Emily LaRose DrPH, MS, RD

Nutrition

Dr. Emily LaRose, a registered dietitian (RD), is a nutrition and global health consultant who has worked with Operation Smile since January 2021. Her academic credentials include a doctorate in public health (DrPH) from Harvard University (2021), a master’s degree in dietetics from Kansas State University (2012), and a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts nutrition from Johnson & Wales University (2002). In addition, she completed a neonatal nutrition fellowship via Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine (2006) and holds a specialization certificate in nutrition and global health attained during her DrPH degree program (2020).

Nutrition has been at the heart of Emily’s work for more than 20 years. She began her career as a clinical dietitian at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center and continued her work at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Memorial Hermann Hospital (Houston), the King County Department of Public Health (Seattle), in private practice clinics, and as an assistant professor of dietetics and applied nutrition at Johnson & Wales University (Providence). While her patient care experience is varied and includes both adult and pediatric nutrition care, much of her work has focused on ensuring optimal nutrition delivery for infants and young children in the intensive care unit, inpatient hospital wards, outpatient clinics, and community-based settings. She also has extensive experience developing care protocols and training programs to support non-nutrition professionals in delivering evidence-based nutrition care.

Since beginning her consulting practice in 2019, she has worked with PATH, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Meedan’s Digital Health Lab, and the World Bank. With these organizations, she has written specialty reports on global human milk banking practices and innovative food system programs, led landscape and scoping review research efforts, conducted implementation outcomes evaluations, and developed tools and protocols for clinical nutrition care delivery in humanitarian hospitals.

As a nutrition consultant and technical advisor at Operation Smile, she led the development of the Nutrition Assessment and Follow-Up tools and the Nutrition Handbook in collaboration with the nutrition team. She is currently developing additional nutrition-focused tools and resources to support patient care, program implementation, and staff and volunteer training. She loves food and cooking and is passionate about food and nutrition as human rights. She is dedicated to ensuring that all people receive the nutrition they need, especially infants and children.