From humble beginnings originally within the Department of Medicine, the then first undergraduate dietetics course in Victoria commenced at Monash in 2000. Nutrition and Dietetics has since greatly expanded and was officially launched as a department in its own right in October 2010. Looking ahead to 2012 the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics is offering a new undergraduate course in Nutrition Science as well as continuing to deliver the undergraduate course in Nutrition and Dietetics. These courses aim to assist students wanting to pursue an interest in the field of nutritional health.
A research project Honours year is offered to high achieving undergraduate students while research based higher degrees are also available, with staff advising post graduate students both at Masters and at Doctoral level.
The department has recently re-located to new offices in Notting Hill. This provides facilities such as the Translational Physiology Laboratory which includes a sleep laboratory, a commercial kitchen, exercise spaces and areas for collecting blood and urine samples, giving researchers a chance to individualise weight management programs and collect valuable information in a friendly space. Furthermore as a department within the Southern Clinical School based at Monash Medical Centre, the Nutrition and Dietetics Department is ideally placed to undertake practice based research. Our multi-disciplinary team work together to enhance the student learning experience and provides a rich opportunity to undertake research across a range of areas.
Teaching is conducted at Notting Hill and Clayton Campuses by staff within the department alongside experts in the fields of physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology. Our staff has a wide range of interests in nutrition and dietetics with expertise stretching across the lifespan from infants through to the elderly. We facilitate dietary and nutritional intervention studies and have access to a range of methodologies including an extremely well equipped body composition laboratory. We undertake research projects and consultancies and are involved in a number of activities at both government and non-government levels.
