I am a medical nutritionist with 30 years of clinical experience. Using an individualized approach to the evaluation and treatment of a wide array of conditions, my specialty is developing nutrition and lifestyle strategies to address health problems such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, mood and bowel disorders. I will ask questions on your behalf that may not have been asked in order to uncover the upstream connections to the downstream consequences known as symptoms.
My formal education includes a B.S. in nutrition from Penn State University and a Master’s in Public Health Nutrition from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. I have passed two national certification exams and am a Registered Dietitian. I am licensed in Maryland and North Carolina.
My journey to become a nutritionist
When I began college, I majored in education for special needs children and took time off to work as a teacher’s aide in a class of boys who were then called ’emotionally disturbed’ (That was a long time ago!).
As I worked with these children I observed that every day after lunch they were more hyperactive, distracted and very challenging to work with. So I went to the library to read about the connections among brain chemistry, nutrition and learning. I was in awe that the scientific literature included thousands of articles about those connections. I was inspired to change my major, and began my formal study of nutrition science. After earning a BS and an MPH I interned with a nutritionally-oriented medical doctor before opening my own practice in 1988.