Public Health Nutrition Concentration

Public Health Nutrition is one of three areas of concentration of Community Public Health (the other two are Community Health and International Community Health). It is a 46-credit program leading to the Master of Public Health (MPH) degree. The program is designed for students who seek graduate training in program and policy approaches to improving the nutritional status of diverse population groups. It prepares students for careers in local, state, federal, and international health agencies.

• Program Goals
• Accreditation
• Prerequisites
• Course Sequence
• How To Become A Registered Dietician
• RD Prerequisites and Pre-Internship Requirements
• Graduate Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD): Sequence Map

Program Goals

The MPH trains students to integrate the knowledge, skills, and experience fundamental to all public health disciplines and to apply this integrated knowledge to prevent health problems among diverse population groups. This goal is accomplished through training in public health fundamentals--biostatistics, epidemiology, research methods, environmental health sciences, health services administration, social and behavioral sciences, and program planning and evaluation. The program places great emphasis on the application of material learned in courses to practical experience obtained through supervised fieldwork placements.

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
• Develop educational and other population-based intervention strategies to improve food security.
• Develop policies to reduce barriers to food insecurity and to improve the food choices and nutritional status of diverse population groups.
• Apply population-based research findings to the development and implementation of nutrition policies and programs in the United States and internationally.

Accreditation

The MPH program is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). The American Dietetic Association accredits the department’s dietetics programs. The NYU Graduate Didactic Program in Dietetics (the set of courses that meet ADA educational competencies) is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education (CADE) of the American Dietetic Association (120 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60606, 1-800-877-1600).

Prerequisites

Public Health Nutrition requires specialization in foods and nutrition in addition to public health fundamentals. For students who enter the program without previous training in these fields, the program requires the following four prerequisite courses (or their equivalents in coursework as determined by an advisor).

• E33.0119 Nutrition & Health (3) [F, Sp, Su]
• E33.1068 Nutrition-Focused Human Physiology (3) [F, Sp]
• E33.1260 Diet Assessment and Planning (3) [F, Sp]
• E33.1209 Community Nutrition (3) [F, Sp]

These courses fulfill basic competencies in public health nutrition and prepare 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.

Program Sequence

For students matriculating in the Fall semester:

NOTE: This sequence may be changed slightly depending on the status of prerequisites.

1st Fall semester
E33.2000.003 New Graduate Student Seminar (0)
E10.2995 Biostatistics I (3)
E33.2322 History & Principles of Public Health (3)
E33.2355 Social and Behavioral Determinants of Health (3)
E33.2213 Nutrition in Public Health (3)

1st Spring semester
E10.2996 Biostatistics II (3) [prerequisite: E10.2995 ]
E33.2306 Epidemiology (3) [prerequisite: E10.2995 ]
E33.2301 Research Methods in Public Health (3) [prerequisite: E10.2995]
E33.2015 Food Policy (3)

2nd Fall semester
E33.2356 Environmental Health Problems (3)
E33.2318 Assessing Community Health Needs (3) [prerequisites: E10.2996, E33.2306, E33.2361]
P11.1830 Community Health & Medical Care (4)
________ Elective ____________________________

2nd Spring semester*
E33.2349 Program Planning and Evaluation (3) [prerequisite: E33.2318, E33.2355]
E33.2360 Internship and Seminar in Public Health (3)
________ Elective ____________________________

For students matriculating in the Spring semester:

NOTE: This sequence may be changed slightly depending on the status of prerequisites.

1st Spring semester
E33.2000.003 New Graduate Student Seminar (0)
E33.2301 Research Methods in Public Health (3) [prerequisite: E10.2995 or permission of instructor]
P11.1830 Community Health & Medical Care (4)
E33.2015 Food Policy (3)
________ Elective ____________________________

1st Fall semester
E10.2995 Biostatistics I (3)
E33.2213 Nutrition in Public Health (3)
E33.2355 Social and Behavioral Determinants of Health (3)
E33.2318 Assessing Community Health Needs (3) [prerequisite: E10.2996, E33.2306, E33.2361]

2nd Spring semester
E10.2996 Biostatistics II (3) [prerequisite: E10.2995 ]
E33.2306 Epidemiology (3) [prerequisite: E10.2995 ]
E33.2349 Program Planning and Evaluation (3) [prerequisite: E33.2318, E33.2355]
________ Elective ____________________________

2nd Fall semester*
E33.2356 Environmental Health Problems (3)
E33.2360 Internship and Seminar in Public Health (3)
E33.2322 History & Principles of Public Health (3)

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.

Prerequisites and Pre-Internship Requirements

NYU Graduate students, who are earning the MPH 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 M.P.H. 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 on the next page 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
V25.0002 Introduction to Modern Chemistry - with laboratory (5)
V25.0240 Principles of Organic Chemistry - with laboratory (5)
E33.1023 Food Microbiology & Sanitation (3)
E33.1068 Nutrition-Focused Human Physiology (3)
E33.1064 Nutritional Biochemistry (3)

Nutrition Science
E33.0119 Nutrition & Health (3)
E33.1260 Diet Assessment & Planning (3)
E33.1269 Nutrition and the Life Cycle (3)
E33.1185 Clinical Nutrition Assessment & Intervention (3)
E33.1209 Community Nutrition (3)

Food Science
E33.0085 Introduction to Foods & Food Science (3)
E33.0091 Food Management Theory (3)
E33.1052 Food Production & Management (3)
E33.1184 Food Science & Technology (3)

Other
E33.2000.02 New Graduate Student Seminar (Must be taken during first term) (0)
E33.2190.01 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, E33.2000 must be taken your first semester in the program.

Graduate Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD): Sequence Map