Featured Student Member: Catherine Brown

March 26, 2018

This month we are featuring Catherine Brown who is one of our student members with a culinary background! Catherine is obtaining her bachelor of science degree in dietetics from Kansas State University. She holds associates degrees in baking and pastry arts, culinary arts and health science.

Catherine is also a Certified Dietary Manager/Certified Food Protection Professional (CDM/CFPP) and a graduate of the Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate Program from Cornell University. Catherine works as a volunteer chef for Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters programs in New Hampshire and is a volunteer topic text writer for NutritionFacts.org.

Catherine also works on intimate farm-to-table caterings and is a personal chef. She shares many of her recipes and food tips on her blog, www.chefcatherinebrown.com. Catherine’s recipes have been featured on many prominent blogs and on sites such as Reader’s Digest, and has been featured on ABC’s The Chew.

Who or what inspired you to become interested in integrative and functional nutrition?

Learning how to successfully grow food organically has taught me to pay attention to symbiotic relationships. Each plant family, and sometimes even individual plants within the same family, has unique requirements that must be provided to flourish. It’s important to consider each aspect that will impact the life cycle of a crop and the ecosystem in which it lives, both in the short term and in the future. Optimizing human health is similar. To truly thrive, mind, body and soul must be considered. This is what draws me to integrative and functional medicine. It’s a complete systems approach that recognizes and examines everything that influences well-being. I am fortunate there are so many talented DIFM members from whom to learn how to apply this approach to the field of dietetics.

What area of practice do you plan to go into and how do you plan to secure a job that utilizes integrative and functional nutrition?

It is exciting to be entering the field of dietetics at a time when so many areas of practice have recently been created (kudos to the trailblazers!). There are several areas within the field that interest me, but one area I find particularly fascinating is culinary nutrigenomics because it draws on my horticulture, culinary and personalized nutrition skills. Learning how foods effect gene expression and then creating beautiful, delicious, sustainable meals designed specifically for an individual’s genetic make-up and lifestyle would be the height of functional medicine.

What education or training in integrative and functional nutrition have you completed or what education or training in integrative and functional nutrition do you plan to complete in the future?

I am currently a senior in the DPD distance dietetics program at Kansas State University. I will graduate in 2019, after which I plan to begin the required supervised internship. I am researching combined MS programs that will allow me to deepen my education in integrative and functional medicine, nutrigenomics and public health and policy. I also plan to complete the Integrative and Functional Nutrition Training Program over the summer and fall.

What advice would you give other students interested in learning more about integrative and functional nutrition?

Join DIFM and take advantage of the free webinars. Also, attend your state’s dietetic organization conferences to connect with and learn from other DIFM members. Joining DIFM social network groups is another way to learn more about this practice area. Finally, completing the Integrative and Functional Nutrition Training Program is an economical way to dive a little deeper into this holistic approach.

We're so grateful that you took the time to share your story with us, Catherine!