Registered Dietitian
Children's HealthCare of Atlanta
Kanan Patel is a registered dietitian who has worked the last 15 years as part of the CF team at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory Univeristy CF Center. She earned her bachelor’s degree in public health from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill followed by a Master’s degree in Nutrition from Long Island University in New York. When she first started in CF, Kanan recognized the need for a detailed education program for the overwhelmed families of newly diagnosed CF kids. This led her to develop a one on one education program for newly diagnosed CF patients called “Building Blocks of Cystic Fibrosis” at her center. Kanan values the importance of education in the field of CF nutrition by taking on dietetic interns every year as well as by participating in the CF nutrition mentor program for the CF foundation. This year she also took part in updating the CF 101 document. Kanan has been a promoter of quality improvement initiatives at her center and is currently involved in two QI projects- improving vitamin D testing and sufficiency as well as improving Oral Glucose Tolerance Test Completion. She is also involved in the CF learning network with her team.
Kanan’s interest in research and QI has led her to publish and present multiple abstracts at poster sessions at NACFC on topics such as use of appetite stimulants in CF, building blocks of CF class, improving vitamin D, effect of modulators on nutrition and utilization of the Healthwell foundation grant. When not working, Kanan and her husband enjoy spending time with their two young boys and travelling the world.