The overall purpose of this research was to assess the perceptions about nutrition education and the role of dietitians at a medical school in the Czech Republic. This work represents an international collaboration between The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Masaryk University. The adage, “you are what you eat” remains relevant today as our food choices are the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. Globally the increasing rates of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the so called “lifestyle diseases” that include obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, have potentially devastating complications including poor health outcomes. There is abundant evidence to support the role of nutrition in the prevention, management, and treatment of many health conditions including NCDs. Yet global research over the past decades has identified that many medical schools around the world lack adequate nutrition education for medical students. But with medical schools in the Czech Republic not represented in the published literature, the situation here is not clear. This work included a qualitative assessment of students and faculty at Masaryk University medical school in Brno, Czech Republic. Using a thematic interview guide, semi-structured interviews were conducted with students (n=30) in both the Czech and English programs at the medical school, and faculty members (n=6) that taught in one or both programs. Interviews were conducted in either the Czech or English language. After transcription, the Czech interviews were translated into English, and then all interview transcripts were prepared for review and thematic analysis. The themes identified revealed support for the important role of nutrition in medical care, concern about the limited amount of nutrition education offered at the medical school, a limited awareness about the role of dietitians in medical care, and student interest in additional education to improve nutrition knowledge and training to support the self-care and wellness of medical students. This work supports the existing literature on this topic and identified concerns that medical students at Masaryk University medical school are not receiving adequate nutrition education to prepare them to provide nutrition care for patients. In addition, the results suggest that with limited awareness about the role of dietitians in medical care, there may be poor interdisciplinary collaboration and dietitians may be underutilized resulting inadequate nutrition care for patients in the Czech Republic. These findings support future work to highlight the role of nutrition in medical care and support the role of dietitians as the nutrition professionals in the Czech health system. Such work may include assessing the feasibility of dietitians offering nutrition education sessions on current topics to medical students at Masaryk University. In addition, as interdisciplinary collaboration is beneficial for patient care, it may be valuable for future research to assess the nutrition knowledge and perceptions about nutrition education for other allied health professionals educated at Masaryk University including nurses, pharmacists, and physical therapists
