Career Opportunities
The study of nutrition is excellent preparation for various medical and public health careers. The UMass nutrition major offers three tracks designed for different career goals and interests. The dietetics track is accredited by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and satisfies the curricular requirements for becoming a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN). The Nutrition and Health Sciences track satisfies most requirements for medical, dental and PA school and also prepares students well for careers in lab research. The Nutrition and Society track works well for students interested in careers focused on community health and wellness, nursing, public health nutrition, or science education.
The career options for people in the field of nutrition are increasingly broad today, ranging from improving nutrition understanding and practices on an individual or population level to the pursuit of new knowledge through research. Traditional opportunities can be found in: health care - hospitals, out-patient clinics, medical centers, long-term care facilities; community service agencies; education – public schools, community and adult education, higher education; research; health and wellness facilities; sports nutrition; government agencies; public and international health organizations; the food service and development industries. A specific example is a career as a hospital dietitian, which requires the Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) credential. These professionals are responsible for ensuring that patients receive the diet most suitable to their conditions. Their duties range from the therapeutic aspects of dietetics (assessing patients, developing a medical nutrition therapy plan, helping patients understand how specific diets can influence their disease and how they can best modify their eating habits) to the administrative aspects (supervising food production, planning of special diets, and management of food service systems). The hospital dietitian also acts as a source of nutrition information for outpatients and the community. Dietitians can work in private practice as consultants to individuals, corporations, medical care groups, and long-term care facilities. Nutritionists are needed by the food industry to develop new products and to provide nutrient analysis for these products. Many community service programs, such as WIC, School Lunch, SNAP, Elderly Nutrition Programs, and Cooperative Extension, Food is Medicine initiatives, as well as international development agencies such as the United Nations, depend on nutritionists to provide the planning and implementation of nutrition education and intervention programs. About half of our students follow this path. The role of the nutritionist in society is expanding and our majors are not only finding employment in these traditional opportunities but also in fitness-related businesses, workplace wellness programs, nutrition-related technology companies, sales and marketing. For students who do not earn an R.D. and do not wish to work in areas where an R.D. is required, Massachusetts and other states offer pathways to becoming a Licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist.
An increasing number of nutrition majors are pursuing careers as physicians, doctors of osteopathy, dentists, physician assistants, nurses, and pharmacists, as well as chiropractors and other alternative health care practitioners. Nutrition majors also go on to graduate-level study aimed at careers in research, whether nutrition science or other areas of biological science. Additional opportunities include the intersection of food, health, technology and business.