Promoting Exercise and Nutrition as Natural Approaches to Health

Join us for a virtual Falk Alumni Speaker Series panel discussion featuring four outstanding alumni and two Falk College faculty who are experts in the fields of exercise, nutrition and natural health.

We will be discussing:

• Client perceptions of exercise/nutrition across different populations.
• Successful approaches to changing attitudes/behaviors.
• Career advice from the panelists.
• Other topics, as raised by moderator or student questions.

Alumni Panelists:

Atim Buchman, BSPH ’17

Population Health Strategist, Jessamine County Health Department

Health educator and in-school program coordinator for the Jessamine County, Kentucky health department. She also helps with disease investigation and contact tracing for COVID-19. Atim believes it is important to educate communities about health promotion, emphasizing that prevention is better than treatment. She is completing her MPH this spring, with a concentration in Community/Health Promotion and Epidemiology.

Elisa Itkowitz, MS, RD ’02

Clinical Program Director, Readout

Elisa is a recognized digital content developer for Telehealth, Telenutrition and Nutrition Informatics platforms, and is currently the Clinical Program Director for Readout Health, a digital biomarker company. She was previously a Nutrition Informatics Analyst at Fitly. She has pioneered ways to bring traditional RD counseling into the digital marketplace by developing and optimizing strategies and solutions for business growth and client retention. Elisa has over eighteen years of optimizing diets and wellness strategies as a Dietitian to help people undergoing many types of issues, including cardiovascular, diabetes, digestive disorders, obesity and behavioral health. She has also led nationwide health campaigns and programs for executives and employees at several Fortune 500 corporations. Elisa is a Nutrition Science and Dietetics graduate.

Katlyn Haycock, MS ’11

Strength and Conditioning Coach (Olympic Sports) at University of Michigan

Katlyn is a former Syracuse University varsity tennis and rowing team athlete and currently coaches for the University of Michigan Olympic Sports Strength and Conditioning Team. She is responsible for program design and implementation for Field Hockey, Women’s Soccer, and M&W Cross Country and Track and Field. She is also the head S&C coach for Club Wolverine Elite, training professional swimmers for the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. Katlyn is a Health and Exercise Science graduate.

Neena Hussey, ’20

Youth Education Director, Massachusetts Avenue Project

Neena is a Youth Education Director at the Massachusetts Avenue Project, an urban farm and community center in Buffalo, NY. She heads the growing green program, teaching racial equity environmental justice and food justice. She first started working at MAP in 2013, as a Growing Green Youth and has helped organize a community garden, develop food justice curriculum, and interned with NOFA NY in Syracuse. Neena is a Food Studies graduate.

Panel Moderators:

Chaya Lee Charles, M.S., R.D.N., C.S.G., C.D.N.

Assistant Teaching Professor, Nutrition and Food Studies, Falk College, Syracuse University

Chaya is an assistant teaching professor within Falk College’s Food Studies program. She is also a consultant dietitian for Sodexo at Menorah Park and senior nutrition consultant for Oswego County Opportunities. She has previously held titles such as outpatient dietitian, clinical dietitian, and nutrition services manager at various health care facilities. Chaya completed both her B.S. degree in nutrition, and her M.S. degree in nutrition science at Syracuse University.

Kevin Heffernan, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Exercise Science, Falk College, Syracuse University

Falk College professor Kevin Heffernan is the director of the Human Performance Laboratory (HPL) which is fully equipped to probe numerous aspects of systemic vascular structure and function in vivo. Kevin Heffernan’s research examines the interaction of diet, nutritional supplementation and exercise (with an emphasis on resistance exercise) on vascular function in health, disease and disability throughout the human lifespan. He has published extensively on the role of exercise in modulating vascular function.

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