Captain Edith Clark
Chief Dietitian Officer, U.S. Public Health Service

CAPT Clark leads and coordinates U.S. Public Health Service dietitian professional affairs for the Office of the Surgeon General and the Department of Health and Human Services, advising the Surgeon General and the Dietitian/Nutritionist Professional Advisory Committee on the recruitment, assignment, deployment, retention, and career development of the PHS dietitians. Most of her career has been spent working in clinical nutrition, but she has also been actively involved in health promotion disease prevention and wellness activities. CAPT Clark received her bachelor of science degree in nutrition and dietetics in 1973 from Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. She completed her dietetic internship at Milwaukee County Medical Center in January 1975. In addition to the degrees listed, CAPT Clark is also a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE), Certified Adult Weight Management Specialist, and maintains current ServSafe certification related to food safety and sanitation.

CAPT Clark began her career as a Commissioned Officer in 1992 and since that time she has been working in the Indian Health Service. Throughout her various assignments, she has been actively involved in working with wellness and prevention programs such as community-based nutrition programs in American Indian communities. She worked with other team members to develop a diabetes education and prevention program for the Hopi villages served by the Keams Canyon Service Unit. “The joy of this job was working with the patients and the community members by providing nutrition education through a variety of programs,” she says.

In 2003, CAPT Clark was selected as the director of nutrition services at Phoenix Indian Medical Center, overseeing the Clinical Nutrition program, patient and employee meal program, and the Ambulatory and Community nutrition program. She has been a member of the National Indian Health Service Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) Workgroup for the past four years, working to improve access to nutrition services, working with the coding staff and the Patient Business Office for reimbursement of Medical Nutrition Therapy. “The most significant accomplishment over the past five years has been the establishment of the Southwestern Dietetic Internship Consortium, a dietetic internship specifically focused on Alaska Native/American Indian dietetic graduates,” says CAPT Clark.

Serving as the Chief Dietitian Officer in the USPHS has provided CAPT Clark the opportunity to increase her knowledge of the various roles filled by the dietitians in the Corps as well as to work to recruit new dietitians into the Corps. She says, “It is an honor and a privilege to serve as a dietitian in the U.S. Public Health Service. The career opportunities are vast and varied.”