Dhruti Patel

Dhruti Patel is a Family and Consumer Sciences Educator who joined the University of Maryland Extension in 2012. Her primary teaching areas are nutrition, health, wellness, food safety & preservation, and stress. She serves Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties in Maryland. In her role as an educator, she applies research-based approaches to identify the nutrition and health needs in the community, develops educational programs, and assesses the outcomes. She successfully developed programs such as senior nutrition, chronic diseases management programs, worksite wellness, mindfulness programs, and food preservation, to address the local community needs. Her current programmatic and research focus is on creating a well-rounded nutrition/health-based program that addresses overall well-being, using intersectional approaches with nutrition, health, and mental wellbeing.

She successfully completed her MS in Nutritional Sciences from Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX (2011). She received her Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Nutrition, Dietetics, and Hospitality Management from IHM, Mumbai (India), and a Bachelor's degree in Food and Nutrition from B.M.N. College of Home Sciences (India). She possesses 15 years of clinical, community, and education-based knowledge in the field of nutrition. She authored 23 manuscripts on an array of nutrition and wellness topics and presented over 32 conference proceedings on international, national, and state levels. She was past president of the Maryland Chapter of the National Association of the Family and Consumer Sciences and currently chairing the Nutrition and wellness team within the University of Maryland Extension under the Family and Consumer Sciences program area.