STEM-Talk: Andrew Koutnik on nutrition, metabolism and human performance

Andrew Koutnik never imagined himself as a scientist.

“As a kid, I had limited awareness of what a scientist actually was,” Koutnik says. Science segments on National Public Radio, which he listened to with his father, helped open his mind to the role science could have.

Those little doses of science, along with the influence of a much-loved neighbor who routinely shared knowledge and resources with the young Koutnik, opened the door to his scientific journey.

Today Koutnik is exploring those boundaries using his personal experience as a type 1 diabetic to fuel a passion for understanding and bettering human performance.

Koutnik, an IHMC Visiting Research Scientist, is the guest on Episode 185 of STEM-Talk, available now wherever you listen to podcasts.

Koutnik has worked with Harvard, Johns Hopkins, NASA, and the Department of Defense to develop evidence-based strategies for overcoming complex health challenges. He is a graduate of Florida State University and earned his Ph.D. in medical sciences at The University of South Florida.

“It was in college that I realized you could explore your personal curiosities and actually get paid to do it,” Koutnik says. “My journey into science really came through personal curiosity and my life experience with obesity and diabetes.”

Our conversation touches on:

• Why he considers type 1 diabetes as one of his ultimate assets. “Managing my type 1 diabetes gave me minute-by-minute insights on food, exercise, sleep, stress, illness, and other lifestyle factors and how they interact to influence glucose control and insulin leads…. Living with type 1 diabetes, unlike any course I ever took, made me appreciate the beautiful complexity of human metabolism.”
• The anatomy and physiology professor at Florida State University who influenced his journey.
• His time at the University of South Florida with Dom D’Agostino, a friend of STEM-Talk who has appeared multiple times on the podcast beginning in 2016.
• How the discovery of insulin changed the treatment of diabetes and how it continues to influence the evolution of disease treatment.
• How his appreciation of his disease as an autoimmune disorder expanded as he learned about the environmental and lifestyle influences his disease state.
• His work on sports nutrition, human performance research and much more.

_{IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.}