Student Profile: Esi Quaidoo

Q: Tell us about your work as a dietetic intern here at UMass.

A dietetic intern is basically someone who's studying to become a dietitian. The dietetic internship is highly competitive. Once you get into the dietetic internship here at UMass, you need to spend a substantial amount of time in the internship working with dietitians. It’s about 10 months in total. In that time, you need to accumulate at least 1000 hours of supervised work. 

For my internship, I've been going to different sites and locations. I'm working with established and seasoned dietitians to get a sense of different responsibilities and the work that dietitians do at various medical facilities, within the community, and in the food service industry. This is to see where exactly I might fit in as a dietitian. My next rotation is at Veterans Affairs. 

The internship has many different moving parts and different experiences. All of my experiences so far reinforce why I want to be a dietitian. There are so many different roles that you can fit into as a dietitian. A lot of people think that once you become a dietitian, you're stuck in a clinic or a hospital - not that there is anything wrong with that - but the role of a dietitian is diverse and broader than that.

Q: Why do you want to become a dietitian? 

I've always wanted to be a dietitian. That's always been the plan. Food is a basic necessity for everyone. We eat daily. That interest in food has always been there for me. I’ve always wanted to go down a route where I could engage with it because I love cooking. I love cooking for myself. I love cooking for my family and friends. This career path is just a way for me to keep that love for food going. 

Q: You worked on the Food Is Medicine project. What was that experience like?

The Food Is Medicine project is an 18-month-long project. It's meant to help individuals who come from a lower-income background get consistent access to fruits and vegetables. It's easy as a health professional to advise people to eat healthily - that all you need is to eat more fruits and vegetables. Still, there are so many economic and social reasons why people find it difficult to get access to healthy foods. 

This project has been eye-opening. People are dealing with health conditions that make it difficult for them to leave their houses. People are dealing with unemployment. I've spoken to many, many different people who want to eat healthy, but they don’t have access to healthy food. Some of these people can only get to a store once or twice in a month. The Food Is Medicine project is not just about giving people what you think is good advice but trying to find out ways to actually help someone out. Even though it's a pilot program, there are talks about making it more long-term so that people from disadvantaged backgrounds can get consistent access to healthy foods.

Q: Would you recommend the Ph.D. program to someone who's considering coming to UMass? 

Absolutely! It's been a really good experience all around. From the time I started the program, up to this point where I'm in the dietetic internship, and working on my dissertation, all of the faculty have been so supportive. 

I am able to work on my dissertation alongside them. They constantly check in and ask me, “How can we support you? If you need anything, just let us know.” It's been not only a process of me gaining knowledge, but it's also been a very helpful and supportive environment. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who's thinking about doing a Ph.D. in nutrition. 

Q: Tell us more about your dissertation. 

I’m looking at dietary patterns, body composition, and stress. I’m using cortisol derived from hair as a biomarker. I’m investigating whether stress and dietary patterns have an impact on body composition. My sample population is 18- to 25-year-olds. I have not delved in too deeply into the statistical part of my dissertation, but from preliminary analysis, I'm not finding anything peculiar regarding excessive stress levels. I'm thinking that this is a resilient bunch! I’ve found nothing out of the ordinary so far.