Amy Drayton, PhD, director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute Department of Pediatric Feeding Disorders, received an award from the Nebraska Association of Nutrition and Dietetics in April.
The award recognizes Dr. Drayton and MMI for the department and institute’s efforts in promoting an increased dietitian presence at the Munroe-Meyer Institute, as well as fostering dietitian involvement in multidisciplinary professional teams.
Organizers said:
"Having Dr. Drayton and MMI bring in a dietitian has helped with providing clear, evidenced-based nutritional interventions to complement MMI’s current care. A dietitian is able to do a full nutritional analysis, which can highlight nutritional gaps or excess that helps guide families on specific foods to best meet their loved one’s needs and individualizes diet recommendations with consideration of preferences, cultural background, medical diagnoses and food accessibility."
Dietitian Amy Volkman has been working at MMI since May 2021, first as part of the MMI Department of Pediatric Feeding and then branching out to work with the Caring for Champions program and other departments. Dr. Drayton said the institute’s leaders, including MMI Director Karoly Mirnics, MD, PhD, have been supportive of Volkman’s work.
"This award shows progress toward our mission of providing truly interdisciplinary care to families," Dr. Drayton said. "With the structure of the new building, with everyone being so close to all the outpatient services, Amy is able to work across departments and with a greater variety of disciplines."
"Because we have a dietitian working across these department and disciplines as she does right now, we’re looking at creating more interdisciplinary connections between the different departments and clinics and programs," Dr. Drayton said. "For example, Amy is facilitating connections between feeding and Genetic Medicine’s metabolic clinic – we’d like to see those types of collaborations grow in the coming year."
Congratulations Dr. Drayton!