Changing leadership for NOSM’s dietetic internship program

Cara Green has accepted the position of Program Manager of NOSM’s Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program (NODIP). Beginning Monday, July 5, 2021, Cara will work closely with the current Program Manager, Denise Raftis, until Denise’s retirement in August.

A Registered Dietitian (RD), Cara completed her dietetic practicum training at London Health Sciences Centre in 2001 and a Masters of Health Studies in 2016. With more than 20 years of experience as a RD, educator and mentor, Cara has been an active clinical and administrative leader with NODIP since its inception. Cara has previously worked as a clinical dietitian and in the Strategic Planning Department at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, and most recently as the clinical dietitian for the Mental Health Rehabilitation Program at St. Joseph’s Care Group.

Cara is an Assistant Professor at NOSM, working in various facets of the MD program curriculum in addition to her work with NODIP. For NODIP, she has previously held the Site Coordinator role for Thunder Bay and had previous membership on the program’s Accommodations Committee and Curriculum Development Committee. Cara was awarded the Academic Excellence Award for 2019-2020 and has managed several distributed research projects on dietetic practice.

Though Denise is retiring from her role as Program Manager, she plans to stay involved in the profession by making contributions to the field of dietetics. Denise has brought her passion and dedication to the field of nutrition for nearly 30 years and was part of the group who first conceived of the vision for NODIP.

Having joined NOSM in 2007 during NODIP’s inaugural year, Denise built NOSM’s nationally recognized dietetics program from the ground up. Thanks to its reputation for high quality of education, in 2015 NODIP was selected by the Dietitians of Canada to be the first post-degree internship of all Canadian dietetic education programs to be assessed using the new Partnership for Dietetic Education and Practice (PDEP) Accreditation Standards.

NODIP is a small but mighty program and has often been referred to as ‘the jewel in the crown of NOSM,’ in large part due to Denise’s leadership and expertise. She will be greatly missed by faculty, alumni of the program, management peers and clinical partners.

As of this summer, NODIP has trained 171 dietetic interns in more than 35 communities in the North. Of those, 64 percent have chosen to practice in rural or Northern communities. NOSM-educated dietitians are now increasing access to dietetic services in rural and Northern settings that have historically faced shortages.

Please join us in welcoming Cara to her new role, and wishing Denise well in her retirement!

*Note: The photo of Denise and Cara was taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.