How To Become A Research Dietitian: What It Is and Career Path

What is a research dietitian and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Experts

Tara Kelly MS, RDN,

Ellen Shanley

The average research dietitian salary is $57,712. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an dietetics major. It usually takes 1-2 years of experience to become a research dietitian. Research dietitians with a Registered Dietitian (RD) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 5,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Research Dietitian?

Tara Kelly MS, RDN

Instructor, University of Alabama at Birmingham

For starters, apply to the job. Even if you're worried that you don't meet every qualification listed it is absolutely worth applying to any job you're interested in, because you'll never know if you're the employers ideal candidate unless you try. There are ample specialty trainings and certifications you can enroll in as a graduate to continue refining your expertise, make yourself more marketable, and increase your earning potential. You can also do this by continuing your education to earn an advanced degree or other specialty education to help you in your profession. These may not be dietetics-specific, but skills like being able to do statistics or speak a foreign language could help in certain job settings. If you're not sure where to start with this, look at those job postings that you currently don't think you qualify for and take note of the qualifications on the listing that you feel you're lacking. Are any of these skills that you can learn to make yourself a more qualified applicant for jobs like this and others like it?

ScoreResearch DietitianUS Average

Salary

4.5

Avg. Salary $57,712

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.2

Growth Rate 7%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.86%

Asian 9.71%

Black or African American 9.11%

Hispanic or Latino 10.76%

Unknown 3.63%

White 65.93%

Gender

female 94.59%

male 5.41%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress Level

7.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.8

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.9

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a research dietitian

Explore research dietitian education requirements

Most common research dietitian degrees

Bachelor's

71.1 %

Master's

22.8 %

Certificate

2.7 %

Start to develop specific research dietitian skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	58.78%
Data Collection	9.83%
Principal Investigators	4.82%
Informed Consent	3.99%
Study Protocols	3.20%

Complete relevant research dietitian training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New research dietitians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a research dietitian based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real research dietitian resumes.

Research research dietitian duties and responsibilities

Manage all IRB submissions, sponsor communications, participate in monitoring visits, drug reconciliation and dispensing.
Assist with testing and QA of new programs, workflows and software systems.
Provide dietary counseling to patients enroll in major pharmaceutical trials and in-house studies.
Provide nutrition assessment and calculate individualized nutrition prescriptions to ensure patients' nutritional needs are met.

Prepare your research dietitian resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your research dietitian resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a research dietitian resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Research Dietitian Resume templates

Build a professional Research Dietitian resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Research Dietitian resume.

Apply for research dietitian jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a research dietitian job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do research dietitians rate their job?