UC Irvine’s Geeta Sikand Honored Among Nation’s Leading Dietitians

Photo: UCI

India-West News Desk

IRVINE, CA – Indian American nutrition expert Geeta Sikand has been named among the nation’s top dietitians in the 16th annual ‘TD10’ showcase by Today’s Dietitian, an honor that highlights professionals shaping the future of nutrition science and patient care.

The recognition comes as part of the publication’s annual feature during National Nutrition Month and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Day, which celebrates leaders who are advancing the role of dietitians in health care through research, advocacy, and clinical practice.

Sikand, MA, RDN, FAND, FNLA, CLS, serves as Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine in cardiology at the University of California, Irvine. Her work has been widely recognized for demonstrating the economic and clinical value of medical nutrition therapy, known as MNT, in patient care.

Research led by Sikand showed that every dollar spent on MNT can save three to four dollars in health care costs for patients with dyslipidemia. The findings, published in 1998 and 2000, marked the first time a cost benefit analysis quantified the financial impact of dietitians on patient outcomes. At the time, Sikand served as chief lipid research dietitian at the teaching hospital affiliated with UC Irvine, the VA Long Beach Healthcare System.

Her studies came at a critical moment in the health care industry, as managed care models expanded and health professionals increasingly needed data to demonstrate the value of services provided by dietitians.

“Dietitians needed to show outcomes data because managed care was taking over the health care industry at this time. Fortunately, we had the data,” Sikand said.

The research proved influential for the profession and earned Sikand two Mary Huddleson Awards from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation.

Sikand later chaired the MNT Outcomes Workgroup of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, helping lead further studies that continued to confirm the benefits of nutrition therapy even as medication treatments evolved.

She is currently involved in advocacy efforts supporting the Expanded Medical Nutrition Therapy Act, legislation that seeks to expand Medicare coverage for nutrition therapy.

Beyond research and policy work, Sikand has focused on educating health care providers and the public about how nutrition counseling can improve health outcomes. She serves as a Policy and Advocacy Leader for the cardiovascular health and wellbeing dietetic practice group and is a fellow and at large board member of the National Lipid Association. She also cochairs the association’s nutrition taskforce and helped develop its multilingual Clinician’s Lifestyle Modification Toolkit.

“When dietitians counsel patients, we do not just tell them what to eat or what not to eat,” Sikand said. “We partner with them and use our communication tools to understand the what, why, and how of diet and lifestyle behaviors and barriers to adherence.”