History
At the Higher Education Executive Board Meeting of the Higher Education Council Presidency dated 30.03.2011, in accordance with Article 7/d-2 of Law No. 2547 amended by Law No. 2880, it was deemed appropriate to establish the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics within our Faculty in 2013. Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Cevat Sayılı Faculty of Health Sciences Department of Nutrition and Dietetics started its educational activities in the field of nutrition and dietetics in the 2018-2019 academic year. After successfully completing their 4-year education, our students are entitled to receive a "Bachelor's Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics" and the title of "Dietitian".
Profession Definition and Establishment
The origin of the dietitian profession dates back to the 1880s. Sarah Tyson Rorer is the first dietitian in America. Sarah Tyson Rorer taught a course at the Philadelphia cooking school that included food preparation, food chemistry, cooking chemistry, hygiene, digestion, food-related diseases, and practical information. The first practices in the field of Nutrition and Dietetics were carried out in America as early cooking schools, hospital dietetics, food clinics, and dietetic practices in the military. The American Medical Association established a Dietetics Committee under its auspices in 1877 and appointed Sarah Tyson Rorer as its head. In 1980, they suggested Mrs. Rorer open a diet kitchen in their institutions, and from that date on, diet kitchens began to become widespread in hospitals. After these developments, the need for individuals to work in the field of dietetics gained importance, and in 1899, the profession was defined with the name "Dietitian". Accordingly, the definition was made as "A dietitian is a person who has been educated in food and nutrition and can apply the defined diet therapy." The World Health Organization, in 2010, defined it as "a member of the profession who evaluates, plans, and implements programs on the impact of food and nutrition on human health, and conducts research, measurements, and education to improve the nutritional status of individuals and communities." In our country, according to the additional Article 13 of the law published in the Official Gazette No. 27916 dated April 26, 2011, No. 6225, "A dietitian is a health professional who has graduated from faculties and schools providing undergraduate education in the field of nutrition and dietetics; determines nutrition programs for healthy individuals, arranges necessary nutrition programs for patients upon the direction of the physician, prepares nutrition programs in mass feeding places, and ensures food safety."
The dietitian profession began to gain importance during World War I when approximately half of the men who underwent health checks for conscription were found to have nutritional disorders. The American Public Health Service (PHS) started its activities in 1798, the year it was founded, to protect public health before treatment, and in 1919, dietitians and nutritionists began to be assigned to PHSs. After PHS offices began to spread and public health services developed, the importance of a multidisciplinary approach in public health services began to be understood.
In our country, the first Department of Nutrition and Dietetics was established in 1962 at Hacettepe University Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Basic Sciences. With the participation of two faculty members, Prof. Dr. Orhan Köksal and Prof. Dr. Ayşe Baysal, who specialized in the field of nutrition, the quality of education began to increase. The professional association of dietitians was established in 1969 under the name Turkish Dietitians Association. It was declared as "Dietitians Day" on June 6, 1986, and since then, June 6 has been celebrated as Dietitians Day every year.
Ayşe Baysal, who was born in 1930 in Uğurlu Village (formerly Konya-Ermenek Village) of Karaman Sarıveliler district, completed her primary education in the same village and her secondary education at İvriz Village Institute in 1950. After completing her higher education at Ankara Girls' Technical Higher Teacher School in 1954, she started her professional life at Trabzon Beşikdüzü Primary Teacher School. A year later, she joined the Home Economics Organization formed by the Ministry of Agriculture and worked at the Manisa Provincial Directorate of Agriculture until 1957. After receiving education in America for a year, she taught at the İzmir Home Economics Training Center between 1958-1960.
Winning the scholarship of the American Home Economics Association, Ayşe Baysal went to America in September 1960 and completed a bachelor's degree at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in one year, receiving her bachelor's degree in 1961 and her master's degree in Food and Nutrition in 1962. With the scholarship of the University of Wisconsin, she received her doctorate degree in Food and Nutrition in 1965.
Returning to the country and working for a short period at the Ministry of Village Affairs General Directorate of Public Education, she started working as a nutrition specialist at the Ministry of Health Hygiene School at the end of 1965. At the same time, she began teaching as an additional duty at Hacettepe University Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Nursing School, and Nursing College. In 1968, she was appointed as the Head of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Hacettepe, became an Associate Professor in 1970, and a Professor in 1976.
Ayşe Baysal, who started as a lecturer in 1966 and continued her duties as an administrator and educator, retired in 1997 but continued to contribute to studies in the field of nutrition and dietetics. Participating as a speaker in seminars, conferences, and congresses organized by various public and private institutions, and contributing to the public's awareness of proper nutrition through the media, Baysal also supports the education of dietitian candidates with the Prof. Dr. Ayşe Baysal Nutrition Education and Research Foundation (BESVAK).