SNEB Leadership

The SNEB Leadership Spotlight series highlights the incredible individuals leading our organization, offering a closer look at their experiences and contributions to nutrition education. By sharing these stories, we aim to build a stronger sense of community among our members.

Learning about our leaders helps us connect more deeply with those who represent SNEB and their dedication to our mission. This initiative not only celebrates their achievements but also inspires collaboration and dialogue within our network.

Dr. Jennifer Garner is a registered dietitian and a leader in community-based nutrition interventions. Her work focuses on developing and evaluating programs that promote biological, social, and community health, with a special emphasis on food and nutrition security. Through strong partnerships across various sectors—academic, healthcare, agriculture, social services, and both non-profit and for-profit organizations—Dr. Garner collaborates with a wide range of experts to achieve her goals.

Her research employs a diverse array of research methods, combining both quantitative and qualitative data to gain valuable insights. Her work ultimately aims to shape clinical practices, community initiatives, and policies surrounding nutrition, food systems, and community development. Read more about Dr. Jennifer Garner and her work here.

What inspired you to become a member of SNEB?

I joined while still a student and found the Society and its conference to very welcoming and approachable. Now, as an academic researcher, I enjoy the opportunity to connect with and learn from those practicing in our field; it helps to keep my research grounded in reality.

How has your involvement with SNEB influenced your work or perspective in the field?

I aim to conduct research that has practical implications for nutrition practice and policy. The mix of research, practice, and policy representation among the SNEB membership is unique and helpful to informing how I conduct and communicate my research. For example, in a recent cost-effectiveness analysis, I was sure to consider the cost from a community organization perspective and to be as explicit as possible about how costs and implementation may vary across contexts so my peers in the field could make use of the findings.

What do you see as the biggest challenge in nutrition education today, and how do you address it?

My biggest concern about the field is how we’re approaching training of nutrition professionals. As we continue to recognize the limitations of an education-only approach to nutrition practice and embrace opportunities to improve the policies, systems, and environments that influence health behaviors and outcomes, our trainees need to be better prepared to grapple with that level of complexity in their work. We need to integrate more content and experiences related to systems thinking and cross-sector collaborations into our curricula and training programs.

How do you think the field of nutrition education will evolve in the next 5-10 years?

If the current Food is Medicine movement maintains momentum, I expect to see heightened support for integrating nutrition professionals in the policy, healthcare, and research teams leading such efforts. I also hope to see greater emphasis on the role of the RD in healthcare and public health teams and more expansive policies affording reimbursement for related RD services.

What role do you see SNEB playing in the future of nutrition education?

It’s important that SNEB continue to be at the forefront of conversations related to the role of nutrition professionals in public health policy and related programs. SNEB is also an ideal venue through which to (1) equip nutrition practitioners to be partners in nutrition research (especially research designed to measure the impact of nutritional professionals and inform best practices for the field), and (2) empower our diverse membership of professionals across clinical, community, academic, and policy settings to share their expertise and engage in policy advocacy.

What advice would you give to someone just starting in the field of nutrition education?

Remember that education is one (small) part of how we’re ultimately going to improve public health nutrition outcomes; be a student of systems thinking and endeavor to collaborate with others outside your field.

Not a member of SNEB but interested in joining?