Public Health Nutrition Concentration Description and Goals
The 46-credit Public Health Nutrition concentration trains individuals to promote health and reduce the risk of chronic diseases and obesity through educational and environmental approaches to improved nutrition and physical activity.
The courses and faculty for this concentration are largely housed within NYU Steinhardt.
For further information about this concentration, visit the NYU MPH website.
Concentration Goals
The goals of Public Health Nutrition concentration are to prepare health and nutrition professionals to:
- Identify and assess diet-related health problems-of both undernutrition and overnutrition-among diverse population groups in the United States and internationally;
- Identify the social, cultural, economic, environmental, and institutional factors that contribute to the risk of undernutrition and overnutrition among populations;
- Demonstrate the linkages between agriculture, food, nutrition, and public health;
- Develop educational, institutional, and other population-based intervention strategies to improve food security and reduce obesity;
- Develop policies to reduce barriers to food insecurity and to improve the food and activity choices and nutritional status of diverse population groups;
- Promote policies to ensure the safe production, distribution, and consumption of food, Develop effective strategies for advocating for improved nutrition and physical activity among diverse population groups, and
- Apply population-based research findings to the development and implementation of nutrition policies and programs in the United States and internationally.
- Prerequisites
- How To Become A Registered Dietician
- RD Prerequisites and Pre-Internship Requirements
- Graduate Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD): Sequence Map
Prerequisites
Public Health Nutrition requires specialization in nutrition in addition to public health fundamentals. For students who enter the program without previous training in these fields, the program requires one prerequisite course (or an equivalent introductory class).
- NUTR-UE 0119 Nutrition & Health (3)
This course fulfills basic competencies in public health nutrition and prepares students to enter graduate nutrition courses. Students who enter the MPH program with credentials as Registered Dietitians, or who are RD-eligible, or who elect the RD/MPH option have already met (or will meet) all of the prerequisite requirements for the MPH program.
How To Become A Registered Dietician
The Graduate Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD) is one element of the requirements for Dietetic Registration. These requirements include:
- A bachelor's degree from an accredited institution (you should already have this for graduate admission).
- The NYU Graduate DPD.
- An NYU DPD Verification Statement: Obtain this in the last semester in which you are taking DPD courses. Request application from office staff and submit with fee.
- A Dietetic Internship: Apply through national computer matching in the last semester of courses (see handouts for the NYU Dietetic Internship or the James J. Peters/Bronx VAMC Internship).
- Verification of Internship Completion: Obtain from the Dietetic Internship director at the end of the internship program.
- Apply to the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) to take the dietetic registration examination.
- Pass the CDR examination and earn the Registered Dietitian credential.
RD Prerequisites and Pre-Internship Requirements
NYU graduate students who are earning the MPH with a concentration in Public Health Nutrition and who want to become Registered Dietitians but have not completed undergraduate DPD courses, do not take another bachelor's degree. Instead, students enroll in the 46-credit MPH program and take undergraduate DPD courses as needed. All courses taken toward the DPD must be approved by an advisor and completed prior to receiving the Graduate DPD Verification Statementa. DPD courses may not be taken for graduate credit, and DPD courses taken for graduate credit outside of NYU, whether prior to or after matriculation, will not be counted toward the graduate degree at NYU.
The following 15 courses - or their equivalents taken elsewhere and pre-approved by an academic advisor - constitute NYU's Graduate DPD. For help in planning the sequence in which these courses must be taken, consult the Graduate DPD Sequence Map below and obtain the approval of an advisor. Online courses and courses taken at two-year colleges that do not have an ADA-accredited program do not meet NYU's DPD requirements.
Basic Science
CHEM-UA 0120 Introduction to Modern Chemistry - with laboratory (5)
CHEM-UA 0240 Principles of Organic Chemistry - with laboratory (5)
NUTR-UE 1023 Food Microbiology & Sanitation (3)
NUTR-UE 1068 Nutrition-Focused Human Physiology (3)
NUTR-UE 1064 Nutritional Biochemistry (3)
Nutrition Science
NUTR-UE 0119 Nutrition & Health (3)
NUTR-UE 1260 Diet Assessment & Planning (3)
NUTR-UE 1269 Nutrition and the Life Cycle (3)
NUTR-UE 1185 Clinical Nutrition Assessment & Intervention (3)
NUTR-UE 1209 Community Nutrition (3)
Food Science
NUTR-UE 0085 Introduction to Foods & Food Science (3)
NUTR-UE 0091 Food Management Theory (3)
NUTR-UE 1052 Food Production & Management (3)
NUTR-UE 1184 Food Science & Technology (3)
Other
SAHS-GE 2000 New Graduate Student Seminar (Must be taken during first term) (0)
FOOD-GE 2190 Research Methods (Credits count toward 40-credit MS degree) (3)
To receive a DPD Verification or Declaration of Intent from NYU, students must take at least 15 credits at NYU and get pre-approval from an academic advisor for all DPD courses taken outside NYU.
Graduate Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD): Sequence Map
Method: Courses at the top of this chart have no prerequisites. Begin taking these courses and work down in sequential order. Solid arrows indicate prerequisites; broken lines indicate courses that may be taken concurrently (co-requisites) but not out of sequence. Do not take courses that have prerequisites until you have completed the prerequisites. New Graduate Student Seminar, SAHS-GE 2000 must be taken your first semester in the program.
Graduate Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD): Sequence Map