Coming from a family background in health, Dr. Theresa A. DeLorenzo, RD, had an aunt who was a dietitian and the profession intrigued her. Nutrition was something she was always interested in as a young athlete, specifically how you can always improve your performance with your diet and its effect on how you feel and your long-term health outcomes. She also has a strong family history of cancer, so she was drawn to the concept of working to prevent that with what she puts in her body. Dr. DeLorenzo currently serves as the owner of All About the Babies, conducting private practice consultations for infants and children, since 2010 and the program director for the Master of Science in nutrition and human performance program at Logan University in Chesterfield, Missouri, since 2018.
Prior to this tenure, Dr. DeLorenzo began her career as a group fitness instructor at AFAA Certified in 1997, remaining in this role for 15 years. During this time, she was a nutrition consultant from 2000 to 2005, and clinical pediatric and neonatal dietitian for the level 3 NICU at McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, South Carolina, from 2002 to 2004. She also served Albany Medical Center as a clinical neonatal dietitian for the level 4 neonatal intensive care unit from 2005 to 2010 and supervisor of nutrition care from 2010 to 2012. Following these roles, Dr. DeLorenzo was a medical science liaison at Abbott Nutrition from 2012 to 2013 and pediatric consultant at Harmony Mills Pediatrics from 2016 to 2017. Additionally, she served the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oneonta as a diving coach and assistant professor of nutrition from 2013 to 2017 and program director of the online combined Master of Science in nutrition and dietetic internship program from 2014 to 2017. In addition to this tenure, Dr. DeLorenzo was an international speaker at the Childhood Obesity Conference in Rome in 2017, as well as an annual speaker at the New York State Women, Infant and Children’s Conference and numerous other events.
Before embarking on her professional path, Dr. DeLorenzo pursued a formal education at the University of Rhode Island in South Kingstown, earning a Bachelor of Science in nutrition and food sciences in 2000. She then matriculated at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, now known at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, where she attained a Master of Science in 2007 and PhD in 2013, both in clinical nutrition. Dr. DeLorenzo also became a registered dietician (RD) through the Commission on Dietetics Registration in 2001, and is a certified aerobics instructor through the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America.
The president of the Hudson Valley Dietetics Association from 2017 to 2018, Dr. DeLorenzo has maintained involvement with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American Society for Nutrition. A prolific writer, she has reviewed works by numerous journals in her field including “Post Discharge Feedings for the Preterm Infant” by Infants, Children and Adolescent Nutrition in 2010, “The Inflammatory Connection” by Infants, Children and Adolescent Nutrition in 2012 and the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition in 2014, among others. Dr. DeLorenzo has also spoken at myriad international, national, state and local presentations.
In honor of her multitudinous achievements, Dr. DeLorenzo was awarded an Excellence in Customer Service Award by the Albany Medical Center in 2010 and the Excellence for Outstanding Clinical Performance Award by Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in 2013. Today, she is the proud mother of two wonderful daughters. She attributes her success to passion; she just loves what she does. She remembers when she was younger and her father told her “Find a niche in your field, which not everyone does,” and she fell into neonatal nutrition. It opened a lot of opportunities for her. In five years, Dr. DeLorenzo would like to do as many presentations, reach as many people and affect as many lives as possible. She is currently working on her first book, and hopefully that will lead to invited presentations in front of more audiences.