A dietitian is not the same thing as a nutritionist. A dietitian focuses on quality of food, calories, meal planning and specialized diets for certain medical conditions. Dietitians look at eating patterns through the lens of the food pyramid and other guidelines defined by various health organizations. On the other hand, a nutritionist examines ingestion, digestion and metabolism and how they relate to growth, maintenance, body repair and overall health. A nutritionist is also well versed in alternative health-care methods. Many clinical nutritionists are also dietitians.
Clinical nutritionists have some flexibility in how and where they apply their skills.They can find jobs in a variety of settings, including ones you may expect, such as hospitals, acute-care centers, long-term care facilities and weight-management clinics. However, they can also find careers working with health care consulting firms, government agencies, pharmaceutical or food companies and sports agencies.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers a MPH in nutrition through its Gillings School of Global Health. The school provides training for both graduates and undergraduates who seek to become clinical nutritionists, as well as public health advisers, dietitians, physicians and nurses. UNC's Department of Nutrition is the only academic department in the country that is a member of both a school of public health and a school of medicine. In 2007, US News & World Report ranked UNC second on its list of public health graduate schools.
The University of Washington has two options for a master's degree in nutrition --- an MS in nutritional sciences and a MPH in nutritional sciences. The MS degree focuses on clinical and public health nutrition, while the MPH centers primarily on public health and policy. The school also offers a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in nutritional sciences. The degrees are offered through the school's Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine. UW was ranked the fourth-best graduate program for pubic health by U.S. News and World Report in 2007.