2020 Winner
Dr. David Travis Thomas, PhD, RDN, CSSD, FAND
 Dr. Travis Thomas, PhD, RDN, CSSD, LD, FAND, is an Associate Professor of Clinical & Sports Nutrition and Program Director of the graduate Clinical Nutrition program in the College of Health Sciences at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Thomas is a Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD). He has held multiple volunteer and leadership positions with SCAN and served as lead author on the 2016 Nutrition for Athletic Performance Position Stand endorsed by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, American College of Sports Medicine, and Dietitians of Canada. He was recently awarded the prestigious 2020 SCAN Achievement award, SCAN's first and highest award.
Dr. Thomas has more than ten years’ experience conducting human studies involving nutrition and exercise interventions across the lifespan. Over the past decade, Dr. Thomas has served as an investigator on several funded research projects that focused on a wide range of nutrition issues associated with the preservation and enhancement of skeletal muscle function and performance. These studies have focused on understanding the relationship between vitamin D and muscle metabolic function, nutrition and physical function in aging and athletic populations, nutrition interventions to improve endothelial function and to reduce symptoms in patients with advanced heart failure, and investigating nutritional strategies to preserve physical performance and lean body mass in patients with cancer.
At the University of Kentucky, Dr. Thomas teaches advanced sports nutrition to graduate students and a novel undergraduate course titled “Nutrition for Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation.” Dr. Thomas also teaches and directs multiple clinical nutrition graduate courses and directs and undergraduate certificate called Nutrition for Human Performance.
“Dr. David Travis Thomas is an outstanding sports nutrition practitioner, an academic who mentors the next generation of SCAN practitioners, and a valuable contributor to SCAN through his many volunteer efforts. Dr. Thomas has been an active SCAN member since 2003 and is a Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD) and has held the certification for 10 years. In June of 2018, he was nominated by SCAN to be on the national ballot in the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics elections as the CSSD representative to the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR). He has represented SCAN with contributions to NCAA projects and ACSM developments.
In addition to all these activities, there is one endeavor that warrants special notice. In 2016, the revised position paper on nutrition and athletic performance was simultaneously published in the peer-reviewed journals of the Academy, the Canadian Journal of Dietetics Practice and Research, and the ACSM research journal, Medicine &Science in Sports & Exercise. While published in 2016, it was a multi-year project and Dr. Thomas served as lead author.
Having Dr. Thomas represent sports dietetics at the national level ensures that our certification will remain viable in the coming years. Dr. Thomas is worthy of the Achievement Award, SCAN's first and highest award, though his exemplary dedication and contributions to SCAN, plus excellence in practice.”
Christine Rosenbloom, PhD, RDN, LD, FAND
Fellow SCAN member and leader
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2019 Winner
Carol S. Lapin, MS, RD, LD
Carol Lapin is a Registered Dietitian, a certified Wellness Coach and a certified Behavior Change Specialist. Carol has a Master degree in Nutrition and Food Sciences and an undergraduate degree in Physical Education from The University of Texas. She was an All-America track athlete attending the University of Texas in Austin on a track scholarship.
Carol has been a practicing R.D.N. since 1990. She spent 10 years as the Dietitian for The Houston Astros Baseball Club and was an Adjunct Professor in Nutrition and Exercise at Texas Woman’s University in Houston.
Mrs. Lapin provides nutrition therapy, presentations and classes for corporate clients, and is the Dietitian/Wellness Coach for the international engineering firm, KBR Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas. Carol has had the honor of serving SCAN as past Chair, co-director for the Wellness/CV practice group and symposium chair. She is currently a member of the SCAN Wellness Task Force.
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