Submission Deadline for the 2026 Nutrition Advocate award is July 1, 2026. Find out more on NASPGHAN | NASPGHAN Foundation Grants. Read more about our last years winner below on what it means to be a Nutrition Advocate! If this reminds you of another CPNP member, nominate them today!
About Christy:
I am a dietitian and board-certified specialist in pediatric nutrition working the last 5 years in pediatric GI and hepatology clinics at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. I received both my undergraduate degree and master’s degree from Florida International University in Dietetics and Nutrition. I spent the early years of my career working inpatient in the PICU and NICU floors at Nicklaus Children’s hospital gaining extensive knowledge in complex care and enteral and parenteral nutrition. I made the transition 5 years ago to outpatient GI and never looked back! I love the connections with patients and families in the outpatient setting. I see all GI and liver diagnosis except short bowel; that is managed by our intestinal rehab team. Some of my favorite patient populations are NICU grads, enteral nutrition, IBD and MASLD. I am actively involved in community wellness advisory committees for both Miami-Dade WIC and the Public School System to help advocate for improving the food environment and access to programs for my patients.
What do you think it means to be a nutrition advocate?
I believe that the very core of being a dietitian is to be a nutrition advocate. Every day we advocate for feeding our patients who have been NPO for too long or helping our celiac patients eat in a safe environment or just helping our patients work through food fears due to their underlying conditions. Advocating means going beyond finding a problem but to be proactive in working towards solutions. It can feel like an uphill battle at times but being steadfast in speaking up for those without a voice.
What are some advocacy accomplishments you are most proud of?
I am most proud of advocating for expansion of Florida WIC formulary to include blenderized formulas. I wrote a letter that cited research to demonstrate to the state how covering these formulas may have secondary implications of improved patient outcomes and also reduced taxpayer spending on care and medications by including these formulas on formulary. I distributed the letter to GI physicians and RDs to sign and sent it to my local WIC director. It took over a year of advocating but was able to come to fruition by connecting with stakeholders and other providers in the state.
In my local public-school wellness advisory committee, I took a complaint of a MASLD patient that there were no working water fountains in the school cafeteria, and the only beverage they could drink at lunch was juice to my school board member. The school board member passed an item to audit all the schools for water access, and they are actively working on repairs countywide to water fountains to promote drinking water.
Most recently I was able to start a nutrition elective for the pediatric residency program. This required collaborating with residents, attendings and community nutrition programs. In the elective residents are exposed to dietitians in the inpatient, outpatient and WIC setting, along with spending time with the lactation team to better support breast feeding.
Do you have any advice for other nutrition professionals wanting to get more involved?
Most of how I have been able to be sucessful in advocacy has been by establishing connections with areas outside of my direct orbit. I reached out to my local WIC director to liaise patient issues, and through that relationship that was built, they listened to me and elevated my letters to the state level when time for evaluations of formulary changes. If you find yourself at an impasse when it comes to school food and snacks and parties, then every school system in the country, thanks to the “Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act,” has a Wellness Advisory Committee that is open to the public. You can attend as a community member or even write to your school board member about being their appointee to help influence the school’s food environment. I was surprised to see how there was no RDN on the committee for my county. If you have children, consider being vocal and involved in the PTA, so many fund-raisers revolve around foods, which tend to be not very gut-friendly. Learn about programs that have nutrition-related components in your area. Send them an email and make a connection! Who knows, maybe one day a great collaboration can be made to better the lives of your patients and families, or you can at least provide information to families on things beyond the clinic.
Much of our role in GI tends to be clinical, and removed from the real-world that patients live in. We need to think beyond the “Ivory Towers” of the hospital setting to see how things in our own community can be improved so that all our patients can have access to equitable nutrition.
