Sarah Ball

Sarah Ball is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She serves as the Dietetic Internship Director and Manager of the Nutrition, Exercise, and Phenotype Testing Core for the Michigan Nutrition Obesity Research Center.

Her educational background includes:

• RD (Registered Dietitian) from Commission on Dietetic Registration (2003)
• MPH from University of North Carolina (2003)
• BS from Ohio University (1999)

Sarah Ball has extensive expertise in precision nutrition, child obesity prevention, and dietary assessment methods. With over 20 years of experience as a Registered Dietitian, she focuses on translating scientific knowledge into practical applications for public health. Her work emphasizes using food as medicine and inspiring the next generation of dietitians to pursue innovative approaches in nutrition science. She is particularly interested in how precision nutrition can be integrated with public health principles to improve health outcomes.

Her research publications demonstrate a strong focus on dietary assessment methods, child obesity prevention in childcare settings, and precision nutrition approaches for conditions like irritable bowel syndrome. The articles show consistent work in developing and validating tools for measuring dietary intake and meal quality, particularly for children in childcare settings. There's also significant work on specialized diets like the low-FODMAP diet for gastrointestinal disorders, showing her expertise spans both public health nutrition and clinical nutrition applications.

Sarah Ball co-teaches NUTR 597: Precision Nutrition - Translating the Science to Practice, where she helps students understand how to incorporate emerging fields like nutrigenetics, nutrigenomics, culinary medicine, and microbiome science into personalized nutrition practice. She is committed to developing the next generation of nutrition professionals with expertise in both traditional and innovative nutrition approaches.

As Manager of the Nutrition, Exercise, and Phenotype Testing Core for the Michigan Nutrition Obesity Research Center, she oversees important research infrastructure that supports studies on nutrition, exercise physiology, and metabolic phenotyping. Her leadership in the Dietetic Internship program shapes the training of future registered dietitians, ensuring they receive comprehensive education in evidence-based nutrition practice.