Maj Heidi Clark, MS, RD

Maj Heidi Clark, MS, RD

Faculty, Graduate Program in Nutrition

Maj Clark is the USAF faculty member of the Graduate Program in Nutrition, advising the program director on USAF issues, functioning as a liaison with the USAF internship site, other USAF units and USAF recruiting, and advocating for the GPN to leadership within the USAF. 

Maj Clark received her bachelor's in dietetics from Ball State University in Muncie, IN and attended the USAF Dietetic Internship at Malcolm Grow Medical Center (Andrews AFB, MD) in 1998.  Her first assignment was to a wellness center at McGuire AFB, NJ, where she coordinated nutrition and wellness programs in weight management, diabetes and heart disease risk reduction.  From there, she moved to Lackland AFB, TX, to be a clinical dietitian and internship preceptor at Wilford Hall Medical Center (now Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgery Center).  At Wilford Hall, Maj Clark worked with a diverse inpatient and outpatient population, to include bariatric surgery patients, general medicine and surgery patients, those with cystic fibrosis, and adults and children admitted to the intensive care unit with a variety of injuries and conditions.  During her time at Wilford Hall, she deployed to Balad AB in Iraq to provide inpatient nutrition care for wounded US and allied forces and local nationals; she also oversaw inpatient and staff feeding operations, and provided some outpatient and wellness services.  Maj Clark then received USAF funding to attend graduate school full time; she graduated from Michigan State University in 2007 with her MS in Human Nutrition.  She then moved overseas to Germany where she was the clinical nutrition manager at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC).  LRMC is an Army facility with a large squadron of assigned USAF medics; at that time, it was also supported by a unit of naval reservists as well.  Maj Clark oversaw inpatient and outpatient nutrition care and the inpatient feeding provided to LRMC's beneficiary population in Germany and surrounding countries, supervised military and civilian dietitians, and served as consultant to Incirlik AB. 

Maj Clark's current teaching focus is in the area of clinical dietetics.  She is currently the primary instructor for Current Issues (first semester), Medical Nutrition Therapy (first semester) and Critical Care (second semester).  She is one of several faculty who provide instruction into the Nutrition Assessment Lab hours, which spans both semesters. Maj Clark has also been a guest lecturer into other graduate school programs, and provides hands-on field instruction during the annual Joint Field Nutrition Operations Course (JFNOC).  She is passionate about providing quality, compassionate and evidence based nutrition care to all patients, and about providing the same kind of instruction to students and future military dietitians.