06/05/01 National Leader in Nutrition Communications and Education to Head American Dietetic Association in 2001-02

National Leader in Nutrition Communications and Education to Head American Dietetic Association in 2001-02

June 5, 2001

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Susan T. Borra, a Burke, Va., registered dietitian and a national leader in food and nutrition communications , health promotion and education for the public, has been named the 76th president of the American Dietetic Association.

Borra’s term begins June 1 and runs through May 31, 2002. She has served as ADA’s president-elect for the past year. Borra brings more than 20 years of experience as an educator and communicator at the local, national and international levels in addressing nutrition and food safety issues.

Borra is senior vice president and director of nutrition at the International Food Information Council (IFIC), in Washington, D.C., where she has worked since 1993. At IFIC, Borra directs communications programs, executes public affairs strategies and manages nutrition and food safety issues. IFIC is supported primarily by the broad-based food, beverage and agricultural industries.

From 1983 to 1993, Borra was director of consumer affairs at the Food Marketing Institute, also in Washington, D.C., where she developed and implemented national supermarket communications and public education initiatives. From 1976 to 1983, Borra was director of health professional services for the Dairy Council of the Upper Chesapeake Bay, in Towson, Md. She was an instructor in nutrition at, Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Md., from 1978 to 1980.

Borra said her primary goals for her ADA presidency are “to increase American consumers’ demand for the services of dietetic professionals and to make the term ‘dietitian’ a household word. I hope, during the coming year and beyond, to build on ADA’s past accomplishments in providing Americans with the most up-to-date and accurate information about food and health.

Dietetics professionals should seek new and different ways to have ‘a new conversation with consumers’ about the role that nutrition plays in people’s health and well-being, and that of their families,” Borra said.

“ADA will give our members the tools to connect ever more effectively with consumers - in supermarkets, on the Internet, through the news media and public speaking opportunities, serving in elective office and helping to shape nutrition and health policy at the local and national levels, Borra said.

“Through expanded education programs for our members, continued outreach to the public and increased numbers of strategic partnerships with government, industry and other health-care associations, ADA will help its members develop the skills and draw on resources they’ll need in order to have this important conversation with consumers.”

Borra has been active in the leadership of ADA and its affiliate dietetic associations for more than 20 years. She has served on ADA’s Board since 1991, with the exception of 1999-2000, as a director-at-large, secretary-treasurer elect, secretary-treasurer, chairman of the American Dietetic Association Foundation Board and president-elect. Borra has served on numerous ADA task forces and committees, including as past chairman of ADA’s Legislation and Public Policy Committee.

Borra was one of the youngest presidents of the Maryland Dietetic Association and represented Maryland in ADA’s governing body, the House of Delegates. She is a member and former recording secretary of the District of Columbia Metropolitan Dietetic Association and a member of ADA dietetic practice groups including Food and Culinary Professionals, Dietitians in Business and Communications and Nutrition Education for the Public.

Borra received the President’s Circle for Nutrition Education Award, given jointly by ADA and its Foundation , in 1985 and 1995. In 1999, the IFIC Foundation created the Susan T. Borra Nutrition Communications Fellowship in her honor.

Borra has served as a member of the Subcommittee on Interpretation and Uses of Dietary Reference Intakes at the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine . She is also a member of the Society of Nutrition Education and former chairman of its Corporate Relations Committee. Borra serves on the American Heart Association’s Industry Nutrition Advisory Committee and is a past member of the association’s Health Education Committee.

Borra gives frequent presentations on issues in food and nutrition to health care, private industry, government and trade groups. She is the author or co-author of nearly two dozen nutrition communication programs, publications and scholarly articles, and is co-author of ADA’s “Nutrition Education for the Public” position paper.

Borra is a graduate of the University of Maryland - College Park. She completed the coordinated undergraduate program in dietetics at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore.