Mylene Anwar

Home Institution: Central Mindanao University

Host Institution: Cornell University

Award Name: US-ASEAN Fulbright Advanced Research Program

Discipline: Food Science

Award Year: 2023-2024

Dr. Mylene Anwar completed her Ph.D. In Food Science at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand in 2020. She is a faculty member of the Department of Food Science and currently the Dean of the College of Human Ecology at Central Mindanao University (CMU). Her area of specialization is on prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics and gut health.

As a Fulbright scholar, Mylene will spend 4 months working with Dr. Elad Tako of the Department of Food Science at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York on characterization of the individual and interactive effects of dietary mineral, phytochemicals and prebiotics on the intestinal microbiome, brush border membrane functionality and morphology, their bioavailability, absorption, and their impact on gut health. Upon her return, Mylene hopes to help strengthen the food fortification strategies of the Philippines and other ASEAN countries in addressing micronutrient deficiency and help address gut health issues of the country including the increasing prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) which is a risk factor for colorectal cancer. Mylene will continue to support the internationalization activities of CMU particularly in international research collaborations, faculty mobility for international partnerships and in securing future research fundings.