About the Doctor
Sourpik Avakian graduated with an MD from St. George’s University School of Medicine in 1986. She is a licensed physician and surgeon by the Medical Board of California. Dr. Avakian has a Family Practice in Beverly Hills, California. She has been Julie’s primary care doctor since 2002.
About the Dietitian
Neva Cochran, a registered and licensed dietitian, works as a nutrition communications consultant in Dallas, Texas. For the past fifteen years, she has been a writer and researcher for Woman’s World, a weekly magazine with 1.7 million readers. From 1996 to 2004, she wrote the Diet Club column featuring the latest research and information about losing and keeping weight off. Currently, she creates meal plans and does research for the magazine’s diet feature cover stories. She is also an Advisory Board member and regular contributor to Maximum Fitness magazine, an Egg Ambassador for the Egg Nutrition Center and American Egg Board and serves as a spokesperson for the California Raisin Board, the Corn Refiners Association and Enova cooking oil.
Previously, Neva was a consultant for The Coca-Cola Company’s Healthy and Active Lifestyles Program for five years, taught nutrition classes for an outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program for 13 years, was Program Coordinator for the Consumer Services Division of the Associated Milk Producers, Inc., taught in the nutrition department at Texas Woman’s University and worked as a clinical dietitian in two hospitals. She has also been a nutrition writer for The Female Patient, a magazine in physician waiting rooms, and First for Women magazine and a contributing author to the American Dietetic Association’s Competitive Edge marketing manual.
A familiar face in the media, Neva has participated in approximately 800 newspaper, magazine, radio and television interviews about nutrition. From 1990 to 1997 she served as a national media spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and from 1985 to 1990 was a Texas Dietetic Association media representative. She was also the featured nutrition expert in two video news releases for Fresh Express Salads and has worked as a spokesperson for the Texas Beef Council, Subway’s Fresh Fit meals launch, the American Dietetic Association Foundation-General Mills Foundation’s Champions for Healthy Kids satellite media tour, the Trade Commission of Spain’s Clementines from Spain campaign, Lean Cuisine’s Lean on Me campaign, the National Dairy Board’s Milk Mustache campaign, the American Dietetic Association’s Ballpark Food Survey and The Dallas/Fort Worth Chinese Restaurant Association. She has appeared in interviews across the country from USA Today and the Washington Post to CNN and Fox News Network.
Neva recently completed a four-year term on the American Dietetic Association (ADA) Foundation Board. As the 2006-07 ADAF Chairman, Neva was also a member of the ADA Board of Directors. She served as a Texas delegate in the ADA House of Delegates for seven years and on its Executive Committee for another three years. She is a past president of both the Texas and Dallas Dietetic Associations. Neva is the 2008 recipient of the Dallas Dietetic Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2004 Texas Dietetic Association’s Media Award, the 1996 TDA Distinguished Dietitian Award and a 1981 ADA and TDA Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year Award.
Neva earned a Master of Science degree in nutrition from the Texas Woman’s University and a Bachelor of Science degree in nutrition and dietetics from the University of Oklahoma. She completed her dietetic internship at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas.
For more information contact Neva at nevacochranrd@aol.com.
