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BEAVER, PA – (May 27, 2008) – Several Heritage Valley Health System Registered Dietitians have recently been honored with national recognition.

Nutrition Outcomes Specialist Mary Baun, RD, LDN, CDE, Nutrition Services Manager Roberta (Bobbie) Sams, MS, RD, LDN, and Jennifer Brown, RD, LDN, CNSD, authored a study, “Improving Maternal Weight Gain and Infant Birth Weight by Implementing ADA’s Evidence-Based Nutrition Practice Guidelines for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Across a Continuum of Care.” The abstract was accepted for presentation at the American Dietetic Association’s annual national Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) in Chicago in October, 2008 and for subsequent publication in the ADA Journal. The study used an interdisciplinary effort to coordinate and standardize care and education for women with gestational diabetes. The study outcomes showed statistically significant improvements in infant birth weight and maternal weight gain, with a longer term goal of preventing early onset of diabetes.

Irna deLeon Knapp, RD, LDN, CNSD has been selected as a speaker at Clinical Nutrition Week in February, 2009 in New Orleans for the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN). This interdisciplinary conference brings together physicians, dietitians, nurses, pharmacists, researchers and other nutrition professionals to learn about the latest in nutrition support. Irna’s roundtable interactive topic is “The Impact of Sedation on Nutrition Support.”

Heritage Valley Health System provides comprehensive health care for residents of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties, in Pennsylvania; eastern Ohio and the panhandle of West Virginia. In partnership with more than 400 physicians, Heritage Valley offers a broad range of medical, surgical and diagnostic services at its two hospitals, Heritage Valley Beaver and Heritage Valley Sewickley; in physician offices; community satellite facilities; and in patients' homes.