About Us
Enette Larson-Meyer, PhD, RDN, CSSD, FACSM
Dr. Larson-Meyer joined the faculty at Virginia Tech in August 2020 and is honored to serve as director of the MSND program. She relocated from the University of Wyoming where she directed the Nutrition & Exercise Laboratory and taught in the Didactic Program in Dietetics for 16 years. Larson-Meyer is trained in both nutrition/dietetics and exercise science and her interest in the field include energy metabolism, endocrine (non-diabetes) and metabolic disorders, plant-based nutrition, sports nutrition, and clinical research. Her research interests center around how nutrition influences the health and performance of active individuals at all stages of the lifecycle and at all levels of performance--from the casual exerciser to the elite athlete. Her most recent research interests include assessment of both vitamin D and iodine status and the important of these nutrients in disease prevention, general wellness and exercise performance.
Larson-Meyer has authored over ninety scientific articles and book chapters, is the author of “Plant-Based Sports Nutrition. Expert Fueling Strategies for Training, Recovery, and Performance” (Human Kinetics, 2020) and has served on several recent International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus panels including the 2011 Sports Nutrition Consensus Panel and the 2017 Expert Panel for Dietary Supplements and the High Performance Athlete. She is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and currently serves as an Associate Editor for both Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise and the Science and Medicine of Football (Soccer).
Larson-Meyer completed her Bachelor of Science at the University of Wyoming, her dietetic training and masters at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and her doctoral and postdoctoral studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She also completed an internship at the U.S. Olympic Training Center as an undergraduate and served as the sports dietitian for the UAB Blazers during the completion of her doctoral and postdoctoral studies. Her personal interests include trail running, flat water kayaking, Irish step dancing, strength training, gardening, yoga, plant-based cooking, and wine tasting. She is the mother of two collegiate women soccer players (D2) and an athletic son (also in college) who consistently put her sports nutrition knowledge to the test. She enjoys spending time outdoors with friends and family and her dog Oscar (Meyer) and black cat MoJo.
Kristen Chang, MS, RDN, CSSD
Assistant Director, MS in Nutrition and Dietetics Program
Kristen Chang has been with the M.S. in Nutrition and Dietetics program and the Department of Human, Nutrition, Foods, Exercise full-time since December 2017. She was hired as the program’s assistant director just as the program was approved as an ACEND-accredited Future Education Model (FEM) graduate program, as part of the first cohort of FEM demonstration programs. She has worked extensively with the HNFE department, HNFE dietetics faculty, and Carilion Clinic to translate the program from paper to reality, which has been an exciting and rewarding process!
Chang completed all of her dietetics education, including a master's degree and supervised internship program, with Virginia Tech and is a committed lifelong Hokie. She also holds the credential of being a Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics and has a background in long-term care, private practice, and sports nutrition. Chang has a passion for sustainability, recipe development, cooking demonstrations, and nutrition communications. She has extensive experience in nutrition counseling for behavior change and leads that aspect of the program. In addition to teaching several core courses, she manages many of the behind-the-scenes administrative tasks and arranges supervised experiential learning rotations in collaboration with partners at Carilion Clinic, Virginia Tech, and the community. Her favorite aspect of the program is the strong relationships she is able to build with the students. She has an appreciation for mentorship and coaching and enjoys watching each individual student develop their unique strengths and discover where their passions lie.
When she is not working, Chang enjoys spending time with her husband, young son, and animal family (two dogs, a cat, fish, and chickens). She is an avid triathlete and trains year-round to compete in long-distance events. Chang has completed several ironman triathlon events and marathons and particularly enjoys the science-aspects of sports nutrition and its application to real-life training and competition scenarios. She is also interested in gardening, composting, photography, and home improvement projects.
Jeannine Simon serves as the Graduate Supervised Practice Manager for Carilion Health System in a unique collaborative partnership between the HNFE department and Carilion Dining and Nutrition Services Department.
After spending 24 years as a registered dietitian actively working in various fields of dietetics, including clinical, pharmaceutical research, corporate management, entrepreneurship, long term care, personal training, counseling, and teaching, Simon found her dream job in growing and managing experiences, as well as teaching for the next generation of RD’s through her work with the MSND program. She is passionate about elevating and advocating for the role of the RD in all aspects of health and derives a great deal of satisfaction from working with and watching the growth and success of students. Aligning with advocacy is her belief in the involvement of RD’s in research in all fields of practice as a necessary step in solidifying the contribution, professional reputation, and position of the RD as vital and deserving of a seat at the table with medical, community, and management teams.
Simon completed all her dietetics training at Virginia Tech, which included her B.S. in HNFE followed by her internship and master’s program. Through her many years of diverse work experience in the field of dietetics, those working in medicine and teaching nutrition and medical nutrition therapy resonated the most. She finds intense interest in disease pathophysiology and the complicated ways nutrition plays a dynamic role in patient disease prevention, treatment, and outcomes.
Simon likes to describe herself as a perpetual student and "work in progress” and enjoys injecting humility and humor in all situations while never taking herself too seriously. Her most precious and greatest accomplishment is that of being a mother to two wonderful kids, a daughter, 16 and a son, 19, a student at VT. She loves spending time with family which includes her best friend and husband of 26 years, her kids, and her three dogs.