Caroline Blanco, MS, RDN, LDN, is an RD nutritionist and has over 15 years of experience working with organizations nationwide to promote health and wellness. She currently serves as the director of program development and collaborations for the American Diabetes Association where she oversees the development of various professional education activities focused on addressing health disparities and social determinants of health. Blanco has helped develop health education materials and continuing education opportunities for health care practitioners, community health workers, and community-based organizations. 

Blanco previously facilitated various grants through the CDC, National Institutes of Health, USDA, and foundations that are focused on chronic disease prevention and management geared toward policy, systems, and environmental changes. She has received the US President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition’s Community Leadership Award, and has served on the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ National Committee as president of the South Texas Dietetic Association, and on the San Antonio Mayor’s Fitness Council. Blanco has a passion for working at the grassroots level and focuses her efforts on health equity.

Evelyn Crayton, EdD, RD, LDN, FAND, is the former president of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2015–2016). She also is the director and nutrition consultant at Living Well Associates and a professor emeritus at Auburn University, where she worked for more than 35 years. Previously, Crayton was a home economist at Tuskegee (Institute) University and a therapeutic dietitian at hospitals in St Louis.
Crayton was a House of Delegates director on the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' Board for two years, served on the House Leadership Team for two years, and was an at-large member of the Board for three years. A member of the Academy Foundation's Board of Directors since 2013, she served as chair of the Nutrition Education for the Public Dietetic Practice Group and its membership committee, and is a past president of the Alabama Dietetic Association, holding offices at all levels of the district association. She’s a member of the Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group and the National Organization of Blacks in Dietetics member interest group.

Crayton served for three years on Auburn University's Diversity Leadership Council, and is a three-time recipient of the March of Dimes' Hero Award. Crayton is a graduate of Grambling State University, earned a master’s degree from St Louis University, and earned a doctorate in vocational and adult education from Auburn University.

Bridgette Stasher-Booker, PhD, RHIA, CHTS-IM, MCCT, is a native of Mississippi and currently serves as an associate professor and chair of Alabama State University’s Health Information Management Program. 

Stasher-Booker is a graduate of Mississippi College, with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science. She received her master’s degree from Jackson State University in history and has a doctoral degree in public policy and administration with an emphasis in policy analysis also from Jackson State University. Stasher-Booker is a published author, and in 2021, Stasher-Booker served as coprincipal investigator on the Association of State Public Health Nutritionist project entitled Cardiovascular Disease Risk Assessment of HBCU in the Deep South Project and lead on the CDC Diabetes Prevention Program Initiative. In 2020, Booker was awarded the primary evaluator for the American Diabetes Association Pfizer Foundation Social Determinants of Health Grant Program and served as principal investigator on the Department of the Air Force Small Business Technology Transfer Program project entitled SIMI (Service Interoperability for Medical Information). In 2019, Stasher-Booker participated in the working group with the MGMWERX & HBCU Connection. In 2018, she became a Langston University Fellow. In 2016, Booker received the College of Health Science Faculty of the Year Award. Stasher-Booker served as chair of the Diabetes Coalition of Mississippi, and in 2010, she was selected and honored as one of Mississippi’s 50 Leading Business Women. 

Anthony D. Pinkston, MEd, received his bachelor’s degree from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY Buffalo) in 1986. Pinkston and his family moved to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1990, where he worked for a short time with Alabama Department of Corrections and Alabama State University. He then became employed with Auburn University’s Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES), which delivers research-based educational programs that enable people to improve their quality of life and economic well-being. 

Pinkston began as a county agent assistant working with 4-H and the agriculture community, and then enrolled at Auburn University and received his MEd in 1993. He was promoted to county agent associate, where he supervised agent assistants and carried out programs in parenting, agriculture, and community resource development. Pinkston became the first 4-H activities and events coordinator and moved to the State Office of ACES in Auburn, Alabama, in 2001. In 2004, Pinkston accepted the position of county extension coordinator in Butler County, where he helped to improve the lives of citizens in agriculture, youth programs and development, parenting, community resources, diet health, and nutrition. 
 

The faculty and planners of this educational activity have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. 

An “ineligible company” includes any entity whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products use by or on patients.