Meet the Dietitian

She liked to grow colorful flowers such as marigolds and sunflowers, had a rock collection, and even housed a pet stag beetle in the back of a toy truck. She would also go bird watching in the backyard and write down little notes so that she could try to find the birds in the books her grandma gave her.

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After moving from Wisconsin to Florida, her love for nature persisted, but she also became very interested in nutrition and would use a little notebook to jot down what she ate trying to closely follow the food pyramid. She loved to be physically active participating in softball and lacrosse as well as neighborhood games such as capture the flag, kickball, and manhunt. Emily found it difficult moving from Wisconsin to Florida at the age of 10. She was bullied for her accent, clothes, weight, you name it. No matter how much adversity she faced, she always persevered and strived to do her absolute best in academics, music, and sports.

After high school, Emily decided to pursue psychology at the University of Central Florida (UCF). She worked as a sampling specialist and deli team member at Super Target while attending college. Though she found psychology fascinating, she was struggling to find a fulfilling career path. During her junior year, she decided to do some soul searching. She remembered during her freshman year she was told that she had pre-cancerous cells and that the only way to prevent developing cancer in the future would be to eat a nutritious diet and exercise regularly. After making changes to her diet and working out at the gym regularly, a year later she was told the pre-cancerous cells were gone. She thought to herself – “What if I could help others prevent chronic diseases in their future too?”

She remembered how fascinating she found nutrition as a young child and even as a teenager. She also realized how well her education in psychology would complement a career in nutrition as many of the obstacles people face with eating are mental and behavioral. She began looking into the career path to becoming a nutritionist. She found that in order to become a registered dietitian/nutritionist, she would need to get a bachelor’s degree from an accredited program. She began taking prerequisites at UCF that she could use towards a bachelor’s in nutrition and dietetics. After graduating from UCF with her bachelor’s in psychology, she decided to move to Jacksonville, FL to pursue a bachelor’s in nutrition/dietetics at the University of North Florida (UNF).

Emily worked as a dietetic technician at Mayo Clinic and fitness room attendant at Deerwood Country Club while working on her second degree. She completed her second bachelor’s in 16 months and was then accepted to the highly competitive master’s degree program combined with a 1200-hour supervised practice dietetic internship at UNF. She completed her food service management rotation at UF Health Jacksonville, her clinical rotation at Baptist Downtown Jacksonville, and her community rotation at the Jacksonville Senior Centers and WIC. She also completed specialty rotations with the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars, American Diabetes Association Pediatric Diabetes Camp, the St. Vincent’s Mobile Health Unit for elementary students, Mayo Clinic (inpatient, outpatient malnutrition/nutrition support, and outpatient dialysis), and Life Care Center Jacksonville (short- and long-term care). Emily is a licensed dietitian/nutritionist in Florida and Georgia. 

Emily presented her graduate school professional seminar to the First Coast Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and UNF students regarding the topic: L-arginine as an Ergogenic Aid. Emily was also a contributor on the 2017 publication, “The Role of Protein in Regulation of Food Intake, Satiety, Body Weight, and Body Composition” in the Journal of Nutritional Health and Food Engineering. Emily received second place in her graduate student symposium literature review regarding omega-3 fatty acids and their efficacy in the treatment of depression.