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Mary Ellen Posthauer, BS, Foods & Nutrition at Purdue, has made a significant contribution to the profession of dietetics. She is an expert in long-term care and decubitous sores, but has an equally strong message about career development and professional growth through leadership in relevant professional organizations.
She has been a consultant dietitian for 35 years currently consulting for Supreme Care West, Inc., serving as Vice-President of Clinical Services, and to Medical Nutrition USA, Inc, as a member of their Clinical Advisory Board. She conducts multiple workshops annually for registered dietitians, nursing home administrators, dietary managers and other health professionals. She also designs menu systems for retirement homes, hospitals and congregate meal sites. In the past, she served as a clinical dietitian in two hospitals in Evansville, IN. Mead Johnson and Company tapped her skills to develop and test soy-base, milk-free formula recipes for a recipe book distributed by the company. She worked with Head Start for five years as a research project director and from 1975 to 1991; she did food styling for commercial advertising companies in Evansville. She has been an educator, teaching nutrition classes at the University of Southern Indiana and nutrition classes for culinary professionals at Ivy Technical College. She was president and CEO of her own company, M.E.P. Healthcare Dietary Services, Inc.
She currently serves on the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (past-president in 2005) and is alumni advisor to the NPUAP Board of Directors. She is chair of the Support Surface Standards Initiative: Terms and Definitions Committee and is Chairman of the Nutrition Committee for NPUAS/European Pressure Ulcer Panel (EPUAP) pressure ulcer guidelines. She is co-chairman of the American Dietetic Association’s Unintended Weight Loss Work Group, developing medical nutrition therapy evidence-based guidelines for practice. She also serves as a member of the editorial advisory panel to Advances in Skin & Wound Care. She served as the American Dietetic Association Alliance Representative to JACHO-Long Term Care Professional Technical Advisory Committee from 1999-2005 and the ADA representative to NPUAP for 6 years.
Mary Ellen is the recipient of many awards from the American Dietetic Association, including the Medallion Award, the Ann Gallagher Award, the Award of Excellence: Consultation and Private Practice, Award of Excellence in Practice: Dietetics in Developmental and Psychiatric Disorders and five ADA Service Awards. She was accorded Honored Dietitian status by the Indiana Dietetic Association and chosen as the Area V Distinguished Member Award: Consultant Dietitians in Health Care Facilities.
She was selected as a Distinguished Alumni of Consumer and Family Sciences in 2002, having previously been chosen for a Citizenship Award by the Purdue Alumni Association and the Outstanding Service Award by CFS.
But it has not all been about her career. Mary Ellen Posthauer has actively contributed to her community also. She was a member of the first Leadership Evansville class and she has served as president of the Junior League of Evansville, the Evansville Philharmonic Guild and the St. Mary’s Medical Center Auxiliary. We are pleased to honor the leadership she has shown at every level of her life and career as a member of the Foods & Nutrition Hall of Fame.
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