FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INDIANAPOLIS — Deborah Abel, clinical assistant professor of dietetics and nutrition at Florida International University, has been awarded the prestigious 2016 Rickard Leadership in Pediatric Nutrition Award by the Indiana University School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.
This annual award is presented to an alumnus or a graduate student who has made outstanding contributions to the field of pediatric nutrition.
Abel is a 2012 graduate of the Ph.D. in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. At Florida International University, she developed a Pediatric Nutrition Graduate Certificate Program that is fully online and available anywhere in the world.
In 2003, Abel completed the pediatric nutrition fellowship at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. She then served as the pediatric clinical dietitian in the hospital’s Newborn Intensive Care Unit for 10 years. In that position, she developed a nutritional care system at the bedside that was patented. During her doctoral work, she assisted in creating the national eLearning Leadership in Pediatric Nutrition Graduate Certificate Program.
The Rickard award, established in 2014 by Karyl Rickard, IU School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences professor emerita, and her husband Eugene Rickard, recognizes graduate students or alumni who have made significant contributions or demonstrated leadership in the field of pediatric nutrition.
“Dr. Abel’s accomplishments as a passionate leader and educator in the field of pediatric nutrition are remarkable,” Karyl Rickard said. “She is uniquely positioned to continue to make significant leadership contributions to the field of pediatric nutrition.”