Shari Youngblood

Dr. Shari M. Youngblood, DCN, CNS, LDN, CCMS, is a clinical nutritionist, educator, and researcher whose work focuses on oncology and hematology supportive care, with particular expertise in nutrition intervention development and implementation within clinical trials. She serves as Assistant Professor and Core Faculty Member in the Department of Integrative & Functional Nutrition at Saybrook University and has been appointed Associate Professor effective August 2026.

Dr. Youngblood's research and clinical scholarship center on the integration of evidence-based nutrition strategies into cancer care, with emphasis on improving treatment tolerance, symptom management, quality of life, and patient-centered outcomes for individuals with hematologic and solid malignancies. She has served as a Clinical Research Nutritionist on multiple NIH-funded oncology trials at the University of Maryland Baltimore, contributing to protocol development, intervention design, participant-centered implementation models, feasibility planning, recruitment strategy, and supportive care delivery within interdisciplinary research teams.

Her work bridges translational nutrition science and real-world clinical application, with interests in food-as-medicine approaches, metabolically targeted nutrition interventions, and scalable supportive care models for oncology populations. She has contributed to research published in journals including Nutrition and Cancer, Supportive Care in Cancer, European Journal of Cancer Care, and JMIR Research Protocols.

In addition to her academic and research roles, Dr. Youngblood maintains active clinical practice experience across oncology, chronic disease, and behavioral health settings. Her interdisciplinary background includes anthropology and sociology, which informs her commitment to culturally responsive care and program development. While her current scholarship is primarily focused on oncology and hematology, her broader clinical background includes extensive work in mental and behavioral health nutrition, informing her holistic and patient-centered approach to supportive care.

Dr. Youngblood teaches in the MS and PhD programs at Saybrook University, mentors graduate and doctoral research, and serves on dissertation committees with an emphasis on applied clinical research and implementation science. She is also Associate Editor-in-Chief of the journal Cancer Management & Research and remains actively engaged in advancing rigorous, interdisciplinary oncology nutrition scholarship.

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Courses Taught:

- IFN 5670: Foundations of Integrative & Functional Nutrition

- IFN 5705: The Psychobiology of Eating

- IFN 5687: Capstone Seminar in Integrative & Functional Nutrition

- IFN 5900: Integrative Approaches to Chronic Disease

- IFN 8100: Independent Study in Nutrition

- IFN 5527: Whole Foods Cooking Lab

- IFN 5611: Therapeutic Diets & Menu Planning