Meet registered dietitian, Doreen Garelick. Doreen, originally from Brooklyn, New York, moved to West Windsor, NJ in 1997. She was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at an early age and began to focus on nutrition self-care. Doreen’s first career was as a healthcare attorney and during that time she learned about the important connections between human health and public policy. In 2015, Doreen decided to combine her interests in nutrition and policy and pursue a career in dietetics. She graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in Nutrition Science in 2018 and completed her dietetic internship through Hunter College in 2019.
Now Doreen works as an independent policy and advocacy consultant with a focus on food and nutrition security. She is the founder and owner of Doreen Garelick LLC, which offers advocacy, policy, communication and education consulting services in food and nutrition security, and sustainable food systems. Doreen is the Policy and Advocacy Leader for the Hunger and Environmental Nutrition DPG and the State Policy Representative for the NJAND. She is a member of the Academy’s Legislative and Public Policy Committee and the New Jersey Food Democracy Collaborative.
The biggest challenge Doreen faced in her dietetics career was at the very beginning, as a returning student at the age of 53. She is grateful to have had many amazing mentors throughout her dietetics career. Her professors at Rutgers and Hunter Colleges, and the preceptors during her DI, all taught her something unique about the practice of dietetics. Since food and nutrition are intertwined with health, economics, politics, environment, society, and culture, Doreen’s mentors showed her that career opportunities for dietitians are endless!
Doreen advises every dietetics professional to become familiar with nutrition policy and advocacy issues because all nutrition work settings are impacted by public policy. “We can all benefit from knowing something about nutrition policy and advocacy.”
Doreen is also a NJ Licensed Massage Therapist and a Certified Health Coach with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition (2010). Her favorite thing about New Jersey is its agriculture, which is why it’s called The Garden State. NJ tomatoes, corn, peaches, and blueberries are incomparable!
Instagram: @doreengarelick
Twitter: @DoreenSGarelick
Facebook: Doreen Shulman Garelick
