University of Utah

The University of Utah offers a strong example of how nutrition education can be integrated into medical and health professions training through a hands-on, interprofessional and evolving model. Its work includes capstone opportunities, the Health Promotion and Integrative Health pathway, culinary medicine experiences, expanding didactic curriculum content, student-led clinic opportunities and experiences in graduate medical education.

Together, these offerings prepare learners to provide more whole-person, team-based nutrition care.

Model at a Glance

Model: Longitudinal interprofessional nutrition education and culinary medicine
Audience: Medical, health sciences trainees
Delivery: Teaching kitchen, required and elective coursework, clinics, and graduate medical education
RDN role: Course leadership, instruction, nutrition expertise, preceptor and team-based care modeling
Key takeaway: Nutrition education is integrated across training and reinforces when to collaborate with or refer to RDNs.

The Approach

In 2016, the University of Utah launched its Culinary Medicine program through a partnership between the Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology and the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. The elective brings together students from medicine, pharmacy, nutrition, nursing, occupational therapy and other health science programs to learn evidence-based nutrition, prepare meals in a teaching kitchen and explore how nutrition can be incorporated into patient care.

The program has since expanded across multiple stages and settings. A shorter culinary medicine experience was incorporated into the required medical curriculum, while the more extensive elective remained available. The experiential model later extended into a student-led health clinic through part-time RDN involvement.

With support from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and the Health Resources and Services Administration, the university is now expanding the clinical model by embedding two full-time RDNs across its student-led health clinics. As clinical educators and preceptors, the RDNs will give medical and other health profession students supervised experience assessing nutrition needs, counseling patients and incorporating nutrition into team-based care.

Together, these activities span classroom, teaching-kitchen and clinical settings, giving learners repeated opportunities to apply nutrition concepts in practice and understand when collaboration with an RDN is needed.

The model also addresses student needs. A University of Utah medical student project found that 50.6% of respondents experienced food insecurity in the previous 12 months. By helping students build practical nutrition and self-care skills, the program aims to support learners during training and contribute to a more sustainable healthcare workforce.

The next phase, starting this academic year, substantially expands clinical application: learners will receive approximately 20 hours of nutrition-focused experiential education in student-led clinics, where RDNs serve as clinical educators and preceptors and students apply nutrition assessment, counseling, referral and interprofessional care skills directly with patients.

The Role of RDNs

RDNs are central to the University of Utah model. The university describes culinary medicine as developed and instructed by RDN faculty from Nutrition and Integrative Physiology and family practice physician faculty from the School of Medicine.

The program also models interprofessional teamwork, with faculty and students from medicine, nutrition, health coaching, occupational therapy, public health, nursing pharmacy and other health sciences working from clear roles and shared decision-making.

This structure gives future clinicians direct exposure to RDN expertise and reinforces when to collaborate with or refer to RDNs for specialized nutrition care.

Results and Evidence

A published study of the University of Utah Culinary Medicine course found that students reported improvements in confidence and competence related to diet and lifestyle counseling, interprofessional communication, health behavior advocacy and healthful meal preparation.

Medical students who completed the course were also more likely than peers who did not take the course to agree that they could counsel patients about nutrition and physical activity.

Best Practices Other Schools Can Adapt

The University of Utah model offers several lessons for medical schools, nutrition and dietetics programs and health systems:

1. Take a longitudinal approach. Nutrition education should be intentionally woven across multiple points in training, not limited to a single course or lecture.
2. Identify champions. Support from institutional leaders, academic faculty, clinical faculty expertise and infrastructure needed to move nutrition education from isolated coursework into sustained clinical training.
3. Build interprofessional teams. Strong programs depend on clear roles, shared decision-making and established relationships across disciplines.
4. Assess available resources and build partnerships. Programs should identify curriculum gaps, teaching spaces, virtual capacity, administrative needs and potential funding sources including federal agencies, and philanthropic partners.
5. Stay improvement-focused. Programs should use student feedback, instructor input, outcomes data and collaboration with other institutions to keep nutrition education current and evidence-based.