Dietetic Internship Program
VA St. Louis Health Care System Dietetic Internship
The VA St. Louis Dietetic Internship Program provides well-rounded, individualized, hands-on experiences in clinical settings, administration, food service management, and community dietetics while taking an in-depth look at health promotion, disease treatment, and disease prevention. Our program challenges interns to expand on their personal beliefs and biases, which can impact patient care.
Interns learn how to reduce risk for chronic disease through health promotion and to help those with chronic disease/illness better self-manage while developing MNT clinical expertise, effective communication skills, and professional excellence. Interns explore how dietitians contribute to improving the health of citizens by understanding the social determinants of health which lead to health disparities and inequities. There are opportunities to become more culturally competent, provide advocacy across the profession, utilize evidence-based research, and appreciate the value of life-long education.
As you explore our program website, you will discover that our internship program offers many exciting and unique learning experiences with highly skilled registered dietitian preceptors as well as a variety of other health care professionals at the VA St. Louis Health Care System.
The VA St. Louis Dietetic Internship offers two tracks
The VA St. Louis Dietetic Internship Program has established a partnership with The University of Alabama to provide interns with the opportunity to enroll in a fully online, 30 credit-hour Master of Science program in Human Nutrition. The program is creatively designed to provide foundation knowledge before starting coursework, integrate class assignments with experiences in the internship, and assure advanced knowledge in the field of nutrition and dietetics. The VA dietetic internship director works directly with university faculty to align assignments and activities, allowing students to complete the internship and master's degree in less than two years (21 months). All courses are offered fully online, and out of state fees are waived. Financial aid is available to cover course tuition and living expenses for students who qualify. The graduate program can accept up to 12 hours of graduate coursework as transfer credit that may be applied to the degree.
Track One will combine the VA supervised practice/dietetic internship with the University of Alabama for the 21-month online Master's degree in Human Nutrition, consisting of 4-5 semesters with a minimum of 30 credit hours. For the first year (2-3 semesters), students complete 18 hours of graduate coursework online, taking 6-9 credit hours per semester. Students may work full time during the first year of graduate classes, if desired. For the second year (final two semesters), students will move to St. Louis, Missouri where they continue with the online coursework (6 hours each semester) and complete the 10 months of supervised practice at the VA St. Louis Health Care System. A stipend is paid during the second year while in supervised practice at the VA.
Keep in mind some tech skills and equipment are needed to participate in this online degree program. This program requires a modern Mac or PC computer and high-speed internet connection. Your computer must also have a compatible browser, PDF viewer, speakers or headphones, microphone, and productivity software such as Office. Taking an online courses requires a general computer literacy. Students are expected to be able to use Crimson email, Blackboard, web browsers, and general word processing programs prior to enrolling in an online course. Student needing assistance using Blackboard are encouraged to contact technical support services.
For more information about the graduate program at the University of Alabama and the VA Dietetic Internship Partnership, go to: University of Alabama MS in Human Nutrition
For information about transferring credits from another program to the University of Alabama, visit the Office of the University Registrar at University Registrar Transfer Credit
For a more detailed Q&A session, click here: https://vimeo.com/651203239/bf06430c3f
For more information, contact the Human Nutrition program director, Dr. Tiffany Hylton, RDN, LD at tmhylton@ches.ua.edu.
Track Two is for students who already have a Master's degree. They will complete the supervised practice portion only at the St. Louis VA and receive the stipend.
Both tracks will receive a verification statement from the internship program and, along with their Master's degree, be eligible to take the registration exam for dietitians upon graduation.
Accreditation
The program is currently granted continued accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
ACEND can be contacted by:
Email: ACEND@eatright.org
Phone: 800/877-1600 ext. 5400
Website: https://www.eatrightpro.org/acend
Mail:
Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics
120 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2190
Chicago, IL 60606-6995
Open House Events
To learn more about our program, please join us for one of our open houses. To RSVP, please email the internship director, Angela Franklin at least one week before the scheduled event. Once your RSVP is received, you will be emailed the link for the virtual events or directions to the in-person event.Virtual open houses:
- October 16, 2024 at 11:00 AM CST
- December 19, 2024 at 1:00 PM CST
In person open house:
- December 16, 2024 at 10:00 AM CST
In addition to our Open House Events, the Internship Director is available to answer specific questions via phone and email.
Email: Angela.Franklin@va.gov
Phone: 314-652-4100 ext. 64594
