March is National Nutrition Month®, a campaign created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to highlight the importance of making informed food choices and developing healthy eating and physical activity habits. This year, we’re celebrating by spotlighting the incredible faculty members in our department who hold the Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) credential. Their expertise spans clinical care, community nutrition, research, and education to advance evidence-based practice while mentoring the next generation of nutrition professionals.
As a fourth-year nutrition major at UC Davis, I often reflect on how much I’ve grown, both academically and personally since starting this program. My journey began by choosing the Clinical Nutrition major at UC Davis.
Joan Frank MS, RDN, FAND has been honored with the 2025 Outstanding Dietetics Educator Award for the Western US region by the Nutrition and Dietetic Educators and Preceptors practice group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND). This award recognizes the teaching, mentoring and leadership activities of faculty in ACEND-accredited dietetics education programs. One educator is selected from each of five program types within each geographic region. Award winners will be recognized at the annual meeting of dietetics educators in March 2025.
The results are in! 90% of UC Davis’ Spring 2022 dietetic internship applicants were accepted to internship programs. This translates to 61 UC Davis graduates beginning their supervised practice this fall.
Haley Adel, who is graduating with a degree in clinical nutrition, is a 2020 recipient of the Charles Hess Community Service Award. She grew up in Sacramento, and was raised in an Aggie-proud family with a mother and four aunts who all graduated from UC Davis. As a dietetic aide assistant at the UC Davis Medical Center, she was able to build connections with patients as she helped them with their menu selections. Adel also was a research intern in the Lönnerdal Lab in the Department of Nutrition.
