Maura E. Walker, PhD

Assistant Professor, Boston University College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College

Biography

Dr. Walker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Boston University’s Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and in the Section of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology at the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. She serves as the Principal Investigator of the Quantitative Nutrition and Metabolism Lab and co-leads the cross-university Digital Health and Network Multi-Omics Lab.

As a transdisciplinary nutrition scientist, Dr. Walker has conducted extensive research across preclinical, clinical, and epidemiologic domains, examining the influence of diet on various biological systems, including transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and gut microbiota. In her role as a Junior Investigator with the Framingham Heart Study, her primary research focuses on using both traditional and systems-level epidemiological methods to deepen our understanding of how modifiable risk factors can alter the life-course progression of cardiometabolic diseases, with a particular emphasis on MASLD, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.

Dr. Walker earned her MS and PhD in Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition from the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, where she also conducted research at the USDA Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging. She teaches SAR 783 Metabolomic Regulation and SAR 785 Research in Clinical Nutrition for BU’s Masters of Science in Nutrition degree programs.

Publications

  • Published 3/17/2025

    Spartano NL, Sultana N, Lin H, Cheng H, Lu S, Fei D, Murabito JM, Walker ME, Wolpert HA, Steenkamp DW. Defining Continuous Glucose Monitor Time in Range in a Large, Community-Based Cohort Without Diabetes. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2025 Mar 17; 110(4):1128-1134. PMID: 39257191.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/12/2025

    Spartano NL, Prescott B, Walker ME, Shi E, Venkatesan G, Fei D, Lin H, Murabito JM, Ahn D, Battelino T, Edelman SV, Fleming GA, Freckmann G, Galindo RJ, Joubert M, Lansang MC, Mader JK, Mankovsky B, Mathioudakis NN, Mohan V, Peters AL, Shah VN, Spanakis EK, Waki K, Wright EE, Zilbermint M, Wolpert HA, Steenkamp DW. Expert Clinical Interpretation of Continuous Glucose Monitor Reports From Individuals Without Diabetes. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2025 Feb 12; 19322968251315171. PMID: 39936548.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/27/2025

    Sun N, Prescott B, Ma J, Xanthakis V, Quatromoni PA, Long MT, Walker ME. The cross-sectional association between ultra-processed food intake and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease. Clin Nutr ESPEN. 2025 Apr; 66:215-220. PMID: 39880205.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/1/2025

    Weinstein G, Kojis D, Banerjee A, Seshadri S, Walker M, Beiser AS. Ultra-processed food consumption and risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease: The Framingham Heart Study. J Prev Alzheimers Dis. 2025 Feb; 12(2):100042. PMID: 39863327.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 7/14/2024

    Kim H, Chen J, Prescott B, Walker ME, Grams ME, Yu B, Vasan RS, Floyd JS, Sotoodehnia N, Smith NL, Arking DE, Coresh J, Rebholz CM. Plasma proteins associated with plant-based diets: Results from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study and Framingham Heart Study (FHS). Clin Nutr. 2024 Aug; 43(8):1929-1940. PMID: 39018652.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 30 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Research Assistant Professor, Medicine
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Investigator
    Framingham Heart Study

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