Rena Sarah Eckman (March 30, 1868 – November 8, 1946) was an American dietitian, a founding member and leader of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and founder of the Pennsylvania Dietetic Association. She was co-author of a 1916 book on a dietary protocol for the treatment of diabetes.
Early life Serena Sarah Eckman was born in Schenley, Pennsylvania, one of the six daughters of Andrew L. Eckman and Elizabeth Jane Seevers Eckman. Her parents were farmers.Oran Raber, Biographical Sketches of the Samuel Olin Family (Tracy & Kilgore 1921): 64. She trained to be a teacher at Indiana State Teachers College, and studied domestic science at Drexel University. She earned a master's degree at Teachers College, Columbia University."Rena Eckman, Widely Known Dietician, Dies" Pittsburgh Press (November 9, 1946): 6. via Newspapers.com
Career Eckman was a hospital dietitian.Lynn K. Nyhart, "Home Economists in the Hospital, 1900-1930" in Sarah Stage and Virginia B. Vincenti, eds., Rethinking Home Economics: Women and the History of a Profession (Cornell University Press 1997): 125-144. She was director of dietetics at Massachusetts General Hospital until 1915, and at Columbia University in 1918."Dietitians' Conference in Cleveland" Cleveland Medical Journal (October 1917): 706. In 1921 Eckman was chief dietitian at University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan.Rena S. Eckman, "The Dietitian as an Asset to the Hospital" Modern Hospital (October 1921): 354. In 1923 she was associated with Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago."American Home Economics Association in Annual Meeting" Nation's Health (September 15, 1923): 630. From 1926 to 1942, she was head dietitian at Montefiore Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania."Miss Rena Eckman Dies at Pittsburgh" The Courier (November 10, 1946): 16. via Newspapers.com
She was a founding member and served on the executive board of the American Dietetic Association."Rena Eckman" Modern Hospital (October 1921): 343."News from the Field" Journal of Home Economics (August 1921): 381. She spoke to women's clubs,"Montefiore Dietician Will Address Club" Pittsburgh Press (November 5, 1941): 29. via Newspapers.com and was a featured speaker at the 1941 meetings of the Pennsylvania Dietetic Association (which she helped to establish) and the Maryland Dietetic Association."Irene Willson to Give Talks at Dietitians' Meet" Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (May 22, 1941): 11. via Newspapers.com"Dietitians' Meeting" The Evening Sun (April 18, 1941): 18. via Newspapers.com
Rena Eckman was author of The Starvation (Allen) Treatment of Diabetes (1916, with Lewis Webb Hill), describing the dietary protocol used by Frederick Madison Allen at Massachusetts General Hospital to treat patients with diabetes.Lewis Webb Hill and Rena S. Eckman, The Starvation (Allen) Treatment of Diabetes (W. M. Leonard 1916).Thea Cooper, Arthur Ainsberg, Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle (St. Martin's Press 2010): 10. She also worked on food waste in institutional kitchens,"Controlling Food Waste" Hospital Management (October 1922): 58. and on the protein value of peanut flour.Walter H. Eddy and Rena S. Eckman, "Protein Value of Peanut Flour" Journal of Biological Chemistry 55(1923): 119-129.
Later life In March 1941 she was among the injured after a train accident in Baden, Pennsylvania."List of Dead and Injured in Wreck" Pittsburgh Press (March 17, 1941): 2. via Newspapers.com Rena Sarah Eckman died in 1946 at Montefiore Hospital in Pittsburgh; she was 78 years old.
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