28 Mar Member Spotlight: Courtney Dorchak
Courtney Smith Dorchak, MS, RD, LDN, CDCES
Registered Dietitian and Founder of The Keys to Nutrition
Nutrition Counseling and Consulting Services based in the Florida Keys
Greetings and Happy National Nutrition Month!
I am a Registered Dietitian (RD) and Founder of The Keys to Nutrition, a nutrition counseling and consulting practice based in the Florida Keys. I provide virtual and office individual consultations. I am able to practice across Florida and many other states via telehealth. My main practice areas include diabetes, sports nutrition, plant-based eating patterns, weight management, gastrointestinal conditions, and cardiovascular health. I am a Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CDCES) and accept Medicare, which covers nutrition counseling for diabetes.
I was born and raised in the Florida Keys. My interest in nutrition stemmed from my competitive nature while running cross country and track in high school. During this time, I realized the role of diet in athletic performance and went to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, to pursue a degree in Nutritional Sciences. I ran Division I cross country and track for the first two years of college. I then pivoted my focus to volunteering in a food marketing research lab, consulting for Cornell Dining, and serving in leadership roles for the undergraduate dietetic association.
Upon graduation, I completed my dietetic internship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Through my clinical rotations, I solidified my interest in diabetes and completed focused rotations at Eskind Diabetes Clinic at Vanderbilt. In 2012, I returned to the Keys and started practicing as a dietitian. I founded The Keys to Nutrition and began taking clients privately while working in other roles with the dream of transitioning to full-time private practice.
I have since worked in a diverse range of practice areas and patient populations including long term care and community nutrition with the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Ryan White (HIV) programs for the Florida Department of Health. For more than seven years, I served as the sole Clinical Dietitian for Mariners Hospital of Baptist Health South Florida. I provided the inpatient nutritional care and worked with various outpatient programs including diabetes, cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation, and oncology. During this time, I pursued an MS in Clinical Nutrition from The University of Alabama. I also dove into the world of triathlon and worked my way up the ladder to ultimately complete Ironman Arizona with my husband in 2017.
Recognizing the increased need and utilization of telehealth with the pandemic, I saw an opportunity to build my practice virtually. After almost 10 years of practice, I am happy to report that I transitioned The Keys to Nutrition to full-time in January 2022.
Aside from training for a race, I can be found tending to my plants including my butterfly and aromatic garden and trying to keep up with my banana trees. I joined BPW/Upper Keys in 2021.
Website: thekeystonutrition.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/the keys to nutrition
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thekeystonutrition/
https://www.instagram.com/the_endurance_dietitian/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-dorchak-ms-rd-cdces-4949aa22/