Awards

Excellence in Public Health/Community Nutrition Award

April Schetler, MS, RD, FAND

April is a Registered Dietitian and Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She holds a Master of Exercise Science and Health Promotion from California University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Coordinated Dietetics from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ.

April is the Assistant Vice President of Community Health Engagement at Virtua Health, South Jersey’s largest comprehensive healthcare system. As a nonprofit health system, Virtua is committed to the wellbeing of the community and provides innovative outreach programs that address social challenges affecting health, especially access to nutritious and affordable food. In her role at Virtua, April drives the community engagement strategy which includes leading the award-winning Eat Well food access program which includes the Mobile Farmers Market, Food Farmacy, and Virtua’s newest innovation – The Eat Well Mobile Grocery Store, among many other projects and community-facing initiatives.

April has been teaching nutrition in various settings for over 10 years and enjoys serving as an adjunct professor at Rowan University. Her goal is very simple – to inspire students to see the power of nutrition and its impact on health, wellbeing, and longevity!

April serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors at Cathedral Kitchen, the largest emergency food provider in Camden, NJ. In this volunteer role, April seeks to bring awareness and resources to the Kitchen and is passionate about serving those in need with dignity and respect.

April is a 15-time marathon finisher and self-proclaimed foodie. When not working, you can usually find April running, training in American Kenpo karate or enjoying family adventures with her wife and 7-year-old son!

The purpose of the Excellence in Public Health/Community Nutrition Award is to recognize a member of the Public Health/Community Nutrition DPG who has exhibited outstanding service, dedication and/or innovation to the field.

Outstanding Member of the Year Award

Yen Ang, DrPH, MS, MPH, RD, FAND

Dr. Yen Ang is a prominent nutrition leader whose footprints extend far beyond the nutrition field. As the Vice President of Health Equity at Tangelo—one of the biggest food-is-medicine platform companies in the nation, Yen leads the effort to construct equity and cultural diversity into the organizations’ policies and services, including the Medical-Tailored Meals. She plays a major role in the California CalAIM reformation to build social-determinant-of-health into health care to serve the Medicaid population.

Yen is an active member of the Academy. She served as the President of the Public Health Community Nutrition DPG (2020-2022); is the Policy Advocacy Leader for the AAPI-MIG (2023-2024); serves as a member on the Legislative Public Policy Council; co-chairs the Academy DGA affinity group and actively participates in the Health Equity Diversity affinity group. As the chair of the PHCN-DPG, she presented the well-received DPG session spotlight at FNCE 2021.

Over the years, Yen has earned multiple awards that attest to her enduring and impactful influence in the nutrition and public health fields: She was the recipient of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Excellence award 2022 by the HEN-DPG, and the prestigious Mary C Egan Award 2023 by the APHA (American Public Health Association) Her exceptional innovation that weaves nutrition science into public health services earned her consecutive wins of NACo (National Association of Counties) Achievement Awards in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Her leadership is recognized by the California state government: Dr.Yen was named Woman-of-the-Year of the 47th district by the state assembly majority leader Reyes in 2021 for her outstanding service to Californians during COVID; She is the California State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon appointee at the FAS (Flexible Assistance for Survivors) advisory board 2023-2025 where she provides oversight to some $47 million state fund to crime survivors of communities of color.

Last but not least, Yen serves on the high-impact-high-stake CFAP Expansion advisory board to help the State implement the historic, first in the US, expansion of food benefits (SNAP) to Californians aged 55 or older regardless of immigration status. In the past 2 decades, Dr. Yen authored and published well over 70 original papers that center around transitional research projects in food-is-medicine and health promotion.

The purpose of the Outstanding Member of the Year Award is to recognize a member of the Public Health/Community Nutrition DPG who has exhibited outstanding service, leadership and accomplishment.