Georgia Chavent, M.S., R.D.

Education

Bachelor of Science: Nutrition, University of New Hampshire
Dietetic Internship: Medical College of Virginia
Master of Science: Nutrition Education, Columbia University

About Georgia

I began my career as a clinical dietitian at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where I managed the nutrition care of patients with a wide variety of medical conditions, as well as conducting research managing advanced gastric surgery. Prior to joining the full time faculty at the University of New Haven, I directed the clinical dietetics staff of over 35 registered dietitians and dietetic technicians at the Hospital of Saint Raphael here in New Haven. My extensive career as a clinical dietitian and dietetics manager strengthened my preparation for my role as a dietetics educator.

I received early training in ground breaking sustainable agriculture initiatives well before those topics were even considered to be important in the field of nutrition, so this area of practice is of special interest to me. My former research interests focused upon healthy food preparation skills of young adults and teenagers. These interests are clearly interwoven into the curriculum for our Dietetic Internship Program which offers a variety of rotations in these areas.

I lead an active life and especially enjoy teaching sports nutrition for non-nutrition and nutrition majors. I am especially skilled with guiding students to use advanced nutrition analysis software which is well funded here on campus. Other undergraduate courses include Food Science, Dietetics Management and Healthy Food Preparation. I prepared a custom Food Science laboratory manual which is used during hands on food laboratory experiments. I also continue to teach both the Dietetics Management and Healthy Food Preparation courses which were ground breaking courses that continue to be updated to offer the most current nutrition practice.

I am an active member of the Board of the Connecticut Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, including elected roles as Member at Large and two terms as Chair of the Nominating Committee. I currently serve as Co-Chair of the Dietetics Educators Committee, a position I have served for over three terms. I was recently recognized with an Outstanding Advising Award by the University of New Haven and as an Outstanding Dietetics Educator by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

I am most proud of all the alums I have trained who are now working as dietetics leaders and managers throughout the region. I maintain an ongoing alumni listserv and serve as an ongoing mentor for undergraduates, dietetic interns and successful registered dietitians. Feel free to reach out to me if I can offer whatever assistance you need to guide your career as a nutrition professional, as I’m sure you will find this to be a most rewarding field of study with numerous and growing career options every year!