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Dr. Penny Kris-Etherton is a distinguished professor of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University. She received her bachelor's degree in medical dietetics with honors from the Rochester Institute of Technology and her master's degree in nutrition from Case Western Reserve University. She completed her PhD in human nutrition from the University of Minnesota, and was a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University in lipid metabolism in the division of gastroenterology.

Dr. Kris-Etherton's research program emphasizes how nutrients and other bioactive constituents affect established and emerging risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Dr. Kris-Etherton also has actively explored the health effects of fatty acids with emphasis on stearic acid, monounsaturated fatty acids and omega-3 fatty acids. Throughout her career she has played a role in the widespread communication of nutrition messages to health professionals, government representatives, consumers and the media.

Dr. Kris-Etherton has published over 150 scientific papers, 10 book chapters and co-authored four books. Her research program has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), US Department of Agriculture and the private sector. She is the 1991 recipient of the Lederle Award for Human Nutrition Research awarded from the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, and was selected in 1998 for the Foundation Award for Excellence in Research by the American Dietetic Association and became a fellow in the American Heart Association in 2001. In 2005, she received the Elaine Monsen Research Award from the American Dietetic Association Foundation.

She is currently a member of the American Dietetic Association, American Society for Nutrition, American Society for Clinical Nutrition, American Heart Association Councils on Nutrition, Metabolism and Physical Activity, Epidemiology and Prevention, and Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, Society for Nutrition Education and Sigma Xi. Dr. Kris-Etherton has served on many national committees and review panels including the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Advisory Committee, the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Macronutrients, the American Heart Association Nutrition Committee, NIH's Nutrition Study Section, the National Cholesterol Education Program Second Adult Treatment Panel, the ASCN/AIN Task Force on Trans Fatty Acids, and WomenHeart. She has held numerous editorial board appointments, including journals such as Lipids, Current Atherosclerosis Reports, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Journal of Nutrition Education and International Journal of Sports Nutrition.