January Member Spotlight: Tara Frisbie

Provide us with a brief description of your job: I work in the clinical setting where I support both the inpatient and outpatient at St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth, MN. Most weeks I have a mix between inpatients and outpatients and every other month I co-teach a nutrition series for outpatient cardiac rehab.

What do you love about what you do? I love that I get a variety of different opportunities to experience different areas of clinical nutrition. My coworkers are housed in the same area and we frequently talk through challenges and bounce ideas off each other. I am constantly learning from them and building my skillset.

What are the challenges? While working in the different areas of clinical nutrition is something I love, it can also be a challenge. Keeping current on the different topics can be difficult when there are so many topics. Luckily we all have different passions and have deeper knowledge in specific areas, and are more than willing to share what we know.

What do you think is the future of nutrition and dietetics? I think the future of nutrition and dietetics will change as we dive deeper into research. One area of interest to me is the gut microbiome. I feel the research in this area is just beginning and we will uncover a lot about how what we eat impacts our individual health.

What are your favorite activities/hobbies? Living in northern MN, I love most outdoor activities. Hiking, biking, camping and cross country skiing are some of my favorite things and are usually well documented through my love of photography. Baking and cooking are also favorite indoor activities.

What is your favorite restaurant in Minnesota? OMC Smokehouse, which stands for Oink, Moo, Cluck, is my favorite place to eat in Minnesota. It’s a locally owned BBQ place here in Duluth that values local ingredients and vendors. To complete the meal I like to take a trip across the street to Love Creamery for some homemade ice cream.