Dr. Jamie Benedict was nominated for a Member Spotlight for her contributions to Nevada’s SNAP-Ed program, demonstrating care for the community, and serving as a mentor to students. She is described as researcher, educator, and compassionate. Dr. Benedict has been a member of the state organization since 1990 and at one point was the President of the Northern chapter.

Dr. Benedict has served various roles during her career at the University of Nevada Reno as she has been there since 1990. She is currently the Chair of the Department of Nutrition, she has also had roles as the director of the DPD program, the director of the nutrition graduate program, and the state nutrition extension specialist. Dr. Benedict reflects that she has liked each of the roles as they allowed her to develop different skills and focus on different areas.

During her tenure as Nevada’s state extension specialist, Dr. Benedict was awarded a contract from the USDA to create the foundation for Nevada’s first Food Stamp Nutrition Education Plan (SNAP-Ed). Dr. Benedict states that the growth of this program is the direct result of dietitians, nutrition educators, administrators, and others throughout Nevada’s communities. She states she is inspired by her colleague’s creativity, perseverance, and is honored she can continue to be a small part of this.

Dr. Benedict would like to think that she makes it easier for people to achieve a healthy diet and hopes she has accomplished this through education including the education of future health professionals but also through her advocacy work in regards to school wellness policies and the development of Nevada’s SNAP-Ed program.

Dr. Benedict states that there are so many wonderful aspects about working in an academic setting so she narrowed now her favorites to three things.

1. Working with the students. Seeing them grow, develop, and overcome obstacles to achieve their career goals is very rewarding and inspiring. Dr. Benedict also likes how she will go out into the community and see many former students that have blossomed into effective dietetic professionals.  
2. Being surrounded by colleagues and leaders who are passionate about their work and always striving for excellence which cannot help but inspire you to try and do better every day.
3. The seemingly infinite number of opportunities to grow and develop as an educator, mentor, nutrition professional, and now as an administrator. Dr. Benedict states she feels blessed for being afforded so many opportunities at UNR and for the state of Nevada.

Dr. Benedict’s advice to students which can also apply to current RDs is to seize every opportunity to get involved with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics at your local, state, and national level. One way to ensure you have opportunities is to get involved.  

Dr. Benedict has never regretted changing her major in college from geology to nutrition. She says it was the best the best thing she ever did. She is so pleased with her environment, opportunities, and the people she has met. “You can’t beat it.” 

In her spare time, Dr. Benedict likes to spend time outside with her children and avid outdoorsman husband such as skiing, hiking. In her alone time, she likes to create new recipes, listen to music, and enjoy the quiet.

Darlene Dougherty, MS, RD, FAND is a 50-year member of AND who has had a diverse and involved career and is still actively practicing in dietetics. She is a former AND President, was the dietetic internship at the University of California San Francisco where she enjoyed teaching and training students, has conducted mock Joint Commission surveys across the country where she was able to test if what is taught in school is effective in practice while also assisting facilities in preparing for actual surveys, and has worked in business and industry markets such as Campbells, Kellogg's, EcoLab, General Mills, and Jack in the Box. Darlene was hired for her current position 16 years ago at a critical access facility after she conducted a mock survey. She has now completed 2 complete Joint Commission surveys at that site. Darlene has served on NvANDs Political Action Committee and as Newsletter Editor. Darlene enjoyed her time volunteering and serving on various boards throughout her career and now likes to support other younger members taking on their own leadership positions.
 She is described as interesting, engaging, and involved. Darlene was nominated for a member spotlight due to her efforts not only as a former Academy president but also because of her role in helping to create and market Campbells Special Request soup line. Darlene fondly reflects that she worked with 2 other RDs on this project to try and reduce sodium in Campbell's soups so they could market to hospitals and patients. Barriers that had to be overcome during this project were determining if people really believed the soup had less sodium, if there was less sodium, did the lower-sodium version have a flavor that was at all palatable, and would it work in healthcare as well as retail markets. To test and overcome these barriers and questions, Darlene helped set up tasting samples, many in hospitals to allow RDs, MD, and nurses to become familiar with the soups. They also participated in a lot of trade shows. Darlene herself was the West Coast Representative so her role was in leadership and administration where she staffed the sample projects and trade shows and reported back their findings to Campbells. The Special Request soup line remains on the market today. Darlene also helped create Healthy Choice from ConAgra where she did the introduction kick-off for this product into the market. Darlene says she had so much fun working in this setting for a third of her career. Darlene stated that with any retail introduction of products to the market there was always the need to educate the population and media as to what the product was trying to accomplish. Overcoming the dietetic community's opinions about foods, whether it was for a particular product or even in other roles she has had in management, is always a challenge since students and RDs all have their own opinions about foods.

 Darlene is getting ready to move out of state, but in her spare time she likes to travel, collect antiques, and bowl.

Darlene says she is a “butterfly lady” because “without change we would not have butterflies and so I enjoy change and the result of that change being butterflies”.

The MNT Act has been reintroduced in both Chambers of Congress!

S. 1536 and H.R. 3108 are the newest iterations of the MNT Act. In this session, members have combined previous acts to make a more comprehensive legislative initiative.

The MNT Act aims to do three things:

• 1. Expands MNT coverage to several additional diseases. Currently, a Medicare patient can be referred to a dietitian for MNT for diabetes, renal disease, and post-kidney transplant care. S.1536 & H.R.3108 expands the list of covered conditions considerably, and includes CVD, cancer, GI disorders, prediabetes, obesity, eating disorders, HTN, HIV/AIDS, high cholesterol, and malnutrition.
• 2. Gives the Secretary of Health the authority to include other diseases based on medical necessity. This means that in the future, if evidence warrants the addition of other diseases, the Secretary will be able to add it to the list without taking it to Congress. Currently, it takes a literal act of Congress to add coverage.
• 3. Authorizes nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, and psychologists to refer patients for MNT. Currently, only physicians can refer a patient for MNT. The addition of these care providers will make room for those who do not regularly see a physician to receive MNT.

If you would like more information on each piece of legislation, you can click on the bill numbers above. You can also track these bills on Congress.gov. and/or GovTrack.us. If you would like the Academy Member Brief on the MNT Act, please contact me at PublicPolicy@EatRightNevada.org.

Also, consider participating in the Academy Action Alert regarding the MNT Act, as well as several others. You can access the action alerts in the eatrightPRO Action Center.

On the State level, AB73 has been signed by Governor Sisolak! This cleans up our licensure statute (NRS 640E) and also provides an avenue for provisional licensing for newly graduated dietetic interns. Thanks to Kara Freeman, our former State Policy Representative, for her work in getting this accomplished! Please see her piece in the newsletter below for more information.

Have a great June!
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Dawn Matusz, MS, NDTR
Public Policy Coordinator






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​There are several child nutrition programs which help families, schools, and child care programs provide healthy foods to children. Rather than revisit each one separately, Congress uses a process called Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR) to revisit and modify the permanent laws that established many of these programs. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010 was the most recent CNR, and certain provisions in that law expired at the end of September 2015. 

Some of the programs typically included in CNR laws are permanently authorized and have permanent authorization of appropriations.1 The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) are two examples of such programs. In other words, programs of this type do not expire, even if the CNR law expires. Other programs – WIC, for example – have permanent authorization, yet their authorizations of appropriations expired when the HHFKA expired.1 Funding for these programs has been provided through yearly appropriations acts since the expiration of HHFKA. Still other programs expired and ceased to operate when HHFKA expired.

Especially in light of recent crises like the COVID pandemic and the subsequent economic downturn, CNR is an important step towards improving access to healthy food for all children. Dr. Lee Beers, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, recently reported to Congress that physicians across the nation have seen an alarming rise in child obesity – including body weight increases between 20% - 90% over the last year.2 Furthermore, Feeding America projects that 1 in 6 children may experience food insecurity in 2021.3 Both child obesity and food insecurity have been exacerbated by the current crises experienced nationwide.

Undoubtedly, Child Nutrition Reauthorization is a crucial endeavor for the 117th Congress. Thankfully, CNR is largely a bipartisan effort, and Congress has already started working towards a new CNR law to be enacted before this session ends in January 2023. 

I hope this has increased your understanding of CNR. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. For information on the Academy’s CNR stance and talking points, visit here. Also, there are several active Action Alerts in the Academy’s Action Center.

Talk Soon!

Dawn Matusz, MS, NDTR
Public Policy Coordinator



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