Nutrition education is still inadequate in U.S. medical schools, at a time when the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in this country are being increasingly linked to lifestyle and improper diet. This inadequacy contributes to the inability of physicians to utilize nutrition preventively or therapeutically in their practices. The Regional Center for Clinical Nutrition Education is a consortium of medical school faculty from the New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia areas. The Center staff serves as an advisory and consultative group to faculty working to improve nutrition education at their institutions, sponsors rounds and coordinates visiting professors, publishes a newsletter for medical students and conducts housestaff nutrition teaching days. A significant barrier to the improvement of nutrition education-continues to-be the dearth of faculty with sufficient knowledge of nutrition. Current nutrition fellowships train clinical nutrition specialists; there is still a great need for primary care physicians who continue in their original specialty, but have effective training and experience in nutrition to use in their routine patient care. This would provide role models and nutrition-sensitive preceptors for medical students. The Center proposes to begin training a cadre of junior faculty for this purpose. A unique aspect of this training will be to pair trainees with experienced physician-nutritionists who will guide their educational experience, serving as role model and colleague. The Regional Center has served as the model for the development of other regional centers: Southeastern Regional Medical-Nutrition Education Network (SERMEN) as well as Centers now developing in Chicago, Texas and elsewhere. We plan to assist in the development of these. centers and to establish a coordinating office for a national network of regional nutrition centers, with the goal of sharing information and resources and improving nutrition education for medical students throughout the United States.
| Deen, D; Karp, R; Lowell, B (2000) A mini-fellowship in clinical nutrition for primary care physicians. J Cancer Educ 15:134-6 |
| Deen Jr, D D; Karp, R J; Lowell, B C (1996) Contribution of regional networks to the nutrition education of physicians. J Am Coll Nutr 15:413-7 |
