Nutrition and Dietetics Courses Provide Tips for Future Dietitians

Nutrition and dietetics courses for future dietitians need to include messages from nutrition dietitian rockstars across the industry. How do Registered Dietitians mentor future dietitians? There are many ways including speaking at colleges, one-on-one meetings, and even interning in hospitals and private practice.

Dietitians choose a career in nutrition to help people using evidenced-based research. The road to becoming a dietitian is long and difficult.  What tips and hacks are there to become a successful, influential dietitian?

Well, this semester, I had the honor of teaching the CAPSTONE nutrition class for graduating seniors at the University of Maryland.  If you are reading this blog, you maybe interested in understanding the path of becoming a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) or already a nutrition major thinking about how to get accepted into the competitive Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics internships or you may have seen several nutrition interns being mentored in our office.  For these reasons, I was so excited to share with students experience from some of the most inspiring dietitians who I have had the honor to know. I am grateful to each of these dietitians who shared their time, expertise, insight and inspiration to our class.

EIGHTEEN nutrition rockstars (Registered Dietitians)  helped make a difference in the future careers these dietetics majors. The dietitians local to the University of Maryland were able to come to campus. Those not close in proximity to campus many were able to Skype or Zoom into the classroom from across the country. One of the most popular speakers, April Winslow, was able to fly across the country to speak to our class!  

Much gratitude goes to each of these leaders in our field.  Read their bios below and take a look at all the credentials dietitians have! Make sure to follow them on social media to learn more about their nutrition expertise!

Here is what some of our dietitians contributed to  recent Nutrition and dietetics courses.

Kim Kirchherr, MS, RDN, LDN, CDE, FAND

Kim spoke to the students about the importance of dietitians being the food and culinary professionals and the role of dietitians across the food supply chain. As well as spoke about the role of dietitians educating the public about the functionality of ingredients to empower people to swap out ingredients in a recipe.

Kate Moran, RDN, LDN

Kate spoke to the students about how she became the sports dietitian for the Minnesota Twins Baseball Organization together with her sponsorship with Oiko’s yogurt and how she uses her instagram story to promote health.

Kathleen Pellechia, MS, RDN

Kathleen spoke to the class about ever changing health informatics, telehealth, and social media ethics.

Krystal Register, MS, RDN, LDN

Krystal shared her experience as a grocery store dietitian. She shared information about Wegman’s Prevent Inflammation Program and how Wegman’s help people live better lives through food.

Barbara Hoffstein, RDN, LDN

Barbara spoke about her role as a leader in public policy for nutrition and dietetics.

Dana Magee, RDN, LDN, CLT

Next, Dana spoke about how she uses cutting edge research to help her clients with digestive difficulties as well as the overlap of clients with digestive issues and eating disorders.

Penny Wilson, PhD, RDN

Penny spoke about the importance of excellent nutrition communication and shared her favorite bloggers and sound bytes.

Megrette Fletcher, M.Ed., RDN, CDE

Moreover Megrette spoke about the importance of using a weight neutral approach when counseling clients with diabetes.

Kathie Madonna Swift, MS, RDN, LDN, FAND, EBQ

Kathie spoke about Integrative & Functional Medicine: Insights and Inspiration

Jessica Setnick, MS, RDN, CEDRD

Jessica enlightened the class about the eating disorder called orthorexia.

Hope Warshaw, RDN, CDE, BC-ADM

Hope participated in a panel discussion about issues, problems and opportunities in dietetics.

Melissa Dobbins, DS, RDN, CDE

Rosanne Rust, MS, RDN, LDN

April Winslow, MS, RDN, CEDRD

April shared her gift of communicating complicated nutrition research into understandable terms in her talk on Nutrigenomics: Altering Your Biological Destiny Through Food

Bobbi Boteler, RDN, LDN, CEDRD

An Empowered Eating Dietitian spoke about health at every size and weight stigma.

As a matter of fact, we had such an overwhelming response for speakers, we even had 2 speakers record their talks for students to listen to outside of class.

Krista Ulatowski, MPH, RDN

Krista advised students on the importance of crystal clear nutrition communication.

Dana Notte, MS, RD, CD

Shared her experiences as a dietitian at Green Mountain at Fox Run specializing in mindful eating.

Is being a future dietitian right for you?

I hope you take the time to read about to these amazing dietitians. What are your favorite memories from your Nutrition and dietetics courses?

Thank you for reading, feel free to email me for more information about becoming a Registered Dietitian and/or if you would like me to connect you with one of these dietitians! 

If you are interested in applying to become a nutrition intern in our Greenbelt, Columbia or Annapolis office, reach out to me at [email protected].