Chris Walsh, a graduate student in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Master of Public Health in Nutrition and Dietetics program, holds his Outstanding Dietetic Student of the Year award and certificate in a campus teaching kitchen. Photo by Dixie Edmondson.
When Chris Walsh was 16, he had questions.
He liked chemistry. He liked science. But more than anything, he wanted to understand why food seemed to affect him differently than it did other people.
“I was a big fan of chemistry,” said Walsh, a graduate student in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Master of Public Health (MPH) in Nutrition and Dietetics program. “It was the only thing I cared about in school.
“I really liked the sciences and I was like, ‘Why is it that I can eat this and this and it affects me in this way?’ Or, ‘How is it that my health is different if I’m overweight?’”
Growing up in a low-income household, Walsh said that healthy eating habits were not always easy to maintain. As a teenager weighing around 300 pounds, the Nashville native began making changes with the support of his family.
Getting healthy was what helped shape his career path.
“I really thought, if I want to know how to help other people and get the kind of help I wanted, then I needed to go learn more,” he recalled.
This May, Walsh—now 25—will receive his second degree from UTC, having earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise and health science in December 2023.
Today, he is more than 125 pounds lighter than he was at 16. That change, he said, sharpened his focus on helping others navigate their own health journeys.
Along the way, he has immersed himself in research, community health and leadership within the MPH program, all of which contributed to his recent selection as the Chattanooga Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ 2025-26 Outstanding Dietetic Student of the Year. The honor recognizes students enrolled in Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics-accredited programs who demonstrate strong academic achievement, leadership and professional potential.
The Chattanooga-level recognition places him in consideration for the Tennessee Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Student of the Year Award.
For Walsh, the award was unexpected.
“It was amazing,” he said. “I was very, very happy. I did not consider that I was going to be nominated. It took me completely by surprise and I was overjoyed when I heard my name.
“It gives me a lot of motivation that the work that I do put in is recognized and that it does mean it is seen by people in the community, both with the people I’ve worked with and others in the same field of nutrition and dietetics.”
Associate Professor Amir Alakaam, director of the UTC MPH program, said the award speaks to more than grades.
“I nominated Chris Walsh for the Outstanding Dietetics Student Award because of the significant growth, dedication and leadership he has demonstrated throughout his time in the MPH: Nutrition and Dietetics program,” Alakaam said. “Chris has shown impressive academic and professional development, particularly in his ability to perform under pressure and continuously improve his skills.
“His achievement reflects the strength of our MPH program in preparing students not only academically, but professionally and ethically for leadership roles in public health. We are incredibly proud of him. Awards like this affirm that our students are making meaningful contributions, and we look forward to seeing the continued impact he will have in the field of public health.”
One of Walsh’s primary projects is research examining how the diets of international college students change after moving to the United States.
Working about 10 hours a week with Alakaam, he began by reviewing years of published studies and helped identify gaps in the literature.
“As a research assistant, he has consistently demonstrated intellectual curiosity and integrity,” Alakaam said. “He took ownership of projects, such as the one related to eating habits of international students in the U.S., and contributed meaningfully to advancing the work.”
Walsh has submitted an abstract as first author to the Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo, the largest annual meeting of nutrition professionals, and is preparing a manuscript for publication.
Walsh said stepping into research was both exciting and intimidating.
“It was something I was both interested in and anxious about,” he said. “The idea of doing professional research for my professor was both daunting and something I was like, ‘I want to gain the skills in this. I want to be better at performing the research.’”
Research, he said, is central to the profession.
“It’s incredibly important,” Walsh said. “We make all of our decisions through evidence-based research. We rarely try to use individual cases. We go off of empirical evidence where we rank the tiers and we try to make an educated decision based on what we read.”
The work has broadened his understanding of the barriers international students face. Access to transportation, campus policies regarding cooking facilities and the cost of groceries can all influence dietary habits.
“It’s these ideas that I’ve just never thought of in ways to solve the issue,” he said.
While research sharpens his academic skills, community engagement has shaped Walsh in different ways.
Through MobileMOC, UTC’s mobile health clinic, he has participated in nutrition screenings and counseling for underserved populations in the Chattanooga region. Under Alakaam’s supervision, he has taken on responsibilities that many students do not encounter until later in their training.
“It’s very rare for the student to do nutrition counseling,” Alakaam said. “He stepped up and found out how challenging it is.”
“Getting to be on site and getting to be in the center where I’m actually interacting with them and I’m discussing with them on whatever they’re curious about or whatever issue we’re needing to talk about is a really good experience for me,” Walsh said.
His long-term plans reflect both personal experience and professional training.
“I think my goal after I graduate is to get more practice as a dietician in a clinical space,” he said. “Once I build on that, I want to start working on helping low-income areas and people who don’t have great resources to nutrient-dense foods.”
Added Alakaam, “He really likes to serve the underserved population and those who are in need, and I feel like this is what his future should be.”
For Walsh, the Chattanooga Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics award is meaningful. But the questions that first drew him to nutrition and dietetics still guide him.
“I’ve known for a long time that I really wanted to be a dietician to help others in the community,” he said. “People who don’t have great resources to nutrient-dense foods don’t quite know the guidelines or recommendations. They either aren’t aware of the recommendations or can’t really afford to follow them.
“I want to be someone who can meet them where they are and help them make changes that actually work for their lives.”
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