Judy Johnston

Judy Johnston is a registered and licensed dietitian with more than 16 years experience in management and clinical hospital dietetics, specializing in diabetes management. She has nearly 20 years of public health experience. She earned a bachelor's degree in Dietetics and Institutional Management and a master's degree in Adult and Occupational Education from Kansas State University. She worked in clinical and management dietetics in Wichita hospitals, including as the director of Nutrition Services.

In 1990, she became employed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) on a grant from the Kansas Health Foundation through which she created Kansas LEAN, a statewide coalition of more than 700 partners to provide leadership in the areas of nutrition and physical activity at the community level. During her tenure with KDHE, Ms. Johnston was nationally recognized for innovation in nutrition education and the 5-A-Day program, community development, program evaluation and community leadership. She is the author of a number of articles on these topics, as well as a nutrition and physical activity board game, "Jack Sprat's Table."

In 1999, Ms. Johnston moved to Kansas State University, where she worked as an extension specialist in the Community Health Institute and co-principle investigator on an NIH-funded research grant. At the same time, she moved her office to the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita where she was a teaching associate.

In September 2003, Ms. Johnston joined the faculty at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita as a research instructor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health. She continues her grant-funded research in health ministry and self care, leadership, nutrition and physical activity while teaching a number of courses in the MPH Program. Judy is a Kansas Health Foundation Leadership Fellow and a graduate in the first class of the Kansas Public Health Leadership Institute.