Chairs

Current SIG Chair:

Alicia Tucker, MD, DiplABOM

Amrik Khalsa, MD

Emma Steinberg, MD

Food is Medicine highlights the role that nutrition plays across the healthcare spectrum including prevention, management, and treatment of specific conditions. The Nutrition and Food is Medicine SIG brings together pediatricians and healthcare professionals to share evidence-based research, education, and clinical practice experience that supports integration of nutrition interventions into healthcare.

Food is Medicine emphasizes nutrition security and health equity, where nutritious food access is considered a fundamental health care resource. Despite an exponential increase and enthusiasm for development of Food is Medicine initiatives there remains gaps in our understanding of how best to implement strategies across the healthcare system, how to design interventions that have measurable health outcomes, and how to ensure that families with unmet needs are connected to appropriate federal and/or community-based resources.

Current SIG Goals

  • Develop interprofessional relationships to advance the study and practice of Food is Medicine
  • Highlight evidence-based medical nutrition therapy for prevention and treatment of disease
  • Identify opportunities to enhance nutrition training across medical education programs
  • Share best practices and practical tips on how Food is Medicine is being implemented in academic and community based settings
  • Collaborate to develop quality metrics and reimbursement pathways

Annual Summary

We continue to see more interest and engagement with our SIG at PAS and hope to continue to engage with our members throughout the year. At the 2025 PAS meeting in Honolulu we were joined by Dr. Ileana Vargas-Rodriguez, pediatric endocrinologist from Columbia University, and Dr. Michelle Loy, assistant professor of pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Vargas discussed recommendations for incorporating clinical nutrition competencies in graduate medical education. She shared her research into novel programming involving pediatric resident participation in her hands-on patient education classes to help children and families learn culinary and nutrition skills to better manage diabetes. Dr. Loy shared her work in incorporating integrative and lifestyle medicine into clinical practice to both prevent and manage chronic disease.

We were then able to network together in break-out groups to share individual knowledge and experiences on the integration of Food is Medicine programming across different academic and clinical settings. We look forward to facilitating more of these exciting conversations and championing future collaboration.

Other groups (other SIGs and other groups not in the APA) that work in your area of interest:

  • Education SIG
  • Obesity SIG
  • Environmental Health
  • Global Health
  • Integrative Pediatrics