Martha Clare Morris (1955 – February 15, 2020) was an American nutritional epidemiologist who studied the link between diet and Alzheimer's disease. She led a team of researchers at the Rush University Medical Center to develop the MIND diet.
Early life and education
Martha Clare Chinn grew up in Flossmoor, Illinois. She graduated from Homewood Flossmoor High School. She completed an undergraduate degree at the University of Iowa, followed by a master of sociology at the same university. She undertook her doctoral studies at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, graduating with an ScD.
Career
Morris worked with Denis Evans while completing her ScD and, in 1992, moved to Rush University Medical Center in Chicago with him. On Evans' retirement some years later, Morris became director of the Institute for Healthy Aging at Rush.
Her researched focused on diet, rather than just genetics, being a significant contributor to dementia, in particular Alzheimer's disease. Leading a team of researchers at Rush, she developed the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay diet, commonly known as the MIND diet.
Morris died of cancer at her Oak Park home on February 15, 2020.
Works
Book
Diet for the MIND: The Latest Science on What to Eat to Prevent Alzheimer's and Cognitive Decline, 2017