Kristin Gustashaw, MS, RDN, CSG, LDN
CDR Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN)
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Position / Skills and Attributes
| 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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1. I have thirteen years of experience with CDR as a subject-matter expert ensuring the integrity and relevance of the specialty exam, including job analysis/exam content outline updates, exam question development, and creating cut scores for exams. 2. I have been a board-certified CSG since 2007, ensuring the nutritional care of older adults meets the highest standards. I work to stay current with food and supplement products to address health concerns. 3. I understand the development process of a professional credential requires a thorough practice analysis including determining the important knowledge and tasks it takes to do a job safely and creating applicable exam questions to establish one's competency to do the job. One of the principal roles of an accrediting body is to ensure all credentials affiliated with it meet the highest professional standards. 4. I promote and integrate our profession’s culture into various organizational structures. 5. I most recently I accepted an |
Employment History
| Employer | Title | Years Employed |
| Rush University Medical Center | Advance Level Dietitian, Nutrition Consultant, Media Relations Liaison, Speaker | 24 years |
Leadership Experience
| Leadership Position | Organization | Years Involved in the Organization | My specific leadership contributions, achievements and outcomes: | Leadership Skills used in this position: |
| Dietitian representative of the Older Adult COVID Task Force and Consulting Dietitian for CDoA | Rush University Medical Center | 2020 - 2022 | Team members and I quickly established the immediate and long-term needs of older adults forced into isolation during the COVID pandemic. I called hundreds of older adults in Chicago, identified their needs during isolation, provided food and nutrition counseling, and efficiently connected them to additional healthcare resources tailored for each individual. This resulted in an improved quality of life for older adults in Chicago and established new programming that continues to assist older adults today. | As the contracting dietitian for the City of Chicago Department on Aging, one of my biggest tasks is to work with six ethnically diverse catering companies. I am tasked with educating/training each group regarding menu creation, menu analysis, and quality assurance while meeting the food preference requests of participating older adults. I created and implemented a group training program to educate the caterers to assess their menus to ensure they meet nutrition standards for older adults. Due to the diverse and cultural variability among the caterers, I then met individually with each catering group to assess comprehension and adapt my messaging to meet the unique needs of each group. As a result, each catering group has successfully streamlined its processes, spends less time on menu revisions and has improved the nutrition content of their menus. |
| Dietitian representative for the RUMC Patient Education Committee | Rush University Medical Center | - 2023 | Actively participated in monthly meetings to determine the learning needs of patients. I established nutrition-focused patient education materials and analyzed hospital-wide education materials created by employees and those for purchase. Ensured resources met the highest standards for those with disabilities and alternative learning needs. Developed multilingual materials and ensured the content was consistent between languages. Analyzed education usage data to maximize the effectiveness of education materials. This resulted in increased patient comprehension of the education offered. | I initiated the creation of a RUMC original education booklet for Nutrition and Parkinson's Disease. After an extensive review of the literature surrounding the nutrition needs for people with Parkinson's disease, I worked with our Movement Disorder neurologists and speech pathologists to establish the multidisciplinary content of the booklet. We determine six key elements of concern, including, general nutrition information, food and drug interactions, common complications such as constipation, swallowing difficulties, bone health and unintentional weight loss. I then presented our material to the patient education committee for further analysis of content to ensure all the principles of education materials were considered. We also had the booklet translated into Spanish. As a result, patients are able to empower themselves to play an active roll in disease management and improve health outcomes. |
Personal and Campaign Statements
What do you see as opportunities for the future of the nutrition and dietetics profession?
I am dedicated to ensuring people providing nutrition information hold the appropriate credentials to ensure safe, accurate information is provided in a way that is adaptable to reach all people. I aim to work to uphold/adapt accrediting and crediting processes to include how to stay current with the biggest emerging nutrition trends, including personalized nutrition, plant-based diets, and nutrigenomics. I am committed to helping our profession remain the leaders of these and other nutrition messages to accurately shape or reshape our understanding and approach to nutritional health.
Campaign Statement
Upholding accreditation and credentials in the field of nutrition is the key element to being recognized as the leaders in food, nutrition and health. Together we will drive our profession to the top of all searches related to nutrition information.