UNC School of Public Health - Department Overview

Department Overview

The Department of Nutrition contains three divisions: (Nutritional Biochemistry, Nutrition Epidemiology, and Nutrition Intervention and Policy). All students in the Department must gain competency in each of these areas. In addition, doctoral students must choose one area of concentration in which they will become experts.

Here is a more formal breakdown of each of the three divisions:

The Nutritional Biochemistry division is committed to understanding the mechanisms of nutrient action in human health and disease from a cellular and molecular perspective.

The Nutrition Epidemiology division uses rigorous quantitative methods to determine population trends and relationships that reveal the role of nutrition in health and disease and provide a basis for public health policy recommendations.

The Nutrition Intervention and Policy division creates and tests interventions designed to improve the health of the public through better nutrition and to provide feasible options for dissemination and policy.

Top Ranking from National Research Council

The Nutrition Department at UNC-Chapel Hill ranked at the top among U.S. Nutrition Departments in the National Academies' National Research Council (NRC) report. This was the first such ranking of doctoral training programs in Departments of Nutrition. A program summary score was based on characteristics such as publications, grants, financial support for students, graduation rates, breadth of faculty backgrounds, student activities and diversity.

News release from the graduate school.

Last updated April 25, 2012