November 2012 SDA Conference & a New Semester!

Time flies when you’re having fun! Yesterday we had 2nd meeting already! Although VERY OUTDATED…. lets recount our last major event last November—the SDA Joint Conference!

The SDAs of UC Berkeley, SFSU & Santa Rosa Junior College invited four dietitians–Jackie, Wanda,Tiffany and Tali–to speak about the first 5 years of their career and any challenges they faced in their field. I, and I’m sure many others, enjoyed listening to their work and Dietetic Internship (DI) experiences.

Despite joining the workforce for less than six months, Jackie is very passionate about her job, working in the Tang Health Center at UC Berkeley. Although she admitted that she loaded too much work onto herself during her DI, she believes it helped her time management skills and prepared her for the world of professions. She recommends getting a variety of experiences as she did to make us more “marketable.” She inspires me! I wish I was as motivated and experienced as she is.

Wanda probably has the most experience, now the dietetic internship director at SFSU. What stood out to me the mnost was that she never planned to be in this position. Her involvement and networking through various activities in her academia built on one another–from being an on-call dietitian and involved in nutrition support education–she eventually reached the job she has today.

I also learnt that she studied the Undergrad + DI program that Cal used to have! I would’ve loved that! But I guess it would also be very tiring, balancing an intense internship with academic studies at the same time.

Tiffany brought us the joys and woes of being a Clinical Dietitian. From inquisitive medical students to stubborn patients, Tiffany shares her practice at the hospital vivaciously. She emphasized the importance of staying updated on professional research and findings, especially if you want to debate with physicians and surgeons!

This word of advice came from all the speakers actually… So I guess we should think about making some time to read PubMed or the ADA newsletters!

Tali blew me away when she told us she used to own a clothes shop! (Forgive me if I used the wrong term here, but I live a mostly fashion-blind life…) Returning to school for a second degree in Dietetics, her business mind definitely helped her set up her own private practice, becoming particularly known for designing balanced vegan/vegetarian diets.

For all of these guest speakers, having a full-time job does not exclude them from other networking events. They are all active participants of the Bay Area Dietetic Association (BADA) as well as being involved in other nutrition-related commitments.

The BADA representatives from the 3 universities also shared the accomplishments of their SDA for Fall 2012. I’m proud that we pulled this informative and fun night off together!

I certainly hope that we would be able to make this an annual gathering, and hopefully more Registered Dietitians, both BADA and non-BADA members, will share their experiences and interact with us students!

We’ll be having a Dietetics major panel next meeting on February 28!

I’m sad that a lot of people missed our Valentine’s Day fun… and the wonderful snacks Carolina and I made!!!! Make sure to come next time so you don’t miss out on these wonderful snacks!