Assistant Manager, Clinical Nutrition–Cancer Service Line

Join UChicago Medicine, as an Assistant Manager, Clinical Nutrition – Cancer Service Line in our Clinical Nutrition department.

The Assistant Manager, Clinical Nutrition – Cancer Service Line provides frontline leadership and day-to-day operational management for nutrition services across the cancer care continuum, including assigned inpatient oncology units and ambulatory oncology programs. This role leads staff performance, clinical and operational workflows, patient access, and coordination across surgical oncology and holistic/supportive oncology nutrition services. 

The Assistant Manager also provides operational leadership for the Teaching Kitchen and associated culinary nutrition, community outreach, and Food Is Medicine programming. This position serves as the primary day-to-day leadership connection between Clinical Nutrition and the Cancer Service Line while escalating trends, risks, and strategic opportunities to the Clinical Nutrition Manager.

Essential Job Functions

• Provide direct supervision to assigned Registered Dietitians supporting inpatient oncology units, ambulatory oncology services, surgical oncology, and holistic/supportive oncology nutrition programs.
• Lead daily readiness huddles and routine staff rounding to review staffing, patient volumes, safety concerns, access barriers, workflow issues, and operational priorities.
• Provide real-time coaching, competency development, performance feedback, and accountability through observation, chart review, and routine one-on-one check-ins.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, retention, professional development, and succession planning for assigned staff.
• Address performance concerns through clear expectations, documentation, and corrective action in collaboration with the Clinical Nutrition Manager.
• Execute and monitor daily nutrition operations across the cancer care continuum, including inpatient oncology units and ambulatory oncology programs.
• Coordinate staffing, schedules, workload distribution, coverage, and continuity of nutrition care across oncology settings.
• Partner with Cancer Service Line leaders and interdisciplinary teams to integrate nutrition into oncology care pathways and multidisciplinary clinics.
• Develop and standardize referral, triage, scheduling, documentation, follow-up, and transition workflows for oncology nutrition services.
• Identify operational barriers and implement improvements that increase timely access to oncology nutrition care.
• Provide operational leadership for the Teaching Kitchen and associated culinary nutrition programming, including program scheduling, space utilization, supplies, inventory, equipment coordination, food safety, sanitation, and workflow. 
• Ensure Illinois-compliant food-handler training for every other employee who regularly prepares food or works with food-contact equipment/surfaces
• Coordinate evidence-based culinary nutrition programs with Registered Dietitians and interdisciplinary experts, with emphasis on cancer treatment, symptom management,urvivorship, and other identified patient needs.
• Develop and coordinate community education, outreach, Food Is Medicine initiatives, grocery store tours, garden or farmers market programming, and other experiential nutrition activities as appropriate.
• Establish processes for registration, participant communication, attendance tracking, program evaluation, and follow-up.
• Build internal and community partnerships that expand access to practical, culturally responsive nutrition education.
• Monitor oncology nutrition referrals, work queues, wait times, referral conversion, appointment utilization, visit volumes, productivity, and unmet demand.
• Conduct ongoing monitoring of documentation quality, clinical practice standards, billing workflows, and regulatory requirements through structured review and chart audits.
• Develop dashboards and reports to identify access gaps, performance trends, program outcomes, and opportunities for improvement.
• Implement corrective actions and education following audit or performance findings and monitor for sustained improvement.
• Support regulatory survey readiness and continuous compliance across assigned services.
• Serve as a leadership liaison between Clinical Nutrition, Cancer Service Line leadership, providers, nursing, ambulatory operations, scheduling/access teams, supportive services, and community partners.
• Communicate operational expectations, workflow changes, program updates, and performance priorities clearly and consistently.
• Promote continuity of nutrition care between inpatient and ambulatory oncology settings.
• Represent Clinical Nutrition on appropriate oncology, Teaching Kitchen, patient education, community outreach, and operational committees.
• Serve as an operational extension of the Clinical Nutrition Manager, translating departmental and Cancer Service Line priorities into daily execution.
• Provide input on staffing needs, program growth, resource allocation, access barriers, and performance trends.
• Support development and implementation of departmental goals, policies, clinical pathways, and long-term strategies.
• Identify opportunities to expand oncology nutrition, Teaching Kitchen, community, and Food Is Medicine programming based on patient need and organizational priorities.
• Provide operational coverage and decision-making support in the absence of the Clinical Nutrition Manager.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in nutrition, Dietetics, or related field required for individuals eligible to sit for RD/RDN exam on or after 1/1/2024. Registered Dietitian
• Nutritionists credentialed prior to January 1, 2024, with a Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition, Dietetics, or related field are grandfathered and meet the educational requirement.
• Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) with active licensure
• Minimum of 5 years of clinical nutrition experience
• Prior leadership or supervisory experience preferred
• Experience in complex inpatient and/or ambulatory healthcare settings
• Experience working in decentralized or multi-site healthcare environments preferred
• Experience working with community partners and community outreach including Community Health Assessments and Community Health Improvement Plans.
• Prior experience in oncology nutrition preferred. Certified Specialist in Oncology Nutrition (CSO) preferred but not required.

License or Certifications

• Active Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) credential
• IL State Licensed Dietitian licensure through IDFPR
• Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) Food Service Sanitation Certificate (If Serving TCS Foods)
• Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) or receive within 1 month of hire.

 Position Details

• Job Type/FTE: Full-Time 1.0 FTE
• Shift: Days
• Unit/Department: Clinical Nutrition 
• CBA Code: Non-Union