fourthyearmed said:
Pediatricians are doctors who went to med school and are trained to take care of very sick children. Nutritionists are straight out of college and counsel people on what to eat. Does that explain why Peds makes 3X more?
Pediatricians are physicians, nutritionists are not. Pediatritions diagnose and treat disease, provide preventitive care and give guidance to parents. Nutritionists have a much narrower role, confining their skill to their patient's dietary needs. A very important job, but much different. Ed
With all due respect guys, the term "Nutritionist" can refer to either a dietitian (an RD) or a PhD or MD or MD/PhD or whatever who does research or medical practice in nutrition. In the US we usually use the term to refer to dietitians. Dietitians must complete an internship (usually 9-12 months) after college and then take an exam so they become a "Registered Dietitian" or RD. Many of these internships are combined with master's degree programs and give you an MS, RD in a 1.5-2 yr program. This is of value if you are interested in heading a dietetics program, etc.
There are many nutrition PhD training programs and people who get their PhD in nutrition often refer to themselves as "nutritionists" especially on a more global scale.
http://commprojects.jhsph.edu/degreematrix/detail_career.cfm?car=Nutritionist
Is a link to one program that is very well-known and calls its graduates "nutritionists" even though they get a variety of degrees.
There are also MD's and MD/PhD's whose medical practice is almost exclusively nutrition-related
http://nutrition.hhdev.psu.edu/faculty/adjunct/jensen.html
is a link to a very well-known one of these folks in the adult medicine world.
http://qcom.etsu.edu/nutrition/section5.htm
is a list of a lot of folks with doctoral level degrees who might call themselves "nutritionists", some of whom are dietitians, some are not.
Now then, as to the OP. If you really think nutrition is so important, but don't think that dietitians make enough money, why don't you go to medical school, or get a PhD and work in the field of nutrition?
Regards
OBP
Who calls himself a pediatrician and a nutritionist
😀