Nutritional Therapy

Registered Dietitian Hours

Homewood Primary Care	Tuesday and Wednesday, 8:30am – 4:30pm
East Baltimore Primary Care	Thursday 8:30am – 4:30pm

Registered dietitian (RD) services are available by appointment only. Although referral from a medical provider is recommended, students can also make appointments on a self-referral basis.

Contact: [email protected]
Homewood: 410-516-8270
East Baltimore: (410) 955-3250

All currently enrolled Hopkins students from all campuses are eligible to see the RD. Service charges are covered by your student health fee.

Our RD promotes a weight-normative approach and is open to discussing patients’ weight-related concerns but will not provide/prescribe weight loss diets or meal plans unless deemed medically necessary. Our RD works closely with primary care providers and mental health services to ensure consistency and quality of care.

Your initial visit will be scheduled for 45 minutes (50 minutes for eating disorder concerns) and is used to gather information. The dietitian will review your nutrition and medical history, and you’ll have time to ask specific nutrition-related questions. The RD will provide nutrition education and you will work together to form nutrition recovery SMART goals. Goals are intended to promote and involve behavior change with ongoing monitoring and evaluation.

Follow-up visits are 25 minutes and are decided upon at the end of your appointment (if needed). Follow-up appointments can be two to three weeks, monthly, or every three months. These appointments are a chance to review ongoing nutrition education and interventions, update and modify goals if needed, and more.

Cancellations and rescheduling requests require at least 24 hours notice.

Meet our Registered Dietitian: Rayven Nairn, MS, RDN, LDN

Rayven Nairn joined the JHU team in 2022. Rayven is most concerned about your health and administers medical nutrition therapy and nutrition counseling to her patients using a non-diet, health-at-every-size approach. Rayven, based on her formal training, draws from various therapeutic approaches but believes that client success is rooted in behavior and lifestyle changes.

Some Dietetics Basics

Q:What is the Study of Dietetics?
A: Dietetics is the study of how food and nutrition effects human health. Dietetics uses research-based knowledge about food and nutrition to help prevent and treat disease, and to maintain and promote overall health and wellbeing.

Q: What is the role of the Dietitian?
A: A dietitian (or dietitian nutritionist) is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related conditions and malnutrition. Dietitians conduct medical nutrition therapy and advises on proper dietary practices for health management, to protect health, to manage allergies, and/or to manage the symptoms of a disease or chronic condition via nutrition interventions and prescriptions.

Q: What are some common reasons to work with a dietitian?
A: There are lots of reasons to see a dietitian, including:

Medical diagnoses with significant nutrition implications including diabetes (and prediabetes), hypoglycemia, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, (non-alcoholic) fatty liver disease.
Concerns for disordered eating and/or an eating disorder.
Digestive concerns including food allergies, lactose intolerance or sensitivity, celiac’s disease, chron’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, constipation, diarrhea
Vegetarian or vegan lifestyle advice with concern for undernutrition
Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), irregular menses, or amenorrhea
Nutrient deficiencies: vitamin and/or mineral
Family history of nutrition-related disease with associated risk factors
Recent unintentional weight loss or loss of appetite

Resources

Nutritional Therapy

Registered Dietitian Hours

Meet our Registered Dietitian: Rayven Nairn, MS, RDN, LDN

Some Dietetics Basics

Resources

General Nutrition

Eating Concerns

Dietary Supplements