Currently, she is a professor in the Department of Health at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Lacey is the past-chair of the Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group of the American Dietetic Association. Her longstanding interest in plant-based diets began in Boston in the mid-1970s, when she worked and studied the principles of Oriental Medicine, philosophy, and macrobiotic cooking with Michio and Aveline Kushi.