A Different Approach
Dr. Ro, A Well-Known Nutritionist, Offers Advice On How To Pursue
This Career.
By Michael Casano
Dr. Rovenia M. Brock will be the first to tell you that to change
your life, you have to change your mind. One of the country’s
most requested nutrition experts, “Dr. Ro” believes that
simple modifications in the way you cook certain foods or approach
exercise can make your long-term health goals attainable, and with
that the long-term benefits of doing so.
“It’s important to pay attention to the reasons why you
eat the way you eat, and then identify how you can make subtle changes,”
she says. “Substitutions in the way we season our meals, such
as using herbs, spices, juices of fruits, and vegetables instead of
salt and fat, go a long way. That’s why people can create a
healthier lifestyle if they’re open to another approach.”
You could say that taking another approach on how to apply her knowledge
of nutrition is one of the reasons Dr. Ro’s programs and advice
have been so popular. Her initial interest to study nutrition was
born from the premature death of her mother when Dr. Ro was only nine.
Later, there were a number of instances in Dr. Ro’s immediate
and extended family and community where it seemed that the foods people
ate were somehow connected to the quality of lives that they got to
live. With these factors in mind, Dr. Ro decided to pursue nutrition
as a career.
After completing her undergraduate degree in foods and nutrition at
Virginia State University, Dr. Ro helped people make sound lifestyle
decisions by working in hospitals and nursing homes as a nutritionist.
However, she quickly became disenchanted with that path, given the
method she was usually presented to provide such information to her
patients.
“I wanted to make a larger impact on the quality of people’s
lives,” she recalls. “It just seemed that a clinical setting
was not ideal. When I was working at the University of Maryland Hospital,
for example, each dietician like me was assigned an average of 125
patients. So that meant you often found yourself running alongside
a family member or orderly giving dietary instructions for the first
time to a patient as he or she is being released from the hospital.
It struck me as a little ridiculous. How is this person supposed to
know how to manage his or her life from this point on with a sheet
of do’s and don’ts? So, I didn’t’ think it
was doing any good. I studied it to make a difference.”
Returning To School
Based on her experiences, Dr. Ro decided that the best way to have
an impact was to go back to graduate school with the idea of pursuing
both a master’s degree in nutrition, as well as take classes
that would lead to her becoming a television correspondent. Dr. Ro
realized that there was only one nutrition expert appearing on a national
level (CNN) at the time. With such an open field in her view, having
the qualifications to do on-air reports and commentary would be the
best way to share her thoughts on nutrition with the largest number
of people possible.
With that goal in mind, she was allowed to craft a double master’s
degree in community nutrition, and broadcast journalism at Howard
University, afterwards going straight into a PhD program in nutritional
sciences. At Howard University, she developed a four-part nutrition
education video series as a thesis project. She later used the video
program as part of her work with DC Chartered Health Plan, Inc.—the
oldest and largest Medicaid-managed care organization in the nation’s
capital. There, she taught nutrition to the organization’s low-income
pregnant women patients, testing and re-testing them on their nutrition
knowledge on their pregnancy outcome, based on the video series she
developed.
“Communicating on television or in the broadcast world is different
from communicating anywhere else,” she states. “You have
very little time to communicate a message but it must be one that
hundreds of thousands must understand all at once. So, you have to
simplify complicated details in the case of health and lifestyle information.
That takes communication to a whole other level.”
Dr. Ro’s drive, creativity, and passion to motivate people to
make lifestyle changes for better health has made her one of the country’s
most requested nutrition experts. She’s widely known for her
work as the host of the Black Entertainment Network’s (BET)
“Heart & Soul,” the first health and fitness show
geared specifically for African-American women. She’s also been
a requested nutrition correspondent on The Today Show, CNN, MSNBC,
and National Public Radio (NPR).
In print, Dr. Ro’s nutrition and health expertise is featured
on Web MD and in publications that include O Magazine, Quick &
Simple, Self, Ebony, Essence, Upscale, Today s Black Woman, Vibe,
Heart and Soul, Black Issues in Book Reviews, Black Issues in Higher
Education, The Dallas Morning News, and Memphis Commercial Appeal.
And, her book, Dr. Ro’s Ten Secrets To Livin’ Healthy,
was recommended by USA Today and The New York Daily News as a “must-have”
for those looking for a comprehensive common-sense approach to forming
healthy lifestyle habits.
Health Challenges
“I wrote the book to address the main health challenges facing
the African-American community, such as diabetes, hypertension, and
heart disease,” she comments. “For example, the staples
of the diet used heavily in the African-American community have been
working against us rather that for us in the way that we choose to
prepare foods and the amounts we consume. At the same time, the staples
of that diet can, if given the chance to be prepared and consumed
in proper amounts, can go a long way toward life-saving potential.
There are vital chemical compounds found in the vegetables and fruits
that make up the diet, like anti-oxidants that can prevent chronic
disease, which are the same chronic diseases that African Americans
face disproportionately.”
Dr. Ro also encourages parents to lead by example when it comes to
choosing the right foods to eat. That means making fruits and vegetables
a food reward early on, and not candy or ice cream. She adds, “We
have to understand that the disease process starts a lot earlier than
we think. So, when you understand that, you understand that you have
to incorporate healthy lifestyle habits in the lives of children from
the moment they arrive. But to that, we have to be role models. We
can’t neglect to do it for ourselves and then expect children
to do the opposite.”
While Dr. Ro’s entrepreneurial spirit has led to her to developing
her own brick and mortar lifestyle boutique, (www.everythingro.com),
she feels that none of this could have been possible without first
establishing her credentials as a nutritionist, and that first and
foremost is based on her extensive education. And, that is the same
educational background that must be established by anyone considering
a career as a nutritionist or dietician.
“Your interest in getting people healthy and contributing to
the pool of healthy people certainly helps, but your credentials have
to be in place,” she advises. “I had practical experience
as a nutritionist for six years before I went out on my own. That’s
why a bachelor’s degree in nutrition, while an important first
step, can only get you so far.”
Dr. Ro suggests that once you get out of school with your bachelor’s
degree, your next step is to get an internship. After that internship,
you can then sit for what is called the RD—the Registered Dietician’s
exam. You can then use that to go on to graduate studies if you would
like to be considered a premier expert in the field.
Once established, however, the opportunities your nutrition background
can take you are only limited to how you want to share your expertise,
whether working in a clinic or hospital, conducting research, acting
as a consultant, or establishing your own private practice. Or, in
Dr. Ro’s case, writing articles or becoming a noted motivational
speaker and broadcast journalist.
Dr. Ro concludes: “What I’ve done with my background
is a lot more than you would expect. But if you’re driven, there’s
little doubt you’ll be able to establish yourself in whatever
area you’d like to pursue.”
