RD Close Up: Sherry Coleman Collins of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation 

December 19, 2024 - By Rachel Kubik, Senior Content Writer for ARC

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It takes an average of 17 years for research to go from freshly published to actually implemented in clinical practice. Sherry Coleman Collins, MS, RD, LD, FAND, hopes to change that.

“Seventeen years is a very long time,” Coleman Collins said. “Research that could be improving outcomes, both by improving health and by decreasing costs, isn’t being implemented until then. The benefits realized from evidence-based practice being incorporated more quickly isn’t happening as rapidly as it should.”

Coleman Collins’ work as fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation has her focused on research communication and dissemination. Her main focus is to answer the question of: How do we get the right information to the right people at the right time?

“Researchers are great at doing the research, writing the papers and creating the guidelines, but they aren’t always great at getting this information out to clinicians or the public,” she said.

Her article, “Cracking the Code to Cell Senescence: Can Manipulating the Microbiome Slow the Aging Process?” was recently published as the cover story of the October edition of Today’s Dietitian. The article examines how senescent cells, which stop dividing but remain active, contribute to aging and diseases like cancer and diabetes while also exploring emerging therapies, such as senolytics and microbiome modulation, to mitigate their harmful effects. It highlights the potential of diet — one rich in fiber, plant-based foods, and probiotics — to influence cellular health and promote longevity.

This is just one example of how Coleman Collins is speeding up the journey from groundbreaking nutrition research to practical, life-improving applications. In this edition of RD Close Up, dive into her mission, the challenges she’s facing and the fascinating discoveries she’s sharing in her career as a “nutrition nerd” on a mission to make research relevant. Below is the full Q&A.

Q. Describe your role.

A. I’m a full-time fellow with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation. I work on research communication and dissemination, and other communication related projects. It’s a very unique role. My fellowship is really focused on taking a strategic look at how communications about Foundation funded research can be disseminated, using internal and external channels and assets that the Academy and the Foundation have to reach stakeholders.

Every day, I work on a variety of projects. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation is a nonprofit that supports research grants, and a lot of people aren’t aware of that. My focus is helping the Foundation get the word out about the research they’re funding, and then also to give insight and input into all kinds of communication that the Foundation is doing when I’m asked. We have a variety of research that’s been released this year on a whole lot of different topics, including malnutrition, vegetarian nutrition and treatment and prevention of type two diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Also, the most recent one that I’ve been working on is on the role of registered dietitians in obesity care, specifically around obesity medications. Much of this research has been done and funded through the Foundation, but a lot of times, people don’t hear about it. Before this fellowship, I worked with a commodity board and focused on communications and marketing for a long time, and I’ve also done some freelance writing for many years.

Because of the skill set that I have, I’ve been able to ask: How do we get the word out about these specific research projects that the foundation has invested in, so that dietitians know about it, but also other healthcare practitioners and stakeholders within the specific niche of nutrition where the research has been conducted?

Q. How did you land the fellowship job?

A. Fellowships are competitively awarded placements. It’s a paid fellowship job that was a competitive process to obtain. There was an application in summer 2023, and I applied, just like everybody else, and went through interviewing. I was ultimately selected and started the job that December, and my fellowship was for the full year. They recently asked me to stay for a bit longer, so I’m going to be continuing for another six months.

Q. What do you like about it?

A. I’ve always loved digging into research. I’m kind of a nutrition nerd by nature. I became a dietitian because I was really interested and fascinated by the idea of using food as a way to manage, treat and prevent disease. Now in this position, a lot of my opportunities are looking at what the research is saying about a certain area of nutrition, like malnutrition or obesity care. Nutrition is so much a part of the solution to the problem, right? Maybe it’s not the only solution. There are other issues in both of those cases that need to be addressed, but food is at the root of all of it, and I love to understand the hows and whys. I also love to make it simple for people. A lot of times, people are very intimidated by food, nutrition and eating, and there’s a lot of noise out there that makes it really complicated. Whether I’m talking to professionals or consumers, I really want things to be simple, approachable and understandable. Because if it’s not, then there’s nothing people can do with it. The research just sits there and nobody does anything with it.

I think the other thing that I love about this position is meeting new people. I’m meeting a lot of new people in our industry that I wouldn’t have met otherwise, and I’m very much a people person. I love to connect with people, connect people with each other and I have the opportunity to do that a lot in this job.

Q. Why did you want to work in dietetics?

A. When I was a teenager, I was very interested in food after reading some information about vegetarianism and animal husbandry. I became a vegetarian, and was very interested in food and cooking, because I needed to learn how to cook without meat. I’m from the south, and pork is very often used in vegetable dishes. We eat a lot of vegetables, and we don’t eat them by themselves. So, I had to learn to cook and to eat in a way that was healthy for me as a vegetarian. I didn’t know that nutrition was a career choice; I didn’t know any dietitians. I had never been introduced to nutrition and dietetics as a career until I worked in fundraising. I worked for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and while I was at the CF center in Atlanta, I met a dietitian. I learned about the job the dietitian did, and I was just blown away at how much of the treatment plan for CF was based on nutrition and how powerful nutrition was. I was just completely immediately in love with it. So, I went back to school and became a dietitian.

Q. What has been the biggest challenge for you as a dietitian working in the industry?

A. The biggest challenge is always misinformation. I think amongst consumers, or really any stakeholder that I’m trying to communicate with, or deliver messaging to, there’s so much noise and misinformation in the food and nutrition world. There are a lot of people out there, and some of them, with the best of intentions, and some of them, not with the best of intentions, cause a lot of confusion for people around food and nutrition. The biggest barrier that we have as communicators in the nutrition world is trying to cut through the clutter, deliver accurate, actionable information to people about food and nutrition that that gives them clarity and without adding to the confusion and noise.

Q. What is one thing you wish you had known before starting your career in dietetics?

A. I was very intentional when I started. I was a career change dietitian; I had already been working in the world. I wasn’t fresh or green. So, I asked a lot of questions, I had some very specific goals and I made very specific choices all the way through my career. I got great counsel before I went into this career, and I don’t feel like there were questions I didn’t have the answers to. What’s been the most surprising to me as a dietitian has been the role of social media, just because we couldn’t anticipate what we didn’t know. When I became a dietitian, social media was not really a thing. I don’t think anyone could have potentially estimated the impact that social media and the rise of social media influencers would have on our industry and on nutrition as a whole.

Going back to the misinformation and misperceptions topic, it’s very frustrating, because I really want to help people be healthy. I want them to love food and enjoy food. The confusion and misinformation are not good for people, and that frustrates me, because my intention for people is to be healthy, strong, to love food and to be able to eat the foods they want. I think this environment that’s created through social media around food oftentimes is the antithesis of what I’m trying to do.

Q. Has there been anything specific that helped you move forward in your role?

A. I think channeling my inner like brave girl and being willing to try new things probably is one thing, but I think probably a more impactful answer is networking. Before I got this fellowship, one of my best friends, who’s also a dietitian, sent it to me and said, “You should apply for this, because this is perfect for you.” She’s been a champion for me through my whole career. Before I applied, I reached out to a handful of other mentors who are farther ahead of me in their career and have done things that I really admire and I’m interested in. And I asked them, “Do you think I would be good for this? Do you think this would be good for me?” I asked for that input. Mentorship, networking and relying on my community to help me navigate my career choices has been really invaluable.

Q. Is there a program or initiative that you are most proud of?

A. When I worked with the National Peanut Board, we did some pretty amazing work around early introduction of peanut foods to babies. They continue to move that ball, and they continue to do great work, encouraging and increasing awareness around the impact of early introduction of peanuts to prevent peanut allergies. I was really proud to be part of that work.

Bio:

Sherry Coleman Collins, MS, RD, LD, FAND, is a Marietta, Georgia, based dietitian with experience in food allergies, pediatric clinical nutrition, school foodservice and nutrition communications. She has spoken at dozens of professional conferences, is a frequent guest and freelance writer, and serves as an expert to the media, translating the science of nutrition into easy-to-understand communications. Sherry is a co-author on the recent paper, “Communicating Nutrition and Dietetics Research: A Crucial Step to Advancing Evidence-based Practice” published in the Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics. With a particular interest in food allergies, Sherry has contributed to multiple articles, trainings and position papers on the topic. She has completed the FARE Pediatric Food Allergy Certificate of Training. Her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nutrition and health sciences, respectively, are from Georgia State University. She’s the communications and dissemination fellow at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation. She is married to Mr. Fix-It, and is raising one Minecraft-obsessed boy, a dog and a flock of chickens. Find her via @DietitianSherry on social media.