Nutrition Informatics Member Awards

Each year, we have the opportunity to learn about the extraordinary work NI DPG members accomplish throughout the year. Through the submission process, we see the creative and innovative ways you and your teams address challenges, as well as the meaningful efforts many of you make to mentor colleagues, support fellow professionals, and advance this growing subspecialty.

Please consider submitting an application for one of the awards listed below.

Nutrition Informatics DPG Innovator Award

The Nutrition Informatics Dietetic Practice Group (NI DPG) Innovator Award recognizes forward-thinking trailblazers harnessing the power of informatics at the intersection of nutrition, information, and technology. The award aims to recognize an NI DPG member that leads a cutting-edge initiative or repurposes existing technology to address a specific challenge. These initiatives are generalizable and scalable and demonstrate impactful outcomes to advance the practice of nutrition and dietetics informatics.

Nutrition Informatics DPG Ambassador Award

The Ambassador Award recognizes a member of the Nutrition Informatics Dietetic Practice Group (NI DPG) who exemplifies outstanding commitment to advancing the field of nutrition informatics. This award honors an individual whose sustained contributions and influential presence have significantly elevated the visibility, credibility, and integration of nutrition and dietetics informatics. Whether through public speaking, mentorship, writing, teaching, or collaboration across healthcare teams, this individual amplifies the voice of nutrition informatics and broadens its impact.

General Submission Timeline:

Beginning of December: Applications open

End of February: Application submission deadline

Mid April: Award winners notified

FNCE: Award Winners honored at FNCE member reception

Past Award Winners

2024 Innovator Award

Ann Wallace, MS RDN CNSC

Ann learned that end users had difficulty in driving process improvement due to lack of access to data. She was able to leverage her analytics skills to compile information showing what she and her team were accomplishing. She then translated this into a visually accessible format showing key insights in a digestible and actionable manner for senior leadership and other decision makers. This work shows us how Nutrition Informatics Dietitians play a key role in support of strategic decision making and driving change within their organizations.

2023 Innovator Award

Mary Beth Feuling, MS, RD, CD

Mary Beth has been an innovation leader since 2012 when Children's Hospital of Wisconsin adopted EPIC as their electronic medical record system. She has worked on multiple initiatives such as creating a dynamic ambulatory nutrition referral order, designing a real time productivity tracker, and integrating a daily automated nutrition screening tool.

Notably, the screening tool enabled earlier identification of nutrition risk so that nutrition care was given to patients who needed it in a timely manner, and facilitated a faster discharge.

Check out the published work here.

2023 Ambassador Award

Ann Gaba, EDD, RD, CDCES, CDN, FAND

In her role as Dietetic Internship Director, Ann developed a Nutrition Informatics Module to meet the ACEND competency for "apply current information technologies to develop, manage and disseminate nutrition information and data". The module covers topics such as Big Data and the 4 Vs (volume, variety, velocity, veracity), informatics applications in healthcare and public health, the eNCPT and ANDHII.

Check out a recorded overview here.

2022 Innovator Award

Sandi Scarangella, MA RDN

As a Data and Operations Specialist at the VA, Sandi saw problems that needed to be addressed and used her knowledge of nutrition, information and technology to apply real-world solutions. Through Sandi's innovative thinking and understanding of nutrition data, she was able to build and implement a new restock site for the Nutrition and Food Services Departments at multiple VA sites. Sandi made use of existing systems and added notifications throughout each step of the order. There is no longer any guesswork for users on the status of their order. She also created custom templates for patient reminder texts for nutrition appointments, including the ability to cancel via text. The templates are being used in over 70 clinics and no-show rates for nutrition appointments are now below 5%.