Our Clinical Team
LISA GRENTZ, MS, RDN, CD, LDN, FAND
Dietitian
Lisa earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Washington State University and completed her dietetic internship at Fairview Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN. Over the ensuing 20+ years, Lisa has worked as a home infusion dietician specializing in pediatric tube feeding and weaning and consults for various feeding teams in Eastern Washington. Her expertise and passion lie in providing community-based nutrition services to infants and children. She has served in many active leadership roles within the nationally recognized Pediatric Nutrition Practice Group. In her home life, she enjoys cycling, cooking, and spending time with her husband and three boys.
KIRSTIN NELSON, MS, RDN, CSP
Dietician
Kirstin is a Registered Dietitian and board-certified Specialist in Pediatric Nutrition. She has worked with children with feeding tubes since 2017, in a variety of settings from NICU to home infusion to outpatient clinics. Having worked in hospitals and clinics with adults, working with kids and families is by far her FAVORITE way to be a dietitian. She is passionate about tube weaning and is generally game to talk about all things food. She is a mom of two (wild and crazy) boys and has a deep well of empathy for the hard parts of parenting. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Utah in Exercise and Sport Science, and her master's degree from Washington State University in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology. She currently resides in Flagstaff, Arizona and enjoys bad jokes and good food.
AUBREY PHELPS, MS RDN, PPCES, IFNCP, CLC
Dietitian
Aubrey is a registered nutritionist and an integrative and functional nutrition certified practitioner. She received her undergraduate degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD, and her graduate degree from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She specializes in perinatal and pediatric nutrition, with a focus on supporting families in having a happy, healthy, life-long relationship with food. After delivering her second baby at 30 weeks and experiencing a severe feeding aversion and g-tube life first-hand, Aubrey had to put her expertise to work for her own daughter, both in the NICU and in the year of tube-feeding following. She sought out a team that would support her own food philosophy and found GIE. Aubrey became passionate about helping other families facing such feeding difficulties and confronting often frustrating and counterproductive feeding approaches. She is passionate about supporting other families through this tough journey and is honored to now be a part of the very team that helped nurture her own daughter so that she could stop being her dietitian, and start being her momma. Aubrey loves exploring the outdoors with her oldest son and two daughters, and looks forward to bringing their soon-to-be baby brother along too! She loves baking, cooking, playing soccer, sailing, and spending time with her husband.
BECKY KEIFER, MA, CCC-SLP
Feeding Therapist & Co-Owner
Becky graduated from Washington State University with a BA in Speech and Hearing Sciences, followed by a master’s degree in Communication Disorders. She began working as a speech language pathologist at Kootenai Medical Center and quickly found her passion for helping pediatric patients and their families. In 2007, she moved her services to the Center for Pediatric Therapy in Spokane, Washington. She has worked with hundreds of clients and specializes in feeding-tube management and weaning. Becky also works as a clinical supervisor at WSU, where she oversees students and new speech and language therapists. Her professional interests include feeding and swallowing for children with sensory, respiratory, and GI concerns; weaning from feeding tubes; and issues of early relationships and attachment in children’s feeding and language development. Becky has a dynamic circle of friends that she nurtures in the Spokane area, where she lives with her wife and their five children.
AMANDA KYLE, MA, CCC-SLP
Feeding Therapist
Amanda received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Speech and Hearing Sciences from Washington State University. She has sunk her roots in her hometown of Spokane, WA, and has spent her entire career focusing on pediatric feeding. She specializes in helping children expand their repertoire of accepted foods as well and oral motor skill development. In her free time, she loves getting out to the lake with her dog as much as possible as well as cooking and baking an array of delicious foods.
KELLY FITZPATRICK, MA, CCC-SLP, CLC
Feeding Therapist
Kelly received her Master of Arts degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Memphis, and brings a wealth of experience helping with children and their families navigate feeding challenges. Currently, Kelly works in a Pediatric Gastroenterology Clinic, where she has developed a feeding program. Kelly enjoys partnering with families and empowering them to support their child’s eating and mealtime success. Kelly currently lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and in her free time, Kelly enjoys cooking, spending time with husband and two kids, and traveling.
STACEY TODD,
Parent Coach
Stacey graduated from Brooklyn College with a BA in Linguistics. She spent nine years at the national nonprofit StoryCorps, where she wore various hats in program management. After two decades living on both coasts, Stacey returned to Michigan, her home state. In February 2022, she had her son, and life changed forever. Jonah was born with a critical heart defect and needed two open heart surgeries in the first 14 months of his life. Stacey managed his feeding tube for the first 20 months of his life and was thrilled to witness his journey into fully oral eating in the fall of 2023 (with the help of GIE!). Stacey brings this recent tube weaning experience to her work as a parent coach. She's passionate about helping families find peace along the way. When she's not chasing her toddler around, Stacey can be found reading, cooking, and biking around Kalamazoo, MI.
CHRISTIE SISK,
Parent Coach
Christie Sisk graduated from Whitworth University with a degree in Cross Cultural Studies and currently resides with her husband and two children in Spokane, WA. After traveling abroad and volunteering in various orphanages in Central America and Romania after college, her focus shifted to helping children closer to home. Over the course of 10 years, she fostered 30 children, mostly medically complex and tube fed infants. Christie knows firsthand the challenges that a parent faces when a child has feeding difficulties and as a parent coach, she is excited to share her knowledge and heart with other parents who are experiencing the same struggles.
ELISABETH KRAUS, MIT
Parent & Family Coordinator
Elisabeth earned both her graduate and undergraduate degrees from Northwest University in Washington and has spent the last 9 years as a College Professor and professional writer. But as it does for all of us, motherhood steered her life in an unexpectedly glorious direction, and she entered the world of pediatric feeding as just that: a mom. Working with her youngest daughter to overcome the challenges that dysphagia brings, Elisabeth fell in love with so many families who fearlessly navigate a wide array of complex feeding dynamics. She loves talking “mom” with anyone who will listen, and she is continuing her teaching career as a part-time English Instructor for Bellevue College and Northwest University. In her (albeit limited) spare time, you’ll find her at the park with her kiddos, settled down with a good book, or continuing her adventure as a writer who explores women’s issues as they pertain to motherhood and academia.
Executive Leadership
SARAH K. KEIFER
CEO & Co-Owner
For over a decade, Sarah has served in several capacities, earning dozens of awards for her expertise within the telecommunications industry. In roles spanning sales, program management, operations, information technology, and new service development, Sarah has proven time and again that her passion lies in making needed services available for people who may not always have the obvious means to access them. To grow her capacity for fulfilling this passion, Sarah completed her bachelor’s degree in Business Management and served as a consultant on a number of philanthropic projects directly aimed at improving the lives of low-income and foster children. Sarah currently serves as our CEO, while also serving on the board of a Georgia-based nonprofit that is involved in bringing the community together to support programs like food drives, Youth for America, Habitat for Humanity, and a number of other organizations. Currently, Sarah lives in Atlanta and enjoys a wide variety of traveling adventures and the arts.
KAYTIE WILSON
Operations Manager
Kaytie comes to GIE with a wealth of administrative experience, and a true love for kids and families! A mom herself, she is excited to support the weaning process in real and practical ways.
Previously, she worked in property management for several different firms and loved helping families find peaceful and loving homes -- and the fact that no two days were ever the same! However, the housing industry seems to prioritize profit rather than people. So, in 2018, she decided to quit that job to focus on her family and find a company that truly cares about its clients. In 2019 Kaytie was welcomed to the Growing Independent Eaters administrative team! Kaytie is excited to be a part of a group that is so deeply passionate about its mission of bringing whole families, happily and healthily, to the family table.