Congratulations Lola Rosewig!
Each year, A.S.P.E.N. awards 10 outstanding student members a free year of membership to the Society. Students must apply for the sponsorship, and the Membership Committee selects the 10 winners. A.S.P.E.N. is excited to get more student members involved and we applaud all applicants for their interest both in the organization and in the field of clinical nutrition and metabolism.
The application asks: Why are you interested in clinical nutrition? Who has stimulated your interest in clinical nutrition?
Here is winner Lola Rosewig’s response. Congrats, Lola, and welcome to A.S.P.E.N.!
I am currently in my dietetic internship (DI) through the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Working within the U of M Health System has sparked the desire to continue my career in clinical dietetics, specifically nutrition support.
To describe how this came about, I must explain a little about myself—I am a self-proclaimed science nerd. I have an insatiable thirst for scientific knowledge in general and a particular passion for nutrition science because of the complex interrelationships between biochemistry and physiology, and between health, behavior, and society. Everything from the metabolism of micronutrients to the biology of adipose tissue piques my interest. I spend my free time reading research on nutrition support and gut microbes. My brain is always hungry for more.
Nutrition support in particular marries a few of my favorite subjects. First, mathematics, which has always been one of my strengths. This enables me, for instance, to calculate parenteral nutrition and dextrose infusions rates with ease. Second, the gut. Prior to my graduate degree in nutrition, I was an anatomy and physiology instructor and was invited to contribute to the college’s distance learning curriculum (my topic: the small intestine). I have spent a great deal of time thinking and talking about the gut—from giving lectures and doing cadaver dissections, to poring over emerging research about the gut microbiome and our health, which continues to fascinate me. I have come to really enjoy the process of considering the medical condition of the patient and the status of their gut, and then writing appropriate enteral and parenteral prescriptions when warranted.
My passion for clinical dietetics was likely first aroused by my excellent clinical instructor and later by some of my internship preceptors. I really came to feel the value of nutrition support when working in rotations such as the intensive care unit for trauma and burn patients because nutrition plays such a huge role in the healing process, or the Children’s Intestinal Rehabilitation Program in which pediatric intestinal failure patients were dependent upon nutrition support for their growth and development while working toward intestinal adaptation.
For me, working clinically with patients on nutrition support is an area where I feel I can do the most good for some of the most vulnerable patients.
