Education

• EdD, Educational Psychology Concentration, USC Rossier School of Education
• MPH, Health Services Management and Administration, University of Washington
• BA, Nutrition and Dietetics, Minor in Chemistry, California State University Fresno

Research

• Healthspan and longevity
• Mediterranean diet and lifestyle interventions
• Health promotion and disease prevention through nutrition
• Obesity prevention and intervention
• Developmental disabilities and chronic illness
• Health systems and health care access
• Nutrigenomics

Overview

Cary Kreutzer, EdD, MPH, RDN, is an Instructional Professor of Clinical Gerontology and Pediatrics at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, with a joint appointment at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), Keck School of Medicine of USC. She teaches undergraduate and master’s-level courses and serves as Director of the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND)-accredited Program in Nutrition and Dietetics. At CHLA, she is the Public Health Discipline Director for the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Program and co-director of a family-centered healthy eating program for children with excess body weight, at the AltaMed Pediatric Clinic. Within the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, she also directs four master’s degree programs focused on nutrition across the lifespan.

Kreutzer has been a practicing Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist since 1982. Her professional experience spans clinical practice, public health, higher education, and community-based nutrition programs. She has held positions at Tawam Hospital in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and served as Director of Maternal and Child Health Nutrition for the New Mexico Department of Health. For more than 20 years, she directed community education at the USC University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at CHLA. Throughout her career, she has secured local, state, and federal funding to improve health systems, expand access to care, and strengthen public health education and workforce development. More recently, she has contributed to research examining the effects of a Mediterranean diet intervention on frailty among older women living in a supportive living community.

Kreutzer is a Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and currently serves as President (2026–2027) of the California Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She has received numerous honors recognizing her contributions to teaching, dietetics, and public health, including the Faculty Teaching Award and the Ethel Percy Andrus Prize from the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology; the Dolores Nyhus Award from the California Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics; and the Outstanding Dietitian of the Year Award and Outstanding Dietetic Educator Award from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.