Growing up, food was synonymous with family. Both of my parents worked so the kitchen became the place we spent most of our quality time together. As kids, we learned early the benefits of the microwave, a quick stir fry and the saving grace- a Tony’s frozen pizza. I learned to cook watching my grandmother, an immigrant, grow and cook everything, out of necessity. As I grew older, I began to understand that food represents many different things in our society: culture, status, business, pleasure and shame and yet, biochemically, serves an essential systemic purpose within the body. Enthralled by it’s encompassing nature, I made a conscious decision to invest my future in health equity through nutrition.
After I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, I spent time in Oregon, Montana, Kansas, New York and Ohio to further understand local food systems, and lack thereof, solidifying my passion for food and its encompassing role in our lives. I taught children about where food comes from and how it is grown. I spent hours on my knees, cutting pounds of mesclun with scissors and promised to never take another piece of lettuce for granted. I was motivated by my passion in nutrition to pursue post-baccalaureate training. I engaged in my studies while also working, building skills in food service and management. Most importantly I gained knowledge of nutrition by living through these experiences and decided to pursue a formal education.
In my time as a student at the University of Michigan, I pursued my own unique graduate experience, setting a foundation for my future career. During my first semester, on a whim, I took an elective course on the prevention of eating disorders. In the weeks following, it became evident that I had found my place in the field of public health. The course illuminated my passion for research and inspired my future work as a clinician, researcher, and public health practitioner in the field of eating disorders. Looking to gain more research experience, I joined the Sonneville Research Lab focusing on the prevention of eating disorders through a weight inclusive approach to health and engaged in journal clubs and research discussions. I developed skills in qualitative research such as generating coding themes, cleaning data, coding and writing abstracts and manuscripts. I also sought to change the culture of learning for future students by shifting the way “health” was defined in public health coursework as current curriculum in public health and nutrition focuses on weight as a measure of health. In an effort to promote body diversity as an important part of diversity, equity and inclusion work at the School of Public Health in partnership with Dr. Kendrin Sonneville, I developed a syllabus for a course titled: “Weight Bias in Health”. The course explores the physiological and psychological implications of weight bias, empowering future dietitians and public health practitioners with knowledge for a weight-inclusive approach to their practice. In the Fall of 2019, in pursuit of building skills as an eating disorder clinician and researcher, I began my dietetics training in the treatment of eating disorders at Simmons University and as a Clinical Research Assistant in Adolescent Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital for Dr. Bryn Austin and Dr. Tracy Richmond as well as a trainee at the Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders at the Harvard School of Public Health. Currently, I work as a Leadership Education in Adolescent Health Nutrition Fellow at Boston Children's Hospital. I work with individuals for a variety of health concerns with a focus on therapeutic treatment of eating disorders.
My work centers around the prevention of disordered eating and eating disorders through the promotion of body diversity and challenging weight bias beliefs. I am interested in better understanding how stigma around body diversity intersects with racism and class. Specifically, I desire to explore how weight bias is used as another tool for discrimination among those who might naturally have diverse body sizes. I am interested in how mental health and wellness is approached in minority populations and how screening tools used to assess prevalence of certain mental health diagnoses, such as eating disorders, fail as tools because of their population specific approach. I strive for eating disorders and disordered eating to be recognized as equitable to other mental health diagnoses and be addressed similarly in order to reduce stigma and raise awareness for perceived need for care, recognition by clinicians and effective, sustainable and attainable treatment options. Lastly, I hope to expand the education of eating disorders within the dietetics field in order to improve access to treatment.
After I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, I spent time in Oregon, Montana, Kansas, New York and Ohio to further understand local food systems, and lack thereof, solidifying my passion for food and its encompassing role in our lives. I taught children about where food comes from and how it is grown. I spent hours on my knees, cutting pounds of mesclun with scissors and promised to never take another piece of lettuce for granted. I was motivated by my passion in nutrition to pursue post-baccalaureate training. I engaged in my studies while also working, building skills in food service and management. Most importantly I gained knowledge of nutrition by living through these experiences and decided to pursue a formal education.
In my time as a student at the University of Michigan, I pursued my own unique graduate experience, setting a foundation for my future career. During my first semester, on a whim, I took an elective course on the prevention of eating disorders. In the weeks following, it became evident that I had found my place in the field of public health. The course illuminated my passion for research and inspired my future work as a clinician, researcher, and public health practitioner in the field of eating disorders. Looking to gain more research experience, I joined the Sonneville Research Lab focusing on the prevention of eating disorders through a weight inclusive approach to health and engaged in journal clubs and research discussions. I developed skills in qualitative research such as generating coding themes, cleaning data, coding and writing abstracts and manuscripts. I also sought to change the culture of learning for future students by shifting the way “health” was defined in public health coursework as current curriculum in public health and nutrition focuses on weight as a measure of health. In an effort to promote body diversity as an important part of diversity, equity and inclusion work at the School of Public Health in partnership with Dr. Kendrin Sonneville, I developed a syllabus for a course titled: “Weight Bias in Health”. The course explores the physiological and psychological implications of weight bias, empowering future dietitians and public health practitioners with knowledge for a weight-inclusive approach to their practice. In the Fall of 2019, in pursuit of building skills as an eating disorder clinician and researcher, I began my dietetics training in the treatment of eating disorders at Simmons University and as a Clinical Research Assistant in Adolescent Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital for Dr. Bryn Austin and Dr. Tracy Richmond as well as a trainee at the Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders at the Harvard School of Public Health. Currently, I work as a Leadership Education in Adolescent Health Nutrition Fellow at Boston Children's Hospital. I work with individuals for a variety of health concerns with a focus on therapeutic treatment of eating disorders.
My work centers around the prevention of disordered eating and eating disorders through the promotion of body diversity and challenging weight bias beliefs. I am interested in better understanding how stigma around body diversity intersects with racism and class. Specifically, I desire to explore how weight bias is used as another tool for discrimination among those who might naturally have diverse body sizes. I am interested in how mental health and wellness is approached in minority populations and how screening tools used to assess prevalence of certain mental health diagnoses, such as eating disorders, fail as tools because of their population specific approach. I strive for eating disorders and disordered eating to be recognized as equitable to other mental health diagnoses and be addressed similarly in order to reduce stigma and raise awareness for perceived need for care, recognition by clinicians and effective, sustainable and attainable treatment options. Lastly, I hope to expand the education of eating disorders within the dietetics field in order to improve access to treatment.
Fill your being with wellbeing.