President’s Letter
Happy summer everyone!
I hope that you are able to take some time and enjoy this season. Whether it is playing with your kids, digging in the garden, diving into a good book, or lounging by the water, you deserve some downtime.
I am excited to start my term at the MS-AND President. The Board of Directors and other volunteers have a lot of great plans in the works. I am excited to meet with Ellen Ossorio later this month. We’ll discuss plans for our affiliate and start working on the 2023 annual conference.
I’ll keep this note short and sweet, but please reach our to me if you have any questions or think of any thing MS-AND can do to help. Also, please follow MS-AND on social media. We are @EatRightMS on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Take care of yourself and each other,
Lydia West, MPH, RDN, LD, SNS, President
Mississippi Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Delegate’s Update
Happy Summer to all! This has actually been a pretty busy summer for the HODs due to the work on the HOD Transformation Roadmap where delegates are working on a magnitude of issues that need to be revised, updated, created or discussed with the House Leadership Team (HLT) or Board of Directors (BOD). I have served on the BOD/HOD communications task force which just this week is sending it’s recommendation to the Speaker for review. All of these groups are working to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of HOD activities with very strict deadlines for completion.
Beyond my activities there are several updates that I feel will be useful for you to know about.
- Real-Time Dialogue Meetings
Monthly Real-TIme Dialogue 2 hours Meetings have replaced the previous PODs and HODs three meetings/year schedule. This change was implemented by the HLT to allow delegates to engage more frequently and address more issues than the previous schedule allowed. This month’s meeting focused on Public Policy and provided an excellent overview of the engagement possibilities we should expect this next year. As your delegate, I will try to keep you updated on some key issues where your input is crucial to the profession. Here are some of the major activities discussed:
- Affinity Groups
Get involved and connect with fellow Academy members to advocate for current policy priorities impacting our profession. The affinity groups meet once a month and are a forum-based event where staff, policy leaders and members discuss Academy advocacy priorities and strategies, share their experience and determine how they can become involved in advocating. These meetings are available to Academy members only. Consider joining one today!
- SAVE THE DATE: 2023 Nutrition and Dietetics Advocacy Summit March 28-30, 2023
- Update on future White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health:
The date has not been set yet but below are the five key areas that have been identified to address.
- Improve food access and affordability
- Integrate nutrition and health
- Empower all consumers to make and have access to healthy choices
- Support physical activity for all
- Enhance nutrition and food security research
- Opportunities to get involved:
Scribes for Real-Time Dialogue meetings allow student and members to participate in these meetings to gain exposure to and comfort with being a future delegate. If you are interested in this volunteer opportunity, please contact me at [email protected] and I’ll get you connected.
Delegate Think-Tank Members
Possibly you don’t feel comfortable in an elected office but have great ideas and could contribute information on an as needed basis, this may be a great use of your expertise. If you feel you represent a special interest area and would like to serve as a member of my think tank this year, please send me your name, contact information, professional focus area and which critical issues you are most passionate about. I think it is important to get diverse perspectives on issues that are brought to the HODs since I function as your representative. I look forward to hearing from you. Please email me of your interest by August 15, 2022 at [email protected]
Nominations for National Academy Ballot
It is never too early to start thinking about the future. The call for nominations for the 2023 national Academy election is open. Nominations for president-elect, speaker-elect and treasurer-elect close September 2, 2022. Nominations for all other positions are due by October 24, 2022. Please visit www.eatrightPRO.org/elections to view the positions available on the 2023 ballot and download the nominations form. Self-nomination is encouraged!
Hope to hear from many of you as the year progresses!
Teresa Carithers, PhD, RD, LD, FAND
MS-AND Delegate
FNCE 2022
Registration and housing are now open: https://eatrightfnce.org/. We hope to see you in Orlando, October 8-11, 2022.
Academy Updates
Action Alerts
Please take a minute to fill out these Action Alerts to let your senators and representative know we support these important nutrition related bills. If you can’t remember if you have filled one out yet, that’s ok. Fill it out again. The senator or representative may have received additional information on the subject and your action alert could be a great reminder.
Infant Formula Safety Resources
The Academy continues to support RDNs and NDTRs regarding the formula supply chain issues. For more information and compiled resources, click here.
Join the Academy’s Affinity Groups
Get involved and connect with fellow Academy members to advocate for top policy priorities impacting our profession. The Academy’s affinity groups meet once a month and are a forum-based event where staff, policy leaders and members discuss Academy advocacy priorities and strategies, share their experience and determine how they can become involved in advocating. These meetings are available to Academy members only. Click here to register: https://www.eatrightpro.org/advocacy/take-action/join-the-academys-affinity-groups