AADE Spokesperson
Lorena Drago, MS, RD, CDN, CDE
Lorena Drago, is a registered dietitian, consultant and certified diabetes educator.
She is senior associate director of Ambulatory Care Nutrition Programs at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, which includes serving as the director of the Diabetes Education Program and the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). She also maintains her own private practice
Additionally, Drago is the owner of Hispanic Foodways, which specializes in the multicultural aspects of diabetes self-management education, creating culturally and ethnically-oriented nutrition and diabetes education materials.
She is the author of the book, Beyond Rice and Beans: The Caribbean Guide to Eating Well with Diabetes, a contributing author and co-editor of Cultural Food Practices and Diabetes, and a contributing editor of Newsflash, a publication of the American Dietetic Association.
Drago has appeared on several national TV shows speaking about diabetes management, including The Early Show and CNBC's dLife TV. She has also appeared on New York’s “ Diálogo con Glenis” a live Spanish community cable show, where she discusses nutrition and diabetes, topics especially relevant to the Latin community of the Bronx.
Considered an expert on the topics of nutrition education, cultural competent diabetes care and health literacy, Drago has been an invited guest speaker and/or faculty member at the following annual meetings: Mexican Association of Diabetes Educators, Colombian Diabetes Association, American Diabetes Association, as well as the American Association of Diabetes Educators.
She recently served on the American Association of Diabetes Educators board of directors. Other recent volunteer activities include nominating committee chair of the Member Interest Group Latinos and Hispanics in Dietetics and Nutrition; chair of the American Diabetes Association Latino Committee. She also served as past president of the Metropolitan New York Association of Diabetes Educators in 2004.
Drago graduated cum laude from Hunter College of the City University of New York with a Masters of Science degree in Food and Nutrition, and received her BA in Home Economics, Food and Nutrition from Queens College.