NutraWomen Wednesday: Dr. Gena Kadar, Founding Dean, SCNM

Dr. Gena Kadar, founding dean of the School of Nutrition at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine & Health Sciences, led the development of clinical nutrition guidelines on obesity and cardiovascular health management and completed other scholarly works that have been published in peer-reviewed journals.

With science central to all of her work, Kadar has been recognized for her research, and she credits that focus to her father.

“My father was a brilliant aerospace engineer and when you're launching a satellite into space, you can't rely on anecdotes or opinion. You need hard data, you need science, you need evidence-based data to back decisions. And that sort of central rule of evidence of research, guiding decisions in the workplace influenced his life wholesale,” said Kadar. “So he deeply ingrained in me the importance of evidence-based decision-making.”

The nutritionist, respected international speaker, consultant, scholar, and author said the beauty of STEM is to inspire others to be excited about the opportunities in the industry.

“You'll always encounter challenges or naysayers or obstacles along the way, just focus on what your passion is. This is such a dynamic area, where, if you have a passion, you have an interest, there's endless opportunities to create things and to define your space in this industry.”