Nutrition Services

KRISTEN KOWALCZYK, RDN, CSO

Kristen Kowalczyk, RDN, CSO, and Rebecca Howell, RDN, CSO, are registered dietitians who provide personalized nutrition counseling for patients at Pardee Cancer Center. Dietitians work with patients to tailor nutrition advice based on personal preferences and culture. Goals of nutrition counseling can be to minimize the impact of symptoms from cancer treatment or to assist patients with adopting a healthier diet and lifestyle. Patients can be referred by a physician or may self-refer for dietitian services. The dietitians have worked with the Epic (electronic medical records) team and nurse navigators to start screening patients at regular intervals using validated nutrition screening tools, including the PG-SGA (Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment and NUTRISCORE. This helps to ensure that patients at risk of malnutrition during treatment are automatically referred to a dietitian. 