FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State Athletics has hired Kelly Csernica as Director of Sports Nutrition, the department announced on Wednesday.
Csernica comes to Fresno State from Intermountain Health in Park City, Utah where she spent the last four months as a sports dietician on staff. There, she worked with a variety of ages from adolescent, high school and professional level athletes. In her most recent role, she collaborated with the sports medicine team of physicians, physical therapists, exercise physiologists and athletic trainers to address patient needs related to injury recovery, strength development, disordered eating, adolescent nutrition and the aging athlete.
She owns and operates her own business, Feed Yourself Strong. Csernica performs medical nutrition therapy with athletes, analyzing individual needs, allergies, intolerances, lab values and accessibility to improve strength, speed and recovery.
She has collegiate athletics experience in working with the University of Washington and North Dakota State.
In her brief stint at Washington, Csernica helped develop football athletes that were fueled through the national championship game in a historic 2023 season in Seattle. Csernica's role included onboarding first-year athletes, and assessing nutritional knowledge to then develop a 4-week educational series specific to physiological demands of each athlete.
She was at North Dakota State from 2020-23, in several roles with the nutrition department. Working with the entire athletic department, she delivered sport-specific nutrition education to 450 student-athletes via group and individual presentations, grocery store tours, cooking classes and social media.
Csernica earned her bachelor's degree in health science with a minor in exercise science from Ithaca College in New York. She was also a member of the rowing team. She later earned her master's degree in health, nutrition and exercise science from North Dakota State. She also completed a dietetic internship at the University of Houston.