Megan Hetherington-Rauth, PhD

Postdoctoral Scientist, California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute

E-Mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
Address:

Box 0560
550 16th Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94158

Additional Websites:

California Pacific Medical Center, Research Institute

Dr. Hetherington-Rauth received a PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Arizona with a focus on the inter-relationships among adiposity, fat patterning, metabolic health, and bone development during a critical growth period in girls. Following the completion of her PhD, she was a post-doctoral fellow in the Exercise and Health Laboratory at the Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon in Portugal, where she continued with her line of research focused on body composition assessment techniques and the interaction of body composition, physical activity, and metabolic health with application to children, adults, older adults, athletes, and individuals with T2DM. She is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute (CPMCRI) in San Francisco, CA where she is working with several multicenter studies of older adults to investigate the associations between body composition, and metabolomic biomarkers with functional outcomes in older adults and the modifying effects of physical activity.

Research Interests

  • Age-related changes in muscle, fat, and bone 
  • Factors influencing changes in body composition and physical decline with age 
  • Novel assessment techniques for sarcopenia and osteoporosis (D3Cr muscle mass, opportunistic CT imaging, metabolic biomarkers)  

Selected Publications

Visit PubMed to see additional publications
 

  1. Cawthon PM, Blackwell TL, Kritchevsky SB, Newman AB, Hepple RT, Coen PM, Goodpaster BH, Duchowny K, Hetherington-Rauth M, Mau T, Shankaran M, Hellerstein M, Evans WJ, Cummings SR. Associations Between D3Cr Muscle Mass and Magnetic Resonance Thigh Muscle Volume With Strength, Power, Physical Performance, Fitness, and Limitations in Older Adults in the SOMMA Study. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2024 Apr 1;79(4):glae056.  

  1. Hetherington-Rauth M, Johnson E, Migliavacca E, Parimi N, Langsetmo L, Hepple RT, Grzywinski Y, Corthesy J, Ryan TE, Ferrucci L, Feige JN, Orwoll ES, Cawthon PM. Nutrient Metabolites Associated With Low D3Cr Muscle Mass, Strength, and Physical Performance in Older Men. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2024 Feb 1;79(2):glad217. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glad217. PMCID: PMC10809040. 

  1. Brennan AM, Coen PM, Mau T, Hetherington-Rauth M, Toledo FGS, Kershaw EE, Cawthon PM, Kramer PA, Ramos SV, Newman AB, Cummings SR, Forman DE, Yeo RX, DiStefano G, Miljkovic I, Justice JN, Molina AJA, Jurczak MJ, Sparks LM, Kritchevsky SB, Goodpaster BH. Associations between regional adipose tissue distribution and skeletal muscle bioenergetics in older men and women. medRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Nov 10:2023.11.10.23298359. PMCID: PMC10659498. 

  1. Sardinha LB, Magalhães JP, Santos DA, Hetherington-Rauth M. Intensity matters: impact of physical activity energy expenditure at moderate and vigorous intensity on total and abdominal obesity in children. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2023 May;77(5):546-550.  

  1. Hetherington-Rauth M, Magalhães JP, Rosa GB, Correia IR, Carneiro T, Oliveira EC, Sardinha LB. Morning versus afternoon physical activity and health-related outcomes in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2022 Jun;24(6):1172-1175.  

  1. Hetherington-Rauth M, Magalhães JP, Júdice PB, Ara I, Rosa GB, Correia IR, Mañas A, Sardinha LB. Physical activity moderates the effect of sedentary time on an older adult's physical independence. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2021 Jul;69(7):1964-1970.  

  1. Hetherington-Rauth M, Baptista F, Sardinha LB. BIA-assessed cellular hydration and muscle performance in youth, adults, and older adults. Clin Nutr. 2020 Aug;39(8):2624-2630.  

  1. Hetherington-Rauth M, Bea JW, Blew RM, Funk JL, Lee VR, Roe DJ, Sardinha LB, Going SB. Relationship of cardiometabolic risk biomarkers with DXA and pQCT bone health outcomes in young girls. Bone. 2019 Mar;120:452-458. PMCID: PMC9395974. 

  1. Hetherington-Rauth M, Bea JW, Blew RM, Funk JL, Lee VR, Varadi TC, Roe DJ, Wheeler MD, Going SB. Effect of cardiometabolic risk factors on the relationship between adiposity and bone mass in girls. Int J Obes (Lond). 2018 Jun;42(6):1185-1194. PMCID: PMC6195820.