Nutrition Team Leader, Manabu Nakamura, PhD, DVM, is an Associate Professor of Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition and Division of Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and leads Obesity Lab (https://publish.illinois.edu/nakamuralab/), a research group of dedicated graduate students. I started studying nutrition to find out what to eat for staying in good health. I studied biochemical nutrition for many years to understand underlying mechanism of nutrient effects on health and disease. In the past years, my focus has been developing a weight management program to help people lose weight and maintain healthy weight for lifetime by discovering enjoyable and sustainable eating practice.
Ashley McCartney, MS, RDN, LDN, is a Research Dietitian of the EMPOWER program. She received her Masters of Science in Family and Consumer Sciences with a focus in Dietetics from Eastern Illinois University. She practiced from 2009-2012 at Presence Hospital and is currently practicing as a registered licensed Dietitian at Carle Health in Nutrition Services. Her professional interests focus on weight management for adults, diabetes education and nutrition support. Her role in EMPOWER is to help support and empower staff to create new ideas in order to help people stay motivated and successful in their weight loss journey.
Kristina Adams Smith, MS, RD, is a clinical dietitian serving in Champaign, Tuscola, Mattoon, Effingham and Olney. She has over 20 years’ experience as a registered dietitian working with patients in clinical settings. She received her bachelor and graduate degree in dietetics from Eastern Illinois University. She previously served as a media representative for the Eastern Illinois Dietetic Association for 9 years and continues to be featured on many local television segments, cooking demonstrations and print news articles. Kristina currently provides nutrition consultations for Carle Physician group and also manages her own business Sliced Right Nutrition providing cooking demonstrations, nutrition education classes as well as presentations. Her main areas of expertise have been in weight management, culinary nutrition, diabetes, heart disease, and overall wellness.
Nouf Alfouzan, MS, Clinical dietitian: I am a PhD Candidate in the Nakamura lab. I am responsible for developing strategies to deal with food cravings and enhance your flexibility in adjusting to new dietary habits. As a nutrition coach, I will be delighted to help you explore the options of eating your craved foods while continue lose weight. As well as increasing your flexibility toward achieving your diet and weight goals.
Jin Yu, MS: I am a graduate research assistant in Dr. Nakamura’s lab pursuing a Ph.D. degree. In this program, I am not only a researcher but also a participant who lost 80 lbs and has successfully maintained my weight. I am mainly in charge of session development and data analysis. It’s my duty to help you establish essential habits at the start, overcome the weight loss plateau, and maintain your progress.
Asma Yahya, MS, Clinical Dietitian: I’m a doctoral graduate student in Dr. Nakamura’s laboratory to develop a dietary weight loss program with a specific focus on Saudi Arabia People. My passion is to teach people how to overcome obesity and its comorbidity by following a healthy lifestyle. Helping you achieve your ideal body weight and maintain it for a lifetime is my priority, so I will be always ready to help.
Kayla Lammy, BA I am a master’s student in the Food Science and Human Nutrition department, concentrating in Clinical and Community Nutrition. My goal is to become a registered dietitian. Short term, I would like to work in a clinical setting to gain medical nutrition therapy skills. Long term, I want to explore working in a public health setting making nutrition education more accessible and interactive to my community of residence. Working in Dr. Nakamura’s lab with the EMPOWER program will provide me with applicable skills for my future career goals, centered around helping others improve their life through nutrition. Currently, my project focuses on continuing EMPOWER’s outreach to rural communities as an effort to increase their access to weight-related education.
Lifestyle Team Leader, Janet Liechty, PhD, MSW: Dr. Liechty is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work, Carle-Illinois College of Medicine, and Division of Nutritional Sciences. She received her PhD in Family Studies and her MSW from the University of Maryland, and completed advanced clinical training in family systems theory and therapy, mindfulness, gestalt therapy, and neuro-linguistic programming. Liechty worked more than a decade as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in teaching hospitals and a holistic health center in Washington, DC. Liechty’s research examines social determinants of health and psychosocial dimensions of weight-related health, including obesity, disordered eating, positive body image, health literacy, and healthy lifestyle behavior change. She also studies health professions workforce development and interprofessional education to enhance teamwork and cultural competency. Liechty is the Principal Investigator on two consecutive 4-year federal grants for Behavioral Health Workforce Training (3.8 million from 2017-2025) from the Healthcare Resources Services Administration (HRSA). She is also the PI on Social Work Healthcare Education and Leadership Scholars Program (HEALS 2015-2021), funded through the National Association of Social Workers and the Council on Social Work Education.
Ashleigh Oliveira, BA I am a PhD student and researcher leading our web application development, MealPlot, and expanding our community networks with dietitians and other health care providers. I am here to help you use our web application and connect with providers to achieve your health goals.
