When Olivia Newby, D.N.P., CDE (D.N.P. ’14), talks about preventing diabetes, she isn’t just speaking as a nurse practitioner. The Old Dominion University Doctor of Nursing Practice graduate is speaking from decades of witnessing how chronic disease can drastically change the trajectory of a person's life.
Early in her career, she cared for countless patients living with diabetes and hypertension. Some stories never left her. There was the postal worker who lost her job after diabetes led to kidney failure and dialysis, jeopardizing her family's financial stability. Another patient shared that complications from diabetes had cost both her legs, meaning she could never again take her granddaughter to the park.
"Diabetes is a preventable disease," Dr. Newby said. "Yes, medicine is a big component, but teaching patients how to eat and how to find ingredients that will help them is also key."
Those early conversations were her catalyst to become a certified diabetes educator and eventually rethink how nutrition education could better serve the community she works with.
Today, Dr. Newby is the co-owner of a primary care practice she operates alongside her husband, James Newby II, MD, CDE, and her daughter, Marcia Newby-Goodman, MD, CAQSM. The family practice has served the Norfolk community for more than 40 years. Dr. Newby is also the founder of the Healthy Living Center, a nonprofit dedicated to helping community members prevent and manage chronic disease through culinary medicine, gardening and nutrition education.
Her work reflects a growing recognition across healthcare that nutrition and lifestyle play a central role in preventing and managing chronic disease. At Old Dominion University, that same philosophy is helping shape the future of medical and health professions education through the Joan P. Brock Institute for Nutrition Science and Health, which advances interdisciplinary education, research and community partnerships focused on nutrition and lifestyle medicine.
For Dr. Newby, however, that philosophy wasn't born in a classroom or clinic — it began decades earlier. Growing up in a rural area, Dr. Newby spent her summers working at local farms. At age 15, she worked at a community health center led by an African American woman whose leadership left a lasting impression, not only on Dr. Newby but the community at large.
Looking back, she calls this experience a full-circle moment.
"My goal has always been to be a voice for the unspoken, a fighter for those who have been left behind and a leader for those who lack leadership," she said.
That mission became even clearer during one of her diabetes education events.
A participant described eating "the pot" for breakfast, a mixture of all the leftovers from the previous day's meals. The conversation made Dr. Newby realize many nutrition programs unintentionally overlook the realities of families they hope to help.
Some of her patients who had attended workshops or cooking classes sponsored by pharmaceutical companies shared that the recipes often felt unattainable. They said the recipes used expensive and unfamiliar ingredients, leaving out the flavors and traditional foods they had grown up with. Rather than feeling empowered to ask questions or for help adapting the recipes to their lives, many felt ashamed to speak up.
Dr. Newby created a different approach.
She developed culturally tailored recipe books and hands-on cooking classes using familiar ingredients and healthier preparation options, helping families make sustainable lifestyle changes without abandoning their cultural traditions.
After earning her doctorate at Old Dominion University in 2014, she launched the Healthy Living Center. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, a three-year grant from Sentara Health allowed her to launch the center's programming, combining nutrition education with interactive cooking classes. When the grant ended, she founded Newby Seeds, an infused olive oil business that now helps support the nonprofit's mission while promoting heart-healthy cooking.
Just outside the center, her thriving garden produces squash, tomatoes, zucchini, kale, bell peppers and more. The harvest supplies cooking classes, provides fresh produce to patients and has even inspired a neighboring senior living community to start its own garden.
"I'm happy I get to give our patients my vegetables every summer," she said. " They know they're not a number. They know we care."
For current Ellmer School of Nursing at ODU D.N.P. student Lorie Conza, M.S.N., APRN, FNP-C, Dr. Newby represents the kind of nurse leader she hopes to become.
"I immediately recognized her. She was a speaker at one of our immersion day weekends," Lorie recalled after running into Dr. Newby at the Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners Lobby Day. "I told her that I was inspired by her career trajectory, because it was similar to what I wanted to do. I felt 'spiritual goosebumps' while she was speaking. That's when I knew we were aligned to our higher calling."
Lorie said Dr. Newby's example has inspired her own vision for the future: teaching culinary and lifestyle medicine while transforming her family's farms into regenerative farms that support local food banks and church pantries.
"I know it can be done because Dr. Newby has been successful," Lorie said.
As she reflects on her career, Dr. Newby hopes future nurses remember healthcare extends far beyond the clinic walls.
"Ask yourself," she said, "How are you impacting your community? Are you building that bridge?"
Like the garden she started with only a few raised beds, Dr. Newby's impact has continued to grow, nourishing not only healthier bodies but stronger communities and the next generation of nurse leaders.