Sarah E Elzinga

Dr. Sarah Elzinga was first introduced to research at Michigan State University where she completed her Master's degree with Dr. Brian Nielsen in the Department of Animal Science and Dr. Ray Geor in the Department of Large animal Clinical Sciences. For her Masters, she investigated the impact of age on nutrient digestibility in horses, which led her to pursue her Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky. Under the guidance of Dr. Amanda Adams, Dr. Elzinga received her Ph.D. in Veterinary science with an emphasis on how the immune system is dysregulated in horses with metabolic syndrome, including how nutrition might be used to modulate that dysregulation. Following her time in Kentucky, Dr. Elzinga transitioned to working in preclinical and translational research at the University of Michigan as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Eva Feldman. There, her work expanded to include the effects of metabolic dysregulation (obesity, prediabetes, and diabetes) and their resulting inflammation and immune system dysregulation on the nervous system. Specifically, her research program, which she is now growing now at Michigan State University, is focused on understanding how inflammation and immune system mechanisms promote cognitive impairment and dementias in people with obesity, prediabetes, and diabetes, particularly as they age.