Thursday, April 4, 2013

Welcome MUSC Dietetic Interns!


For the last 9 years, MUSC dietetic interns have been coming for a week of culinary hands-on at CIC, co-ordinated on our end by Chef Ben Black. Today Angela Fish is in Chef Barickman's American Regional class, but other classes involved this year have been HOS 128 Culinary Mgt & Human Resources, HOS235 Menu Planning HOS180 French Regional Cuisine, HOS216 International Cuisine, HOS242 Vegetarian and Vegan Cuisine, HOS182 Artisan Breads, HOS183 Plated Desserts, and HOS181 Candies and Confections. 

All of the interns have already earned at least a BS (some with MS) in a nutrition-related field. (Angela has a BS and DPD from Syracuse.) Now they are doing their post-baccalaureate dietetic internship that spans over 1200 hours/10 months. This internship includes hands-on experience in clinical, community, culinary/food service, research, wellness, and other areas of nutrition and dietetics.  Both their didactic nutrition degree and their internship are accredited by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and are required steps, in that order, to sit for the national board exam to be a practicing Registered Dietitian.  

Here's a comment from one of the intern's evaluation sheet. It was sent to Chef Black by MUSC's Dietetic Internship Director, Kelley Martin, MPH, RD, LD.
"I think overall it was a wonderful experience, especially for someone like me who does not have much expertise in the culinary department. I was able to experiment with a variety of different foods and learn about a vast amount of new cooking methods, which will help tremendously when working and relating to patients in the nutrition field. We also talked all week to students about what we are, and what we plan to do as RD’s. So it was a great way to create awareness about our profession and maybe even attempt to close the gap between food and diet!" 

To learn more about the dietetic internship program at MUSC: http://mcintranet.musc.edu/dietintern

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