General Session 6 - Equipping Healthcare and Public Health Professionals Working in Teaching Kitchens for Leadership and Advocacy in Food System & Policy Change

0.50 CPEU approved for RDs/DTRs who watch the recording, valid through June 2026.

This session will inspire and equip professionals of all backgrounds to leverage teaching kitchen experiences as powerful catalysts for systemic change through policy in both healthcare and food systems. For newcomers and seasoned advocates alike, this session will offer a valuable snapshot of the current political landscape surrounding the growing roles of lifestyle medicine and food is medicine—which intersect through culinary medicine—in healthcare and  food systems. You will also gain an understanding of critical food system issues affecting public health. Based on this context and drawing from your expertise as healthcare providers, educators, culinary experts, or other professionals, you will learn strategies to effectively advocate for policy changes at local, state, and federal levels that can improve access to and engagement with teaching kitchens and the beneficial health outcomes that can result. You will gain a nuanced understanding of opportunities that are ripe for change, and be empowered to become an effective agent of transformation in your community and beyond.

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Identify at least 3 emerging trends in the healthcare delivery system that impact access to lifestyle/culinary medicine interventions in clinical and community health settings.

2. Explain at least 5 negative impacts on societal, environmental, and health factors from the state of the current US agricultural system. 

3. Identify at least 3 ways that healthcare providers can advocate for food and farming systems and healthcare policy reform, including with food is medicine interventions and culinary medicine, to promote better health for the patients and communities we serve.

Presenters:

Christina Badaracco, MPH, RD, LDN, Culinary Medicine Consultant, MedStar Health

Shad Marvasti, MD, MPH, Founding Director of The Culinary Medicine Program, Associate Professor, University of Arizona College of Medicine