The JU athletics department has found another avenue to strengthen the student-athletes lives as they announce the addition of local sports nutrition expert Jenna Braddock to the Dolphins’ staff.

Braddock is a registered and licensed dietitian who does consulting, counseling, and speaking in the areas of sports nutrition, weight management, child nutrition, wellness, eating disorders and long-term care.

In her capacities at JU, Braddock will develop a nutrition curriculum for the 20 JU athletics teams and will be available throughout the school year to counsel student-athletes individually on improving their nutrition.

“We are excited to welcome Jenna to our staff,” said JU director of student-athlete development Stephanie Metz. “She brings a wealth of knowledge about nutrition and its effects on performance which will help support our vision of athletic excellence and personal development.”

Away from JU, Braddock works as a registered dietitian with the YMCA of Florida’s First Coast, Velocity Sports Performance and Medical Nutrition Therapy of Florida, Inc. In these various capacities, she provides individual nutrition counseling, teaches nutritional classes, provides healthy cooking demos and works with other health professional to set up new wellness programs. She has also conducted exercise and metabolic testing on New Leaf metabolic equipment during her time at Velocity Sports Performance.

"I am excited to be a part of the JU athletics program,” said Braddock. “I think bringing in the sports nutrition component will help elevate Dolphin athletes to an even higher level of competition. I can’t wait to start working with the teams and getting them on the right path."

Braddock has appeared as a nutrition expert locally in the media for Channel 4, Channel 12’s First Coast Trends, The Beaches Leader and the Florida Times Union Shape Up Jacksonville program. She also was a contributing writer to The Diet Selector: How to choose a diet perfectly tailored to your needs.

Prior to her full-time dietitian services, Braddock was an adjunct professor at the University of North Florida in the fall of 2007 and served as the assistant volleyball coach at St. Augustine High School in 2006.

Braddock graduated magna cum laude from Florida State in 2004 with a bachelors’ degree in dietetics and completed her dietetics internship from Meredith College (Raleigh, N.C.) in 2005. Braddock graduated with magna cum laude honors again in 2007 when she received her master’s degree in nutrition at UNF.