Podcast

Addressing the Urgent Need for Clinical Nutrition Education in Postgraduate Medical Training

Publication Date: 27 March 2025

Presenter(s): Paul E Wishcmeyer, MD, EDIC, FASPEN, FCCM; Dominique R Williams, MD, MPH

In this 29-minute podcast episode, Dr Paul Wischmeyer and Dr Dominique R Williams discuss recent data that reveals a startling gap in nutrition education within medical training programs across the United States. Seventy percent of medical schools lack required clinical nutrition classes, and only 14 percent of residency programs include a nutrition curriculum.

Interested in more details? Read the academic paper.

Listen to the Power of Nutrition podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter Bio(s):

Paul Wischmeyer, MD, EDIC, FASPEN, FCCM

Professor of Anesthesiology
Associate Vice Chair for Clinical Research
Department of Anesthesiology
Critical Care Medicine Division
Duke University, Durham, NC

Dr. Wischmeyer is a critical care, perioperative, and nutrition physician-researcher who specializes in enhancing preparation and recovery from surgery and critical care. He serves as a Tenured Professor of Anesthesiology and Surgery at Duke University. He also serves as the Associate Vice Chair for Clinical Research in the Dept. of Anesthesiology and as the Director of the TPN/Nutrition Team at Duke.

For his research work and clinical work, Dr. Wischmeyer has received numerous awards from national and international societies including The John M. Kinney Award for the most significant contribution to the field of general nutrition, the Stanley Dudrick Research Scholar Award by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition and The Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Parenteral Nutrition Society (IPENEMA) for significant contributions to the field of nutrition.

He has over 200 publications (H index-63 and 46 papers with > 100 citations) in nutrition, critical care, and perioperative care, including publications in the New England Journal of Medicine. He has been an invited speaker at numerous national/international medical meetings, delivering over 1000 invited presentations in his career.

Dr. Wischmeyer’s passion for helping patients recover from illness and surgery arises from his personal experiences as both doctor and patient in the ICU. Thus, preparation for surgery/critical care and recovery from illness are a way of life for Dr. Wischmeyer that he is passionate about teaching his patients and other caregivers worldwide.

Dominique Williams, MD, MPH, FOMA, Dipl ABOM

Medical Director 
Adult Nutrition, Abbott 
Columbus, OH, USA

Dr Williams is the Adult Nutrition Medical Director at Abbott, a global healthcare company. Her responsibilities include supporting the U.S. and global adult nutrition commercial operations, collaborating with the clinical project team on Abbott-sponsored clinical studies, and driving the development, submission, and execution of investigator-initiated studies, including research publication. She also leads the medical strategy and content review, including moderation for national and international advisory meetings and symposia with multi-disciplinary teams. 

Dominique is double board-certified in Obesity Medicine and Pediatrics and is an active member of the Obesity Medicine Association. Dominique is a dedicated educator and clinician with over 19 years of experience in patient-centered care, holistic mentoring, and curriculum development. In addition to her clinical work, she has mentored medical students and resident physicians and serves as Adjunct Faculty at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dominique has publications on the topics of mentoring, equity-focused initiatives in graduate education, and the care of children and adolescents with obesity. She has also worked on several local and national initiatives to address health disparities. 

Dominique obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from Case Western Reserve University, MD from Wright State University School of Medicine, and MPH in Nutrition from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Category