about us

• Complete a minimum of a bachelor’s degree at a US  regionally accredited university or college 
• Complete course work accredited  or approved by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and  Dietetics (ACEND) of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to receive a verification statement from the coursework.
• Apply to and complete an ACEND-accredited supervised practice program, such as the Golden Gate Dietetic Internship (GGDI) program. 
• Pass a national examination administered by the  Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR). The GGDI Program trains  Interns to take and pass the Registered Dietitian credentialing  examination to achieve the RD credential. 
• California does not require licensure. Program graduates may practice in another state outside of California that DOES require licensure.  For more information about those states, please visit https://www.cdrnet.org/state-licensure

Interns should be available for a minimum of 40 hours per week for 30 weeks/1200 hours of supervised practice.

• GGDI is a full-time program and therefore does not allow for  outside employment. However, graduates have reported less potential income lost because of the short seven-eight (7-8)-month duration, which also allowed for passing the RD exam and being employed sooner than graduates of other dietetic internship programs.
• Attendance is required of Interns at the Orientation for Supervised Practice on the Saturday after Labor Day AND at all Intern group meetings.
• There may be specific needs of facilities, preceptors and/or schedules for Interns on weekends, evenings and/or holidays.
• Intern professionalism, maturity, integrity,  flexibility and resilience are key to successful completion of this invaluable experience in ALL dietetic internship programs—while remembering a dietetic internship program is a college-graduate program and expectations of all stakeholders are that interns conducts themselves as graduates (and not undergraduates)

The Program is a general program preparing graduates to be employed in ANY area of dietetics and where graduates are also employed. As required, it has a Program Concentration of a Nutrition Leadership Project also in ANY area of dietetics—about 5-6 weeks in length. This rotation provides Interns the opportunity to practice leading and managing a nutrition project they ELECT, utilizing the 5 Phases of Project Management and Instructional Systems Design (ADDIE). (A project has a finite end where as a future program does not have an end point.) This project is much like a capstone in a MS-degree level program, but is shorter in duration.Project  Management competence is also included in ACEND’s future, new model for education in nutrition and dietetics!

Intern Group Meetings, (some programs call them classes), are at a relatively central  location for the Program (usually in the Santa Rosa, CA area). Although each  Intern may reside near their geographical rotations, they are required  to travel and attend these meetings. These meetings are for teaching and  learning (didactics) and are integral to the GGDI Program and  supervised practice. The meeting are opportunities for interns to lead and manage by leading and facilitating meetings. As much as possible, the program is intern-focused because these adults are now college graduates and will be treated as such. Meetings also focus on material for CDR’s Registration Examination for Dietitians for future employment. 

NOTE: During extenuating events, such as with  COVID-19 that prohibit larger group gatherings, these meetings take place via ZOOM, online discussions, and electronic presentations asynchronously. Attendance, contribution and collaboration of these replacement activities remain Program completion requirements. At each meeting, an intern still leads the meeting—opportunities to practice skills required now and in the the future!

Occasionally, these meetings coincide with a hosted professional conference or field trip. However, due to COVID-19, these are a rarity, for now.