On this first episode of Season 3, we talk with two members of our DD Community: Drs. Kate Burt and Shelly Debiasse. They, along with their colleague Dr. Zubaida Qamar have launched a new project called #InclusiveDietetics, a group on Facebook aimed to increase the awareness about the lack of diversity in the dietetics profession. In this group, they will share important information about diversity and inclusion in general and on topics relevant to facilitating a more diverse and inclusive profession. Join #Inclusive Dietetics to continue the conversation!
Drs. Burt and Debiasse discuss why they are launching this project, why they took the extra steps to make the project a part of a research study and what conversations, movements and changes they hope this campaign will spark in the dietetics community. If you have ever wondered how our profession got to where it is today (i.e.- with so little diversity), and what are ways that you can help to change it, you will want to be a part of this project!
You can join #Inclusive Dietetics to continue the conversation!
About Kate Burt, PhD, RD
Kate Gardner Burt, PhD, RD is an Assistant Professor at Lehman College, City of New York in the Bronx, NY and a Registered Dietitian and Culinary Nutritionist. She teaches courses in public health and community nutrition and cultural foods and sustainability. Dr. Burt’s research broadly aims to reduce racial and ethnic inequities in community food systems. She does this by exploring strategies to strengthen efforts to grow food locally and improve community cohesion and social connectedness to build a more just food system. She also aims to reduce inequities in food systems by increasing opportunities for low-income people of color to excel in dietetics and food-focused careers. She takes a mixed methods, community-based approach to research and currently works with several New York City based non-profit organizations. Dr. Burt received her BS in film and television from Boston University and her MS in exercise physiology and nutrition, RD and PhD in food and nutrition policy from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her first cookbook was published in 2015 by Sterling Publishers, a subsidiary of Barnes and Noble.
Dr. Burt was also a guest on a DD Webinar on the topic “Past Performance and Future Results: Changing the Outlook for Diversity Among Food and Nutrition Professionals”. You can access the webinar here.
About Shelly Debiasse, PhD, RD
Michele “Shelly” DeBiasse, PhD, RDN (she/her/hers) is Clinical Assistant Professor and Director, Programs in Nutrition at Boston University/College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College, and Affiliated Faculty in the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies program in the College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA. She received a PhD in Nutrition and Metabolism from the department of Graduate Medical Sciences, Boston University School of Medicine. She received her MS in Clinical Nutrition from Rush University, and completed her dietetic internship at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, both in Chicago, IL, USA. Her PhD dissertation, The Theory of Planned Behavior and Implementation Intentions to Improve Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Women with Low Socioeconomic Status, afforded her three first-author publications, and helped spark her scholarship-activism to better the lives of women and other marginalized groups. Her current research explores issues related to equity, diversity and inclusion in healthcare professions (particularly Dietetics), as well as the role gender may play in creating the challenges often associated with female-dominate healthcare professions.
