Jennifer Trainer Thompson is the author or coauthor of 16 books ranging in subjects from nuclear power to cooking. Nominated for three James Beard Awards, she has written numerous cookbooks, including The Fresh Egg Cookbook, Hot Sauce!, The Yachting Cookbook, and Jump Up & Kiss Me: Spicy Vegetarian Cooking.
She is the chef and creator of the all-natural line of spicy sauces called Jump Up & Kiss Me, and a leader in the spicy foods movement. She is the coauthor of Nuclear Power: Both Sides and Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe, both of which presented complicated scientific topics to the layman. A journalist for over 20 years, Jennifer has also written about topics that interest her—science, food, travel, art, and lifestyle—for The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Omni, Discover, Harvard Magazine, and on her blog, jumpupandkiss.me.
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Johanna M. Seddon, MD, ScM, is a renowned macular degeneration clinician, researcher, author, and genetic epidemiologist. A professor of ophthalmology at Tufts University School of Medicine, she is the Founding Director of the Ophthalmic Epidemiology and Genetics Service at the New England Eye Center, Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Her groundbreaking studies of elderly twins over the past two decades have shown that both nature (genetics) and nurture (diet and behaviors) contribute to macular degeneration, and her research team and collaborators have identified a majority of the known genes associated with this disease. Her discoveries of modifiable factors for age-related eye diseases include the beneficial effects of the antioxidant nutrients lutein and zeaxanthin, as well as anti-inflammatory foods containing omega-3 fatty acids, and the adverse effects of smoking, obesity, and abdominal adiposity. The author of more than 250 scientific papers, book chapters, and review articles, she has received numerous awards and honors for her pioneering research and contributions to the fields of ophthalmic epidemiology, genetics, nutrition, and macular degeneration.