There's a great need for nutritional instruction because we have many patients who are obese and have related diseases such as hypertension or diabetes. Dr. Hammond and Gloria Fernandez-Van Zante, the registered dietitian, met and the idea took shape. The project helps nutrition and food science graduates complete their 1,040-hour internship required to become a registered dietitian. The response for counseling has been overwhelming. Rotations last a month or more and usually involve full-time work at a clinical and institutional site.
Interns have their bachelor's degree and intend to become registered dietitians.
Registered dietitians are qualified to provide counseling and recommend special diets. Counseling and nutritional instruction are very important parts of the internship. I'm amazed at the number of students I am seeing who are obese or who already have hypertension, high cholesterol or diabetes. These are tomorrow's professionals who will be entering the permanent work force already affected by chronic disease.