Our Speakers

Carol’s Lecture topics:

 Guest Lecturers

Britta Brown, MS, RD, LD, CNSC

critical care Nutrition support specialist

Britta Brown, MS, RD, LD, CNSC is a clinical dietitian at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN. She works in the medical intensive care and general medicine units and places bedside feeding tubes. She has written and presented on the topics of critical care nutrition support, ethics and end of life care, nutrition-focused physical assessment, malnutrition, and bedside feeding tube placement.

Britta enjoys various professional volunteer roles. She is a former Chair of the Dietitians in Nutrition Support practice group and a member of the ASPEN Enteral Nutrition Committee. She is the recipient of the Academy and Dietetics’ Excellence in Clinical Nutrition practice award (2023). Outside of work, she enjoys chauffeuring her children to sporting events, cooking with her husband, walking the dog, and trying to run marathons.

Britta’s Lecture topics:

Kristen M. Roberts, PhD, RDN, LD, CNSC, FAND, FASPEN

Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine

Kristen Roberts is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with 18 years clinical experience in gastrointestinal failure, gut rehabilitation and nutrition support. Currently, she holds a joint appointment within the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The Ohio State University as an Associate Professor. Her clinical expertise is caring for patients with various GI illnesses, including dysmotility and malabsorptive syndromes. Prior to her employment with OSU, Kristen completed her PhD in Human Nutrition with a specialization in biomedical clinical and translational science and she has an active research program understanding the impact of dietary patterns on chronic inflammatory conditions. She is a fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition and a Certified Nutrition Support Clinician and serves as the Associate Editor for Nutrition in Clinical Practice.

Kristen’s Lecture topics:

Kelly O’Donnell, MS, RD, CNSC

NUTRITIONIST | Nutrition Support Specialist

Kelly has been a registered dietitian since 1992. She has worked as a nutrition support dietitian at UVA Health in Charlottesville, VA since 2001, specializing in enteral and parenteral nutrition for surgery, trauma, and burn patients. Kelly’s other areas of interest include micronutrient deficiencies after gastric bypass surgery, allowing her the opportunity to serve as an expert witness in this area. In addition to being the team lead for the nutrition support surgery service, her role includes educating dietetic interns, RNs, and surgery residents in surgery nutrition support. She has been awarded the Outstanding Preceptor of the Year from 7 different dietetic internship classes during her career at UVA Health. Kelly has been a guest editor for Support Line and has served various roles including president on the Virginia Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Board.

Kelly’s Lecture topics:

Cynthia Yoshida, MD

physician | gastroenterologist

Cynthia is a professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Virginia Medical Center. She received the UVA Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence and the Dean's Award for Clinical Excellence. Dr. Yoshida is a board-certified gastroenterologist and fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association. Dr. Yoshida has chaired and served on a number of committees for the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). She is an active member of the American College of Gastroenterology and American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). She has been an invited speaker to numerous national and international conferences and endoscopy courses, invited faculty for the ASGE STAR Colonoscopy Endoscopic Mucosal Resection course and course director for the AGA Postgraduate Course and the ASGE Ambassador Program to Romania. Her early career focused on gastroenterology (GI) diseases in women. She was director of UVA's Women's GI Clinic (one of the first women's GI clinics in the nation) and author of No More Digestive Problems, the AGA's first consumer book specifically designed to address women's digestive health. Over the last fifteen years, Dr. Yoshida has specialized in colorectal (CRC) screening exclusively with a focus on colonoscopy, advanced polypectomy techniques and endoscopy quality. As a leading advocate for and practitioner of colorectal cancer care, Dr. Yoshida serves as the medical lead for UVA's leading-edge colorectal cancer screening program.

dr. yoshida’s Lecture topics:

Amy Berry, MS, RD, CNSC

NUTRITIONIST | NUTRITION SUPPORT SPECIALIST

Amy began her specialization of nutrition support in GI surgical patients when she worked at the Medical University of South Carolina. After accepting a position on the Surgical Nutrition Support Team at the University of Virginia, she moved back home to Charlottesville VA in 2009. There, she began specializing in working with the pancreatic surgery team; seeing their patients post discharge as well as collecting data on these patients. In 2017, this led to the creation of a full-time nutrition support position with UVA’s cancer center, working both inpatient and outpatient to provide these patients continuity of nutritional care. In 2021, she accepted a position at the Roper St Francis Cancer Center, moving back to sunny Charleston SC. She continues her work there advocating for comprehensive outpatient nutritional care for PEG and J-tube cancer patients. She has written multiple papers and presented on these topics at FNCE and Clinical Nutrition Week, as well as presenting for the Dietitians in Nutrition Support and Oncology Nutrition practice groups for the Academy. She received the 2019 award for Excellence in Clinical Practice by the Dietitians in Nutrition Support practice group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, as well as the 2019 Academy’s Foundation Abbott Nutrition Malnutrition Award, given to nutrition clinicians making a significant contribution in malnutrition awareness.

Amy’s Lecture topics:

Kate Willcutts, DCN, RD, CNSC

NUTRITIONIST | CLINICAL NUTRITION Manager

Kate is the Clinical Nutrition Manager at the VA Western Colorado Health Care System. Prior to becoming a full-time manager, Kate had 32 years of clinical experience, 24 of those years spent specializing in surgical nutrition support at the University of Virginia Health System. She taught nutrition at the UVA School of Nursing from 1993-2017 and taught in the UVA School of Medicine for many years. She has written many articles, abstracts, and chapters, and given numerous presentations at local, state, regional, national, and international conferences. She served as the editor for the Dietitians in Nutrition Support (DNS) Dietetic Practice Group (DPG) Newsletter from 2015-2019 and as the DNS Chair in 2020. Kate's passion in surgical nutrition support includes the topics of enterocutaneous fistulas, Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS), nutrition screening and assessment, as well as communication tips for RDNs working in healthcare. Her doctoral work done through Rutgers culminated with a meta-analysis of early oral feeding after upper gastrointestinal surgery which was published in the Annals of Surgery. She is on the ASPEN committee currently working on developing ERAS nutrition guidelines. She was awarded the Rutgers School of Health Professions Stanley S. Bergen Medal of Excellence and the Excellence in Clinical Practice Award (2016), the Distinguished Practice Award from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics DNS DPG (2015), the Academy's Outstanding Dietetic Intern Preceptor for Area 6 (2010), and the Anne Pollock Hemmings Clinical Excellence in Teaching Award University of Virginia School of Nursing (2010).

Kate’s Lecture topics: