Rebecca Bortz Costello, Ph.D., researched and wrote her Ph.D. dissertation on Magnesium status in patients with heart disease. She has retained her avid interest in Magnesium ever since. Dr. Costello retired from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) in September 2011 where she served as Director of Grants and Extramural Activities and continues to work with ODS as a part-time scientific consultant.
Prior to her NIH appointment, Dr. Costello was with the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, serving as Project Director for the Committee on Military Nutrition Research. Her work focused on evaluating the nutritional adequacy and use of nutritional supplements for sustaining and enhancing performance in military personnel.
Dr. Costello believes her most rewarding job was when she served as a Research Associate and Program Director for the Risk Factor Reduction Center, a referral center at the Washington Adventist Hospital for the detection, modification, and prevention of cardiovascular disease through dietary and/or drug interventions.
Dr. Costello received a B.S. and M.S. in biology from the American University, Washington, D.C., and a Ph.D. in clinical nutrition from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1994. Her clinical research focused on the assessment of magnesium status in patients with congestive heart failure.
Dr. Costello maintains active membership in the American Society for Nutrition, American Heart Association, Society for the Development of Research on Magnesium, and the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. She is also an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Military and Emergency Medicine of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. She continues to write and review articles for professional journals, and has been an invited speaker at numerous professional meetings.
She is totally enthusiastic to work with the team of scientists at CMER to promote the science and explore aspects of magnesium’s role in maintaining health and in disease prevention.