Christopher D. Gardner PhD

Christopher D. Gardner, PhD, is the Director of Nutrition Studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. He received his PhD in Nutritional Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley in 1993. His postgraduate training included a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular disease epidemiology at Stanford.

Dr. Gardner is actively involved in research and teaching. His research focus is on dietary intervention trials designed to test the effects of food components or food patterns on chronic disease risk factors, including body weight, blood lipids, and inflammatory markers. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, primarily on controlled trials that have involved over 1,000 research participants. He speaks nationally within his areas of expertise, which include: Dietary approaches to improve blood lipids, weight loss diets, health benefits of vegetarian and plant-based diets, the optimal diet for cardiovascular health, dietary supplements, complementary and alternative medicine, soy, garlic, ginkgo, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants. Most recently his research interests have begun to shift to projects more in line with Community Based Participatory Research.

On a more personal note Christopher Gardner has been a vegetarian for more than 25 years, or, as he prefers to describe it, a plant-based diet. His four boys (ages 19, 16, 5 and 2) and wife Melissa, a political scientist at Menlo College, all follow a plant-based diet. His favorite physical activities include rock-climbing, volleyball and ultimate Frisbee. His wife typically wins 3 out of 4 scrabble games with him.