Clinical Education

The clinical affiliations are designed to provide the student with practical, hands-on experiences in the profession of nutrition. These field experiences provide an opportunity for students to apply classroom knowledge in a variety of professional settings.

HS811 - The Practicum in Clinical Nutrition

The Practicum in Clinical Nutrition is a four-credit course in which the student spends a minimum of 150 hours working with a Registered Dietitian (RD) or other health care professional. Students in the past have spent their practicum working with RDs in many different environments. These include:

  • sports nutrition
  • health clubs
  • major teaching hospitals such as Children's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital
  • eating disorders
  • General Clinical Research Centers (GCRC), such as the Clinical Research Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  • schools, including nutrition education and culinary and recipe development
  • children with special needs
  • weight management
  • bariatric surgery and treatment
  • diabetes management

The practicum is an ideal opportunity to begin exploring the numerous career opportunities in nutrition.

HS703 - Dietetic Internship

The American Dietetic Association (ADA) accredited Dietetic Internship (DI) at Boston University is a 29-week program designed to provide critical thinking skills to the student and to prepare them for entry-level employment as an RD. The program includes rotations in food service management, medical nutrition therapy across the lifespan, and nutrition application in the community setting. Students observe and participate in a wide variety of specialties such as pediatrics, oncology, renal, cardiology, diabetes, geriatrics, and nutrition support. We have a variety of dynamic, clinical education sites located at: Boston Medical Center, Boston; Good Samaritan Medical Center, Brockton; Newton Wellesley Hospital, Newton; Quincy Medical Center, Quincy; Lowell General Hospital, Lowell; St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, Boston; Beverly Hospital, Beverly; Emerson Hospital, Concord; and
U. Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester. Our DI is also associated with other area facilities for specialized rotations, such as Children's Hospital, Boston (pediatrics), Franciscan Children's Hospital, Boston (pediatrics), University of Massaschusetts Medical Center, Worcester, (pediatrics),  Newton High School and Perkins School for Blind (pediatrics), DaVita Health Care (renal), Joslin Diabetes Center, and the Nutrition and Weight Management Center at Boston Medical Center(an outpatient clinic specializing in obesity, diabetes, cardiac care)

The graduates of the MS/DI program at Boston University have gone on to successful nutrition careers in hospital based and outpatient medical nutrition therapy, research, public health, private practice, the media (television, print, radio, and internet), journalism (magazines, book, internet), university teaching, pharmaceuticals, and doctoral programs.

Post-Graduate Pediatric Fellowship

For those interested in pursuing a career in pediatrics, the Children's Medical Center of UMass Memorial Medical, a teaching hospital associated with Boston University, is now offering a four-month, post-graduate paid pediatric fellowship for academically qualified students. The fellowship would begin after completion of the DI. The Pediatric Nutrition Fellow will rotate through a variety of ambulatory care programs and participate in the inpatient hospital care of patients, including the neonatal intensive care unit.