Northeast Alumna and Adjunct Instructor Brings Northeast’s Whole-Person Approach to Patients, Future Nutrition Professionals

From courtroom consulting to clinical education and private practice, Kelly Brock Spano (M.S. ’17) has built a career that reflects the many opportunities available in the field of nutrition.

Now an adjunct instructor in the M.S. in Applied Clinical Nutrition program at Northeast College of Health Sciences, Spano brings that real-world experience directly into the classroom, helping students understand the breadth of possibilities their careers can offer.

For Spano, that perspective is rooted in her own experience as a student. “The program provides many pathways, and we are exposed to that throughout,” she explains. The Northeast program encourages students to explore how their interests can shape their professional journey.

Her own career reflects that versatility. In addition to serving as faculty in an undergraduate nutrition science program, Spano has worked as an expert consultant on legal nutrition cases and led professional development seminars for physicians on eating disorders at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. She has also established her own private practice, applying her training across diverse clinical settings.

Northeast’s Whole-Person, Evidence-Informed Approach

Central to her work is the whole-person, evidence-informed approach emphasized throughout the Northeast program. “I look at the whole person and take a holistic view,” Spano says. “Of course, it’s about food and how that applies to health, but it’s also about other factors, like environmental influences that impact how a person consumes food.”

That philosophy carries into her teaching. At Northeast, she leads coursework in behavioral nutrition, helping students understand how to support patients beyond standard nutrition planning. In her undergraduate teaching, she has also integrated topics such as holistic and integrative nutrition, including herbal medicine, inspired by her experience in the program.

Spano encourages students to take full advantage of the opportunities available to them, from learning directly from faculty to gaining hands-on experience through internships and applied practice. By engaging deeply with the program and exploring its many pathways, she believes students can develop both the skills and confidence needed to shape their own careers.

For Spano, her journey is proof of what is possible with a strong foundation in applied clinical nutrition, one that prepares graduates not just for a single role but for a dynamic and evolving career in healthcare.