COPE welcomes Erin Winterhalter as new director

Bringing a strong background in nutrition and diabetes education, Erin Winterhalter MPH, RDN, LDN, CDE has joined the MacDonald Center for Obesity Prevention and Education (COPE) at the Villanova University College of Nursing as its director. She began her new role in October.

Winterhalter was most recently a certified diabetes educator and registered dietitian for the Diabetes Center for Children at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). There she served as a member of the interdisciplinary team as well as the project manager for the Center’s E-learning series targeting the adolescent population.  Winterhalter has experience planning major events including the CHOP Diabetes Family conference and was the driving force behind the Center’s social media presence. 

“I look forward to continuing the work of COPE, including interdisciplinary projects such as the IBC Healthy Futures Initiative, education programming, and furthering University, corporate and community collaborations,” notes Winterhalter. “By doing so, we will continue to promote awareness and education around the obesity epidemic.”

A published author on health literacy, Winterhalter focused her master’s thesis research on the health literacy environment in an outpatient pediatric diabetes clinic. She is a nationally recognized speaker who has presented at many local and national professional conferences including the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Diabetes Care and Education Symposium as well as the Pediatric Endocrine Nursing Society Conference.

Winterhalter earned her BS in Dietetics from the University of Delaware and her Master of Public Health degree from Thomas Jefferson University.