Downstate Students Organize White House Hunger, Nutrition, and Health Viewing Event
By Office of the President | Oct 24, 2022
Downstate students organized and hosted a virtual watch party for last month’s Biden-Harris White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health—one of the hundreds of nationwide watch parties at colleges and universities, allowing Downstate students to share live reactions to this meaningful conversation.
This year’s conference focused on developing actionable strategies to improve the nation’s health and ensure fewer Americans experience diet-related diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. The White House also announced $8B in new commitments as part of a Call to Action catalyzing public and private sectors to address the intersections among food, hunger, nutrition, and health.
Already ahead of the curve on issues raised at the conference, Downstate’s Committee on Plant-Based Health and Nutrition, Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group, and the student-led Downstate Initiative for Nutritional Empowerment (DINE) club have found ways to integrate plant-based health into resident training, student education, and the overall culture at Downstate. These efforts include reviewing and recommending evidence-based resources and hosting lectures, Zoom events, and health fairs.
The last White House Conference on National Nutrition Policy was held more than 50
years ago and led to the creation of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, expanded the National School Lunch and Food Stamps program (now SNAP),
and created nutrition labeling standards, among many other accomplishments.
Thank you to Richard Rosenfeld, M.D., MPH, MBA, Distinguished Professor and Immediate Past Chair/Program Director of Otolaryngology, and Elizabeth Helzner, Ph.D., Epidemiology and Biostatistics Interim Chair, and the students who have contributed so much to these efforts. I also offer kudos to Schuyler Hooke, Student Life Department Director, Adam Burgman, M.Ed., Interim Student Center Director, DINE president Maissa Trabilsy; and COM students Gabrielle Estevez-Inoa, and Lora Stoianova for setting up the watch party. Lora is a fourth-year medical student and founder of Downstate’s Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group, whose video is an excellent primer about student engagement work on plant-based medicine.
Click here to learn more about plant-based activities at Downstate.
To learn more about the Biden-Harris nationwide Call to Action, click here. Then, scroll to “Pillar 2” to see planned initiatives on Nutrition and Health. These include a commitment from the Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to host a first-ever Medical Education Summit on Nutrition in Practice in March 2023.