Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology Quarterly Newsletter

Innovations in Education

Welcome to the April newsletter, focused on innovations in education, as well as new courses and teaching faculty.

NUIP Alumni and Wellness Bus Manager, Alex Hernandez, MS, RD, giving conference participants a tour of the bus

The inaugural Teaching Kitchen Symposium brought together 250 professionals from 40 states and 6 countries dedicated to advancing hands-on approaches to nutrition education and behavior change within teaching kitchen settings. This two-day continuing education event featured invaluable networking opportunities, engagement with community and industry partners, and a lineup of expert speakers, including NUIP's own Theresa Dvorak, MS, RD, CSSD, Shannon Jones, MS, Madeleine French, MS, RD, Chef Zach Hartlyn, and Rachael Jones, MS, RD.

Director of Culinary Medicine, Theresa Dvorak, giving the keynote address at the symposium

Director of Culinary Medicine, Theresa Dvorak (pictured) and Osher Center for Integrative Health, Chief Wellness Officer, Amy Locke, MD, FAAFP delivered the keynote lecture on leveraging food ecosystems to maximize teaching kitchen impacts. Attendees from around the world were astonished by the depth and breath of culinary medicine programming spearheaded by our department and the greater University.

“The University of Utah is amazing and it was lovely to learn about all the programs they are using to support a healthy community.” - Symposium participant

Graduate students in the new physiology course working through a problem together

During this academic year, NUIP faculty launched a new sequence of comprehensive physiology courses that survey different organ systems. The first of these (NUIP 5850) introduces students from multiple bioscience graduate programs to the intricacies and interplay of cardiovascular, muscle, and pulmonary tissues. Professor J. David Symons, PhD leads the course and covers the cardiovascular content. He receives support from Mandy Bunsawat, PhD (neural control), Katsu Funai, PhD (muscle metabolism), and Ryan Broxterman, PhD (pulmonary physiology), who bring their considerable expertise to provide this much-needed addition to the graduate training portfolio.

This new course comprises traditional lecture and break-out sessions designed to help students integrate concepts into real-world scenarios. Case studies address the physiology behind situations like why an older adult might collapse while shoveling heavy snow or how someone with impaired cardiac function might respond to increased metabolic demand at altitude. Dr. Symons will collect feedback from this first-offering and continue to improve the course for future students. For students interested in taking this course, the course number will change to NUIP 7602 starting next year. 

Recognizing a critical educational need, NUIP’s Coordinated Master's Program in Dietetics (CMP) developed a new offering to better prepare students for one of the most complex patient populations they will encounter: individuals with eating disorders. Eating disorders affect approximately 9% of the U.S. population and carry the second highest mortality rate of all psychiatric illnesses, highlighting the urgent need for trained healthcare providers equipped to deliver evidence-based care.

In response to feedback from CMP alumni requesting more focused training for this patient population, CMP Director Kary Woodruff, PhD, RD, CSSD, was awarded a College of Health Teaching and Learning Development grant to create Nutrition Therapy for Eating Disorders, a 1-credit hybrid elective course.

Designed with an emphasis on real-world practice, the course trains students in the application of medical nutrition therapy for patients with eating disorders. Students gain insights from expert guest lecturers on topics such as medical complications, residential treatment nutrition interventions, and pediatric management. Assignments are intentionally hands-on, with students developing practical materials—including intake forms, client handouts, and meal plans—that they can immediately use in clinical settings after graduation.

By filling a critical gap in dietetics education, this course enhances students' readiness to support an increasingly prevalent and vulnerable patient population.

Interdisciplinary patient visit at the Rose Park Clinic.

This spring, NUIP's Nutrition Counseling course incorporated an Interprofessional Education (IPE) experience at the Rose Park Primary Care Clinic. This initiative, supported by a “Full Circle Care: An Interprofessional Education Model for Health Behavior Change" grant authored by Theresa Dvorak and Kate O'Farrell, PhD, offers students valuable real-world training.

Each nutrition graduate student completed two clinic shifts during the semester. At the start of each shift, students joined medical rounds to review the day's patient roster. They then conducted nutrition assessments with patients and coordinated warm hand-offs to the health coaching and Food Pharmacy programs. Faculty preceptors debriefed with students at the end of each shift, providing immediate feedback on patient interactions and charting practices. This structure allowed students to reflect on their successes, troubleshoot challenges, and build clinical confidence.

Through this hands-on experience, students sharpened critical skills in nutrition counseling, health coaching, motivational interviewing, and electronic medical record documentation. They also gained a deeper understanding of the complexities of patient care, including the impact of social determinants of health. By collaborating closely with medical students, nurse practitioners, and behavioral health specialists, CMP students delivered more comprehensive, patient-centered care and strengthened their ability to work within interdisciplinary healthcare teams—essential preparation for today’s evolving healthcare landscape.

In fall 2024, Assistant Professor (Lecturer) Amy Loverin, MS, RDN, and Associate Professor (Lecturer) Kary Woodruff, PhD, RDN, piloted a new dietetics career exploration independent study to inspire the next generation of registered dietitians.

Students engaged in high-impact experiences throughout the semester, including informational interviews, site visits, job shadowing, and hands-on activities with faculty mentors across the University. They also completed a mock graduate school application and built professional portfolios to showcase their goals and skills.

Strong mentorship and a focus on career development helped increase students’ career readiness and confidence. Loverin and Woodruff plan to expand opportunities to support undergraduates interested in pursuing dietetics as a rewarding profession.

The Metabolic Kitchen provides students with unique hands-on training in cooking, food service management, and research. Students build practical skills by developing menus, designing recipes, creating food service documents like HACCP plans, and crafting meal plans to support participant compliance in controlled feeding studies.

Currently, two CMP student-led projects are underway. Noah Johnson is redesigning a controlled feeding diet into a modular system, enabling meals to be batch-prepped rather than individually weighed. His work spans recipe development, nutrient analysis, sensory testing, and production documentation, with a focus on inventory management, palatability, and freezability.

Additionally, CMP students Jadyn Campbell and Leisbeth Swift presented a proposal to adapt the controlled feeding diet for gluten-free, lactose-free, vegan, and vegetarian participants, helping expand recruitment for research studies.

Meals ready for controlled feeding study participants

This summer, Metabolic Kitchen Director Rachael Jones will precept CMP students during their foodservice rotation, where they will develop employee training materials, implement quality assurance measures, and support ongoing translational research projects.

CMP student testing recipes in the metabolic kitchen

Denee and students in the Teaching Kitchen

NUIP Culinary Medicine and the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine recently hosted a cooking class and presentation by Denee Bex, MPH, RD, CDCES, LD, a registered dietitian and member of the Navajo/Diné Nation.

Denee taught CMP and medical students the traditional preparation of Navajo Blue Corn Mush and explained its physical and emotional significance to Southwest tribes.

Navajo Blue Corn Mush

She also delivered a presentation, Empowering Indigenous Patients Through Trauma-Informed Nutrition Education, highlighting health disparities among American Indian and Alaska Native communities and the need for culturally tailored nutrition education. Students gained practical strategies for incorporating traditional foods into patient care and learned the importance of trauma-informed approaches to nutrition counseling.

Becca Rick, MS, RD, joined NUIP in August 2024 as an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) and Director of Sports Nutrition for the CMP, bringing extensive experience in both clinical and sports nutrition. Before returning to the department as a faculty member, she served as Vice President of Population Health and Clinical Consulting at GBS, worked as a sports dietitian for US Speedskating, and ran a private practice for athletes in Utah and Colorado.

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