Awards

Excellence in Public Health/Community Nutrition Award

Chris Mornick, MPH, RDN

Chris Mornick is the SNAP-Ed Program Manager for the Washington Department of Social and Health Services. Throughout her career, she has led multiple statewide and national efforts to increase equitable food access, especially for people living with low incomes, native communities, people who are incarcerated, and people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). This includes working with the Department of Corrections to align menus at all 12 Washington state correctional facilities with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), partnering with Special Olympics Washington to co-develop guidelines and pass the first Healthy Food and Beverage policy for any Special Olympics program, and spearheading a Tribal SNAP-Ed Needs Assessment that will provide autonomy for tribal partners to identify their own funding priorities.

Nationally, Chris has been participating in the Special Olympics International Inclusive Nutrition Initiative, helping increase access to SNAP-Ed programming for people with IDD. She is the co-chair of the Association of State and Public Health Nutritionists (ASPHN) Policy Committee and member of the Association of SNAP Nutrition Education Administrators (ASNNA) Advocacy Committee, through which she has helped draft comments and submit letters on federal nutrition policies such as the Farm Bill and the DGAs. 

Chris’s efforts have been recognized by the Washington State Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the Association of State and Public Health Nutritionists (ASPHN), and by invitation to the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health.

Chris has a Master in Public Health from the University of Washington and a Bachelor in Nutrition Sciences from California State University, Los Angeles. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two young boys. When not working, you can usually find Chris tinkering in the kitchen, reading, and playing outside with her family.

The purpose of the Excellence in Public Health/Community Nutrition Award is to recognize a member of the Public Health/Community Nutrition DPG who has exhibited outstanding service, dedication and/or innovation to the field.

Outstanding Young Member of the Year Award

Elizabeth Gutierrez, MS,

RD, LDN

Elizabeth is a licensed registered dietitian who currently works as the Deputy Director with the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus Foundation, a non-profit organization that is working to improve the lives of the Latino community across Illinois. She holds a Master of Nutritional Sciences and a Bachelor of Food Science and Human Nutrition with a concentration in Dietetics from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.

As a Latina dietitian working in the non-profit sector, seeing patients 1:1, and holding multiple volunteer roles with the Illinois Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Liz recognizes the barriers that many face in not only their journey towards better health but also in creating a profession that is accessible and represents the communities we serve.

Liz co-founded an initiative alongside Registered Dietitian Stephanie Schnaufer, Small Habits Matter, to bring nutrition workshops to Chicagoland organizations that may not have the capacity to do so in an effort to provide accessible nutrition education opportunities regardless of financial limitations. She also serves as the Diversity Leader for Nutrition Education for the Public and has served as the Diversity Leader for the Pediatric Nutrition Practice Group. Throughout her time within these positions, she has emphasized the need to center and provide opportunities for nutrition professionals to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout their programming and educational workshops to ensure dietitians are up to date on essential knowledge to advance the profession.

Liz is passionate about many things and continues learning, not only about nutrition, but about how we can all keep showing up better for our community. Liz loves to cook with her partner, Mason, and take long walks with her two dogs, Moped and Ollie. If they're not cooking or walking, they're probably watching movies or trying to attend a concert somewhere in Chicago!

The purpose of the Outstanding Member of the Year Award is to recognize a member of the Public Health/Community Nutrition DPG who has exhibited outstanding service, leadership and accomplishment.

Excellence in Public Health/Community Nutrition Award

April Schetler, MS, RD, FAND

April is a Registered Dietitian and Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She holds a Master of Exercise Science and Health Promotion from California University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Coordinated Dietetics from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ.

April is the Assistant Vice President of Community Health Engagement at Virtua Health, South Jersey’s largest comprehensive healthcare system. As a nonprofit health system, Virtua is committed to the wellbeing of the community and provides innovative outreach programs that address social challenges affecting health, especially access to nutritious and affordable food. In her role at Virtua, April drives the community engagement strategy which includes leading the award-winning Eat Well food access program which includes the Mobile Farmers Market, Food Farmacy, and Virtua’s newest innovation – The Eat Well Mobile Grocery Store, among many other projects and community-facing initiatives.

April has been teaching nutrition in various settings for over 10 years and enjoys serving as an adjunct professor at Rowan University. Her goal is very simple – to inspire students to see the power of nutrition and its impact on health, wellbeing, and longevity!

April serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors at Cathedral Kitchen, the largest emergency food provider in Camden, NJ. In this volunteer role, April seeks to bring awareness and resources to the Kitchen and is passionate about serving those in need with dignity and respect.

April is a 15-time marathon finisher and self-proclaimed foodie. When not working, you can usually find April running, training in American Kenpo karate or enjoying family adventures with her wife and 7-year-old son!

The purpose of the Excellence in Public Health/Community Nutrition Award is to recognize a member of the Public Health/Community Nutrition DPG who has exhibited outstanding service, dedication and/or innovation to the field.

Outstanding Member of the Year Award

Yen Ang, DrPH, MS, MPH, RD, FAND

Dr. Yen Ang is a prominent nutrition leader whose footprints extend far beyond the nutrition field. As the Vice President of Health Equity at Tangelo—one of the biggest food-is-medicine platform companies in the nation, Yen leads the effort to construct equity and cultural diversity into the organizations’ policies and services, including the Medical-Tailored Meals. She plays a major role in the California CalAIM reformation to build social-determinant-of-health into health care to serve the Medicaid population.

Yen is an active member of the Academy. She served as the President of the Public Health Community Nutrition DPG (2020-2022); is the Policy Advocacy Leader for the AAPI-MIG (2023-2024); serves as a member on the Legislative Public Policy Council; co-chairs the Academy DGA affinity group and actively participates in the Health Equity Diversity affinity group. As the chair of the PHCN-DPG, she presented the well-received DPG session spotlight at FNCE 2021.

Over the years, Yen has earned multiple awards that attest to her enduring and impactful influence in the nutrition and public health fields: She was the recipient of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Excellence award 2022 by the HEN-DPG, and the prestigious Mary C Egan Award 2023 by the APHA (American Public Health Association) Her exceptional innovation that weaves nutrition science into public health services earned her consecutive wins of NACo (National Association of Counties) Achievement Awards in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Her leadership is recognized by the California state government: Dr.Yen was named Woman-of-the-Year of the 47th district by the state assembly majority leader Reyes in 2021 for her outstanding service to Californians during COVID; She is the California State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon appointee at the FAS (Flexible Assistance for Survivors) advisory board 2023-2025 where she provides oversight to some $47 million state fund to crime survivors of communities of color.

Last but not least, Yen serves on the high-impact-high-stake CFAP Expansion advisory board to help the State implement the historic, first in the US, expansion of food benefits (SNAP) to Californians aged 55 or older regardless of immigration status. In the past 2 decades, Dr. Yen authored and published well over 70 original papers that center around transitional research projects in food-is-medicine and health promotion.

The purpose of the Outstanding Member of the Year Award is to recognize a member of the Public Health/Community Nutrition DPG who has exhibited outstanding service, leadership and accomplishment.