

M. Yanina Pepino is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, affiliated with the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) and the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition (FSHN). Her research integrates taste perception, nutrient metabolism, and dietary impacts on health, with a focus on bariatric surgery, noncaloric sweeteners, and taste dysfunction in clinical populations.

Research Interests: Her work examines how bariatric surgery alters taste and alcohol consumption behaviors, the metabolic effects of nonnutritive sweeteners, fat taste perception, and sensory dysfunction in cancer survivors and Wolfram syndrome patients. She employs psychometric sensory assessments and metabolic research methods.

Education:

• PhD in Chemistry Sciences, National University of Córdoba, Argentina (2001)
• Licentiate in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, National University of Córdoba, Argentina (1995)
• Postdoctoral Fellow in Nutrition/Addiction, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine (2008-2010)
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Chemical Senses, Monell Chemical Senses Center (2001-2004)

Scientific Awards:

• 20th Annual Moskowitz Jacobs Award for Research in Psychophysics of Human Taste and Smell (2011)

Recent Courses Taught: FSHN 424 (Biopsych of Ingestive Behavior), FSHN 580 (Ethics in Research), FSHN 592 (Graduate Internship Experience), FSHN 595 (Research Ethics), NUTR 500 (Why do we eat what we eat?).