Abstract
Graduate nutrition training in the United States prepares graduates for careers in academia, industry, and government and nongovernment sectors by enhancing critical thinking skills and providing specific technical skills necessary for doctoral-level employment. However, it is often not designed to develop skills in leadership that are key to fully successful careers. The Dannon Institute's Nutrition Leadership Institute was initiated in 1998 to provide leadership training to fill this gap and to enable early-career nutrition scientists to achieve their career goals. After 20 years of experience with the Nutrition Leadership Institute, this article describes the program's genesis and evolution, captures its key features and principal outcomes as expressed by alumni, and highlights its value to its participants and the larger nutrition community.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 165-169 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Nutrition Today |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 1 2019 |
Funding
at Cornell University, inspired in part by the success of the European Nutrition Leadership Program in the Netherlands. After being named to the DI Scientific Advisory Board, Dr Garza suggested that leadership training for early-career nutrition scientists and health professionals with PhD or MD degrees could be a major initiative of the DI. Dr Rasmussen was invited to submit a proposal, which was adopted in 1998 after discussions with the Scientific Advisory Board and Dr Timothy Morck, then director of Nutrition, Regulatory & Consumer Affairs at Dannon. The stated objective of the program was as follows: Early-career NLI alumni have also been successful in procuring funds for research, as the 124 respondents indicated that they served as principal investigator on 436 grants and as coinvestigator on another 352 grants between 2011 and 2016. In summary, alumni have been awarded more than $200 million as principal investigator and another $267 million as coinvestigators. Grants have been awarded by the National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Agriculture, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the US Department of Defense, and other sources.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Nutrition and Dietetics
