Who is the Cranberry Doctor?
A note for the reader: Anywhere a “*” (asterisk) is marked, at the very end of the blog post, there will be a definition/explanation of what that word or symbol means in layman’s terms. I want to make this as digestible for you as possible—while also being fun and informative! 😊
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From the Cranberry Doc:
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening—good time to you whatever time it may be that you find yourself wading through Berry Informed, the Cranberry Doctor’s blog.
With this being the very first blog post for the website, I thought to myself, “What if I take viewers on a little cranberry tour?”. So, if you’re feeling berry curious (or even a little) let’s travel back three years to this date, March 27, 2023.
By this point, I was 86 days—likely >* 86 cups of coffee—and even more likely 258 - 516 hours of sleep deprivation into my second semester of grad school. Near the tail end of the COVID quarantine era, I was wrapping up a chapter of my life having built a food safety and quality lab (literally, the blueprint I made on Visio for the lab’s infrastructure) for a plant-based dairy alternative manufacturer. This marked my near 10th anniversary of working in the food manufacturing industry, and boy, was I ready for a change.
Along the years in industry, I learned something very valuable: that I loved teaching food safety, quality, and regulatory all to ensure nutritionally meaningful foods. I spent some time overseeing production of deli meats, RTE (ready-to-eat)* foods, and sugary sauces and syrups for beverages (that, if you’re an avid café-goer or drive-thru connoisseur, you’ve likely had flavors I was part of making, approving for and releasing into commerce). While I deeply care about making safe, quality food, I was not entirely proud of being part of products that were not as nutritionally valuable as they could be for us. And by “us,” I mean you, dearest reader, and your loved ones, your friends, your foes, and even your dogs (yes, I worked in pet food, animal feed, and aquaculture, too!). With that, I wanted to pivot and dedicate my time to the other “value-added,” unfortunately less corporate-focused, concept: nutrition.
In 2022, I recalled a conversation I had with one of my professors from my Masters program at Penn State, and he told me, “If you want to teach [in university], you’ll need a PhD.” So, I turned to my husband and said, “I think I’m going to pursue a PhD, now,” and he did nothing but support full send on it. My sails caught wind.
As I slid that computer mouse around on my desk in tiny circular motions, I wondered what my undergraduate alma mater was up to in the field of nutrition. It was there that I found Spokane’s Nutrition and Exercise Physiology (NEP) program at Washington State University. Upon perusing the various faculty members and their research foci, I came across these five words that caught me like a deer in headlights: Nutrition and Gut Microbiome Lab. PERFECT.
Fast forward to March 27, 2023, I was in the NGMB (Nutrition and Gut MicroBiome) lab, leading novel research on women’s health and cranberries. You may have heard of the ole saying, “Drink your UTIs away with cranberry juice!” or something of that sort… However, at least in vivo*, there was not enough scientific evidence as to why or how cranberry juice can help with urinary tract infections (UTIs). This is where my research fits in.
I spent December 2022 to December 2025 hard-pressed for cranberry data. I balanced an in vitro* fermentation model, human clinical trial, and community outreach during that time—all revolving around cranberries. Throughout my PhD journey, I was referred to as the Cranberry Scientist. Any time someone found cranberry products in a lab or kitchen, they automatically presumed it was me—and I mean, that checks out.
For the in vitro fermentation, I investigated the impact cranberry seeds and press cake* have on modulating (influencing) fecal microbiota (poop bacteria) for gut microbiome health. For the human clinical trial, I had 47 voluntarily consenting women participate in a dietary intervention with low-calorie cranberry juice (LCCJ). I analyzed their fecal and vaginal microbiota before and after each dietary period to see what LCCJ did for their microbiomes, if anything, and how those changes may help prevent UTIs. For my community outreach, I connected with the Cranberry Museum in Long Beach, WA to host engaging, educational tables during the Annual Cranberry Festival (every Fall!). People from around the world, of all ages, ethnicities, disabilities, and fruit preferences (whether they liked cranberries or not), attend this fun event. I even got to create two museum installations for cranberry agriculture and nutrition 101. (More to come in a future blog post)!
Then in November of 2025, with a spice combination of anxiety, excitement, stress, and confidence, I successfully defended my PhD in Food Science from Washington State University.
This all brings us to today, March 27, 2026, where I share a brief recap that got me to where I am now:
Cranberry Scientist turned Cranberry Doctor.
I look forward to bridging Food Science meets Nutrition with you, all the while making it free and accessible to all! Thank you for reading through this first post. If you have any questions, please submit them through my Contact form that you can find in the upper right side of my navigation pages.
If you’d like to support my mission of free, accessible, Food Science meets Nutrition education, a donation in-kind is berry much appreciated. Proceeds help me supply workshop materials e.g., pencils, paper, cups, etc., maintain website fees, business fees, all-the-fees, and expand into greater things like having equipment and technology to provide interactive, fun learning environments. Everything I provide is done out of my own tiny, little, barely functional women’s pants pockets. Donations can also be found in the upper right navigation bar, and you’d become part of the Cranberry Crew!
After all, we are stronger together like the hydrogen bonds that hold water together!
Stay tuned for more, if you’d like! I will dive deeper into my research details in a future Berry Informed post.
Berry grateful,
Ahhria (pronounced “Aria”), The Cranberry Doctor
*Explained:
*> = greater than or equal to
*RTE (ready-to-eat) = foods like crackers, beef jerky, cheeses, chips, candy, peanut butter… these are foods that do not necessarily require any preparation on your part. The idea is that you can grab-and-go-and-eat.
*In vivo = studying something inside a living body—like having humans drink your cranberry juice and studying what that does to their microbiome
*In vitro = studying something outside of the body—like taking human fecal (poop) samples and analyzing what various cranberry products do to the microbiota (bacteria) composition
*Press cake = a byproduct (or leftovers) from the cranberry juicing process. The press cake consists of skin, seeds, and some flesh of the berry.
