Meet Our Board
New officers are elected annually.
Contact us if you are interested in becoming a board member of PRONA!
Christine Benedetti,
MS, RDN, CCTD, CSR, LD
Chair 2023-2024
Christine is a Board Certified Specialist in Renal Nutrition working at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta with over 15 years experience in the nephrology field, including adults and pediatrics. With a passion for education, she leads the Clinical Nutrition Internship Program at Children's, offering general pediatric nutrition and renal-specific rotations, and has spoken at several national conferences, including the National Kidney Foundation’s (NKF) Spring Clinical Meetings (SCM) and Pediatric Renal Nutrition Academies (Intro & Advanced). Christine continues as the lead organizer for an annual 2-day Pediatric Nutrition Conference at Children's since 2018. She brings experience from years on various nonprofit Executive Boards in the nephrology field, including the NKF Council on Renal Nutrition, the NKF SCM Program Committee, the Georgia Renal Nutrition Association, Georgia Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (GAND), and the Pediatric Renal dietitians of North America (PRONA). In 2014, she was awarded the NKF Recognized Regional Dietitian of the Year award for Region 2 and the Georgia Renal Dietitian of the Year award, in 2020 the AND RPG Outstanding Service Award, and in 2021 NKF's Recognized Renal Dietitian of the Year award. Christine loves the opportunity to promote the nephrology nutrition field and the incredible dietitians within it. Outside of work, she cherishes time with her husband and four little girls, cooking, traveling, and playing tennis.
Maggie Murphy,
PhD, RD, LD, FAND
Chair Elect
Maggie is an Assistant Professor in the division of Pediatric Nephrology at the University of Kentucky Children’s Hospital. She has been a pediatric renal dietitian for 7 years and has an active research program as well. Current research projects include investigating the role of environmental exposures in the development of cardiovascular and renal disease in children, prevention of nephrolithiasis recurrence, and mindful eating as a strategy to reduce cardiovascular risk in adolescents with obesity. Her educational background includes a PhD in Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences, MS in Dietetics Administration from the University of Kentucky, and B.S. in Food Science and Human Nutrition from the University of Florida. She currently serves on the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Scientific Integrity Principles committee and has previously served as President, Delegate, Treasurer and State Policy Representative for the Kentucky Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She loves being a Mom to her 16 month-old son Will and her 2 golden retrievers and running as a family at local races within her hometown Lexington, Kentucky.
Chris Nelms,
MS, RDN, LMNT
Past Chair
Christina Nelms is a pediatric renal consultant, training practitioners on the art of pediatric nutrition care. She also teaches nutrition classes through the University of Nebraska. She worked previously at Children’s hospitals in Omaha, Nebraska, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and most notably at Children’s Mercy in Kansas City, Missouri as a senior staff member. While there she enjoyed working with a variety of pediatric renal conditions, dialysis patients, and acute-care patients as well as involvement with research and speaking. She has authored textbook chapters and is involved in research and the Pediatric Renal Nutrition Taskforce. Chris was the first recipient of the PRONA Pediatric Renal Dietitian of the Year award in 2022. She is the past chair of PRONA and passionate about PRONA's work continuing.
Vicki Vitale,
MS, RDN, LD
Secretary
Victoria Vitale, MS, RDN/LD is a pediatric clinical dietitian at Akron Children’s Hospital. She has been a pediatric dietitian for over 21 years covering multiple areas and has been involved in renal nutrition for about 14 years. She works with a variety of renal patients in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. With her passion for education and furthering the field, she is the intern/student coordinator for the nutrition department. She has been a member of PRONA since the beginning and is looking forward to serving a more active role on the board in the position of secretary. Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her husband, 2 children and her dog, running and cooking/baking.
Lisa Keung,
MS, RD, CSP
Treasurer
Lisa is currently a senior clinical dietitian at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital with over a decade of clinical experience. Her focus is outpatient renal care - CKD, transplant and dialysis but recently shifted to outpatient dialysis. Lisa enjoys working on a multidisciplinary team and collaborating with team members to provide excellent comprehensive patient care.
Kim Hobson,
RD, LD
Member at Large
Kim has over 20 years of experience as a dietitian. She is a pediatric renal dietitian at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta working both inpatient and outpatient. She started her career working at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children (TSRH) in Dallas, Texas where she primarily worked with children who had spina bifida. She left TSRH in 2006 to raise her boys but continued working PRN/PT in a variety of clinical positions caring for adult patients. She left the clinical nutrition setting for about 4 years and spent time working on menu development for a small nutrition software company in Dallas and later returned to TSRH to manage their CBORD database. A family move to Atlanta in 2019 provided her the opportunity to return to pediatrics. She has loved returning to the world of pediatric nutrition and learning about kidney disease in children. She is thrilled to serve as Member at Large for PRONA, helping to continue its growth as a resource for pediatric renal dietitians and networking with other renal dietitians in the pediatric renal nutrition community.
