Lorena Drago, MS, RD, CDN, CDE, is a registered dietitian, consultant and certified diabetes educator. She is Senior Associate Director of Ambulatory Care Nutrition Programs at Lincoln Hospital including: Director of the Diabetes Education Program and the Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program and maintains her own private practice.
Lorena specializes in the multicultural aspects of diabetes self-management education and is an expert in developing culturally and ethnically-oriented nutrition and diabetes education materials. She founded, Hispanic Foodways, and most recently she developed teaching tools and patient education materials such as the Nutriportion™ Measuring Cups that has the calorie and carbohydrate amounts of common foods embossed on each cup and the Nutriportion™ Hispanic Food Cards that have pictures and nutrition composition of common Hispanic foods.
Lorena serves on the American Association of Diabetes Educators board of directors; Nominating Committee Chair of the Member Interest Group Latinos and Hispanics in Dietetics and Nutrition; and is the Chair-elect of the American Diabetes Association Latino Committee. She also served as Past President of the Metropolitan New York Association of Diabetes Educators in 2004
She is the author of Beyond Rice and Beans: The Caribbean Guide to Eating Well with Diabetes, published by the American Diabetes Association in October of 2006 and a contributing editor of Newsflash, a publication of the Diabetes Care and Education Specialty Practice Group of the American Dietetic Association. She is a contributing author and co-editor of the book Cultural Food Practices and Diabetes, soon to be published by the American Dietetic Association. Lorena has appeared on several national TV shows speaking about diabetes management, including The Early Show, The Jane Pauley 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, which has the highest diabetes rate in New York City.
Lorena speaks on nutrition education, cultural competent diabetes care and health literacy. This year, she has been an invited guest speaker at the following annual meetings: Mexican Association of Diabetes Educators; Colombian Diabetes Association; Indiana Association of Diabetes Educators; American Diabetes Association; American Association of Diabetes Educators.
Lorena 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.
