Registered Dietitian - Clinical Research (Part-Time)

Essential Responsibilities and Duties

• Reviews research protocols to identify and interpret all nutrition-related requirements, including dietary interventions, nutritional assessments, biospecimen collection related to nutrition, and meal-controlled feeding.
• Develops standardized nutrition procedures, documentation, and tools to ensure consistency across network sites.
• Supports feasibility assessments by evaluating site capabilities for nutrition-related activities (e.g., metabolic kitchen, specialized diets, equipment).
• Conducts nutrition screening, assessments, and counseling for study participants per protocol guidelines.
• Develops individualized or protocol-specific meal plans (including controlled diets, macronutrient-specific diets, allergen-controlled diets, and metabolic feeding regimens).
• Monitors participant adherence to dietary protocols and document deviations according to Good Clinical Practice (GCP).
• Oversees accurate and consistent collection of nutrition-related data such as dietary intake records, anthropometrics, body composition metrics, and metabolic measurements.
• Ensures all diet-related procedures comply with IRB, FDA, and study sponsor requirements.
• Maintains high-quality documentation and audit-ready records across all network sites.
• Partners with principal investigators, study coordinators, nurses, and other clinical staff to implement protocol-specific nutrition workflows.
• Trains site personnel on nutrition procedures, dietary recording methods, and use of nutrition assessment tools.
• Serves as the nutrition subject matter expert for multi-site conference calls, site initiation visits, and monitoring visits.
• Collaborates with central research administration to develop standardized operating procedures (SOPs) for nutrition and metabolic unit operations.
• Works with purchasing and vendor management teams to ensure standardized food products and supplements across all network sites, when applicable.
• Participates in quality improvement initiatives aimed at improving nutritional protocol adherence and study participant experience.
• Ensures compliance with local, state, and federal regulations governing nutrition practice in research.
• Maintains current knowledge of emerging nutrition science relevant to active or upcoming studies.
• Adheres to ethical research practices, GCP, and confidentiality requirements.
• Supports and ensures strictest adherence to best practices, FDA Code of Federal Regulations, ICH (International Conference on Harmonization), GCP (Good Clinical Practices), CenExel standard operating procedures, site working Practices, protocol, and company guidelines and policies.
• Assumes other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Education/Experience/Skills

• Must be able to effectively communicate verbally and in writing.
• Current Registered Dietitian (RD/RDN) credential.
• 1–3 years of clinical nutrition experience preferred.
• Experience in clinical research, academic medical centers, or metabolic studies strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with GCP, IRB processes, and protocol-driven research highly desirable.
• Strong knowledge of clinical nutrition, dietary assessment methods, and therapeutic diets.
• Expertise in interpreting research protocols and applying nutrition science in controlled research settings.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with ability to work collaboratively across investigators, clinicians, and operations teams.
• Strong organizational skills and meticulous attention to detail.
• Proficiency with nutrition software, EMRs, dietary analysis tools, and research documentation platforms.
• Ability to work independently across multiple sites and manage competing priorities.

Working Conditions

• Indoor, Clinic environment.
• Essential physical requirements include sitting, typing, standing, and walking.
• Lightly active position, occasional lifting of up to 20 pounds.
• Reporting to work, as scheduled, is essential.
• May involve on-site, hybrid, or remote responsibilities depending on study needs.
• Travel to network sites for training, monitoring, and study support may be required.