Lauren Cromer, an MTSU instructor of nutrition and food sciences, is the winner of the state’s Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year Award from the Tennessee Dietetic Association.

Cromer, who earlier captured the Nashville District award, outpaced five other district champions and was presented with the statewide honor at the TDA’s annual meeting in Nashville April 20.

Lauren Cromer

The Tullahoma native and Nashville resident is a past president of the district association. She has worked as a dietitian manager with a skilled nursing facility and as a clinical dietitian at a diabetes weight management clinic.

Cromer’s resume also includes experience as a dietary and kitchen manager who developed meal plans and assessed nutritional needs of patients.

In addition, she is a preceptor/mentor with the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Dietetic Internship Program.

“What I enjoy the most is teaching about food principles, food science, why we do things the way we do, food safety, getting all the nutrition knowledge out to the population,” says Cromer.

“She is using best practices in the classroom and … being a role model as well for our students so they will aspire to achieve what she has already achieved,” says Dr. Lisa Sheehan-Smith, associate professor in the MTSU Department of Human Sciences and a registered dietician.

Cromer earned her bachelor’s degree in food and nutrition with a dietetics emphasis from Carson-Newman College in 2002 and her master’s degree in nutrition sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2004.

For more information on MTSU’s Nutrition and Food Sciences Program, dietetics program, contact Sheehan-Smith at 615-898-2090 or lsheehan@mtsu.edu.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)