Debbie Petitpain, MS, RDN, LDN

Charleston, S.C.

Areas of Expertise:

• Cultural Foods/Cultural Competency
• Disease Prevention
• Fad Diets
• Food Insecurity
• Vegetarian/Vegan Nutrition

Petitpain is the chief operating officer for Synergy Health Tech, using metrics and data to advance health equity. In her previous position as the wellness director in the Office of Health Promotion at the Medical University of South Carolina, Petitpain developed the university's first culinary health class to teach future clinicians how to prepare healthful food. She created one of the nation's first hospital-based, summer feeding programs that provides free meals for children during summer break, for which she was honored with a "Hero of Everyday Life" award from the Sodexo Foundation in 2016. Petitpain is a graduate of the College of Charleston and earned a master's degree from Boston University.