Medical Nutrition Sciences
In Spring, 2003, the Boston University Board of Trustees voted to establish the Graduate Programs in Medical Nutrition Sciences within the Graduate Division of the School of Medicine and to create the framework for the establishment of the multidisciplinary MA, PhD and MD-PhD programs in nutritional sciences. This bold new initiative was designed as the first full educational collaboration of the Schools of Medicine (MED), Dental Medicine (SDM), and Public Health (SPH) with the Deans of each school agreeing to support these multidisciplinary programs. So committed was the leadership of the BUMC Schools that the Dean of the Dental School, Dr. Spencer Frankel, agreed to replace the former Graduate Programs in Nutritional Sciences at the School of Dental Medicine with the new programs. Thus, the new framework thus drew on 30+ year history of masters and doctoral training and research in nutrition at SDM and forged ahead with a new interdisciplinary, multi-School training and research initiative that now captures clearly a central hallmark put forth in the current Boston University Strategic Plan. There were also efforts made to collaborate cross Boston University campuses and faculty of Sargent College were involved in early program development activities but did not move forward initially despite strong support of the Medical campus Provost and President. At the time of Medical Center and Trustee approval in 2003, full support of the Graduate Nutrition Programs was projected in order to achieve the projected growth and development over a three to five year period. It was projected and approved that the combined Programs would support 8-12 FTE faculty in three Schools and achieve a steady state of 45-90 graduate students (two thirds of whom would be masters and one-third who would be doctoral level candidates). It was further projected and approved that 80-100% of tuition and fee income would be returned to the program for faculty, staff and Programmatic support and that student fellowships and stipends would be provided from other academic resources.
The goal of these Programs is to provide multidisciplinary training in medical nutrition sciences that prepares students for a wide variety of existing and emerging career opportunities in four primary areas:
- basic, epidemiological, and clinical nutrition research;
- nutrition and public health promotion at the individual and population levels;
- nutrition policy and program planning; and
- nutrition and health communications.
The core Program curriculum incorporates state-of-the-art, advanced training in the following areas of research and practice:
- basic and laboratory nutritional sciences and related research methods and technologies;
- techniques for translating nutritional sciences into medical nutrition therapies, interventions, products, and services;
- epidemiological, clinical and outcomes research methods used to evaluate relationships between nutritional status and health outcomes;
- methods to design and test the efficacy and impact of medical nutrition therapies and nutritional interventions;
- processes for the formulation and monitoring of nutrition-related health policies, programs, and campaigns; and
- strategies for effective public and professional communications of nutritional science.
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