Susan L Smith Holland, MBA, RDN, LD/N, FAND
CDR Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN)
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POSITION | Skills/Attributes associated with the position | Examples of how I have demonstrated outcomes for each skill/attribute that qualify me for the position |
CDR Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) |
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As a prior professor and a long-term practicing RDN, I am aware of how important continuing education can be. Standards that are set for our profession in the SOP and SOPPs have allowed us to improve and elevate our practice and ensure that the public receives appropriate, evidence-based educational information from those of us with the RDN (and NDTR) credentials. Being a RDN is truly a lifelong learning situation, and including appropriate education and counseling for those that have diverse backgrounds and situations is a necessary skill. We cannot address food issues without considering the whole person and the societal access and emotional situations. Additionally, we must remember that our personal and organizational opinions may not need to be disclosed to all of our clients, as a professional can answer client questions without adding unnecessary judgmental statements. |
Employer | Title | Years Employed |
Self-employed | Consulting Dietitian | 35 |
Sodexo | Food Operations Manager/ Food Service Director/Asst Food Service Director/ CNM/ Clinical Dietitian | 8+ |
Keiser University | Professor | 1 |
Leadership Position | Organization | Years Involved in the Organization | My specific leadership contributions, achievements and outcomes: | Leadership Skills used in this position: |
Chair/ Vice Chair/ Member of QM Committee | Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics | 2012 - 2017 | Helped review numerous SOP and SOPPs, including vegetarian nutrition, renal, and RDN/ DTR. Presented at FNCE regarding telehealth and licensure. Supported the MQii , standardized definitions, and all other quality initiatives of the Academy. | As Chair of QMC, I had to reopen a discussion on the second day of our meeting to allow buy-in throughout the committee on a topic we had already voted on. This allowed for a greater discussion of a few concepts a couple of members felt had been overlooked previously, and that then allowed them to have that necessary buy-in after feeling heard. The final vote was the same as the original result, but the group grew stronger together after that open discussion. |
Member and Liaison from QMC to Evidence-Based Practice Committee | Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics | 2012 - 2015 | I was able to include the EAL into many future positions and conversations, as well as truly understanding how we came up with our evidence-based practice ratings and more. Additionally, I was the liaison to QMC, so I was able to share the EBPC information with QMC. | I was able to add on several occasions to the group discussions, including some potential answers to why RDNs and NDTRs may not keep up-to-date (having children, taking a break from working, taking a job outside of dietetics, or having life situations like divorce or medical conditions that interfere with membership and / or time and money constraints) and that not every RDN or NDTR has a research background, so that explaining and encouraging use of the EAL was important. |
President/ President-Elect/ VP Legislature and Policy/ Member | Suncoast Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics of the Florida Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics | 2018 - 2022 | I helped keep us as an operating district unit through COVID and limited access, holding several events in person and virtually during the year, since our district covers over 4 hours' distance of the state. | I helped encourage people to volunteer for various roles in our district according to their personal and professional backgrounds and goals. We had a difficult time reaching large portions of our RDNs and NDTRs before we held more virtual and dual location events (like one event in the Fort Myers area and one in the Tampa area doing similar but different locations to increase participation). COVID restrictions actually helped us become more creative in our outreach and we had record CEU partication. |
Member, Committee for Lifelong Learning | Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics | 2017 - 2020 | I helped vet, organize, and present several topics at FNCE. including the first-ever frank discussion about eating disorders and RDNs/ NDTRs. | Regarding that eating disorder discussion at FNCE, I used my position as a leader to propose the topic in our CLL planning sessions based on my own ED experience and then used discussion skills to help reach out to the experts in the ED realm to hold a great, popular session at FNCE. |
Chair, Public Relations/ Member | Hawai'i Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics | 2013 - 2016 | I coordinated a National Nutrition Month activity and declaration with the mayor on each major island each year, and I tried to start coordinating the same on the territory islands. I also represented Hawai'i along with the President in 2015 for the Public Policy Workshop in D.C., coordinating all meetings with our state Senators and Representatives in one day. | Even though I lived on a neighbor island and could have let that limit me from participating, I coordinated necessary travel to make our Board meetings in person, with help from my friends and Board members: one would pick me up and take me to the meeting close to her home and the other would drop me off on the way back toward her home. Together, we all helped implement the state licensure actually legally decided about a decade before, but not yet begun in our state. |
With the emerging trends of telehealth and social media, we RDNs and NDTRs have an ever-growing opportunity to reach people throughout our country and even in the privacy of their own homes. Rural areas can now receive necessary nutritional care without requiring the 3-4 hour one-way drives one of my patients needed to commute 20 years ago. This and new provisions, like healthy food provided by insurance plans, can continue to allow us more access to people who most need us. We need to continue to promote ourselves as the ones to provide the necessary evidence-based nutrition information.
Lifelong learning and education is the key to growing our profession and our personal careers. Having competent and experienced leaders like me on the CDR board will help us continue to elevate and expand our reach, compensation, and success.