Member Profile: Johanna Ledesma Granados

Global Representative Colombia

Johanna, a PINES representative to South and Central America, started her academic and experience toward sports nutrition when she was an athlete and represented the Colombian volleyball team in international events. This gave her an opportunity to focus on sports nutrition during her study in human nutrition at Javeriana University, Colombia and deepen her knowledge. By the time she was studying in her final year, she had been working with swimmers, tennis and soccer players through an internship. She learned about athlete assessment as part of a wider professional team and developed many professional skills. The wide experience obtained allowed her to apply for a job in sports nutrition in Bogotá. After that, she specialized in sports administration in Colombia and completed a sports nutrition certificate in Spain. Currently, she is a candidate for IOC diploma in Sports Nutrition in 2020.

Johanna has worked for the Colombian Olympic Committee and Sport Ministry for 5 years supporting an interdisciplinary approach and nutritional assessment in Paralympic sports, young athletes and elite athletes. She uses a wide range of nutritional strategies to support athletes including:

  • Meal plan programs
  • Kinanthropometry (Anthropometrist ISAK level 2)
  • Prescription of nutrition supplements
  • Nutrition advice / support for travel (Competition support)
  • Field nutritional testing – for example, assessing sodium concentration in sweat and assessing sweat rate to define hydration protocols 

Johanna has participated within the Colombian medical team at the Paralympic Games in London 2012, South American Games in Bolivia 2018, Central American and Caribbean Games in Colombia 2018 and Pan-American Games in Peru 2019. Currently, her aim is to connect sport nutritionists in Colombia to strengthen knowledge and professional experience to be increasingly visible to the world. Because of this, she is a member of PINES seeking to become a “bridge” between Colombian nutritionists and the PINES community around the world.

Role as a PINES Global Representative

As a PINES global representative she has promoted sports nutrition updates and PINES with nutritionists in her country using the web and social networks. Johanna has also contributed to a food factsheet for Colombia (you can see the factsheet here).