PhD in Nutrition
Advance your career in this fast-growing field with a nutrition doctorate program.
Go deep in one area of nutrition, such as how economic and other factors affect food access. Develop your research, teaching, and management skills. And make a meaningful impact on solving nutrition-related health problems with UMass Amherst’s PhD in nutrition.
You’ll apply our pioneering use of multimodality methods in your research, from digital storytelling to participatory action research.
PhD in nutrition course requirements (46 credits):
- Seven advanced core courses (21 credits)
- One public health course (3 credits)
- One nutrition elective or independent study course (3 credits)
- Three graduate seminars (3 credits)
- PhD dissertation (18-credits)
Students may elect to pursue a minor in other areas (e.g., biostatistics or epidemiology), and 12 credits are required for claiming a minor.
Note: Introductory Biostatistics (BIOSTATS 540) may be part of the 24 credits in the major concentration or the 12 credits in minor concentration for BIOS. Principles of Epidemiology (EPI 630) may serve the same purpose for the major concentration and the minor concentration for EPI.
Benefits list
Support for Your Education
Doctoral students have priority in teaching positions and tend to support themselves with these offerings during the first three years. Faculty assist students in applying for federal or foundation funding to support independent research projects. Currently, all UMass doctoral students are funded.
CEPH Accreditation
Every program in the nutrition department, like every other department within the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, is fully accredited by the Council of Education for Public Health, a key benefit of attending UMass.
Research Centers and Institutes
You’ll find a wealth of opportunities in our two primary research centers. The Institute for Global Health promotes healthy living in developing nations. The Center for Research and Education in Women's Health seeks to better understand health factors that affect women from birth through old age.
Featured class
This course provides the molecular basis on how dietary factors regulate the pathogenic progression of chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, and other nutrition-associated metabolic disorders.
Featured faculty
Soonkyu Chung
Focus on obesity, brown adipocytes, adipose inflammation, dietary polyphenols, epigenetics.
Megan Patton-Lopez
Focus on community nutrition, implementation science, child and adolescent health, healthy eating and active living, health equity.
Chaoran Ma
Focus on nutritional epidemiology; cancer epidemiology; genetic and tissue-based biomarkers; multi-omics data; neurodegeneration
Application information & deadlines
Prospective students apply through the UMass Graduate School.
Spring Application Deadline
Applications for spring admission are due by Oct. 1.
Fall Application Deadline
Applications for fall admission are due by Feb. 1.
Nutrition
Offering an interdisciplinary approach to the study and application of the relationship between diet, foods, and health.