April Violante

Nutrition was a significant part of my life before I even realized it. I was involved in every activity and sport imaginable as a young child. I quickly found my love for swimming and horses and became a competitive swimmer and equestrian. During high school I was fortunate to have a coach who brought in a registered dietitian to teach us how nutrition and food fuel our body and impact performance. From this point on I was interested in learning more about nutrition and how what we eat influences how our bodies feel and perform.

I completed my undergraduate and graduate nutrition studies at Boston University receiving my bachelor’s and master’s degree in science. During this time, I continued to ride competitively on the Boston University Equestrian Team and began volunteering at Dana Farber Cancer Institute’s outpatient nutrition services. I found my passion for working in oncology. For over 8 years I have worked as a clinical inpatient dietitian at various hospitals covering oncology and a variety of other disease states and conditions including cardiac disease, diabetes, renal disease, gastrointestinal disorders, weight management and pediatrics. For five years I have been at Massachusetts General Hospital where I am currently a Senior Dietitian and a board-certified specialist in oncology nutrition and a certified nutrition support clinician (i.e enteral and parenteral nutrition). On a daily basis I counsel individuals to modify their diets to improve their health, reduce their risk of disease and manage side effects of disease and treatment. Additionally, I am adjunct lecturer and have taught undergraduate and graduate nutrition courses at Lasell College, Northeastern University and Boston University.