SUNY Downstate Pilots Food as Medicine Initiative for Medical and Public Health Students

By Office of Communications & Marketing | Sep 29, 2021

MEDIA CONTACT: Dawn S.Walker | dawn.walker@downstate.edu | (917) 439-9666

Brooklyn, NY (September 29, 2021) – SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University today announced the launch of its brand-new University Hospital of Brooklyn (UHB) Food as Medicine Initiative – a supplemental course program for students about diet, nutrition, and health. A $10,000 discretionary grant from the Office of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams SUNY Downstate's Committee on Plant-Based Health and Nutrition and the student-run Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group supported the initiative.

The program, headed by Dr. Richard Rosenfeld, is comprised of two online courses with about 6 hours of up-to-date evidence about diet, nutrition, and health. The courses — developed by the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and the Gaples Institute — supplement the existing College of Medicine nutrition curriculum, which emphasizes macronutrients and deficiency states, with a more holistic emphasis on food as medicine. Fifty-one College of Medicine and School of Public Health students completed the program, which was made available to students for free through Borough President Adams' funding.

"We have known about the healing properties of nutrition since the days of Hippocrates, who famously said 'Let food be thy medicine.' But too many healthcare workers-in-training do not receive adequate education in medical school about how diet can combat certain chronic diseases, which leads to poorer health outcomes and a widespread misconception that chronic diseases can just be 'managed' with medication.& My own personal health journey of reversing my Type 2 diabetes through a whole-food, plant-based diet challenges that narrative. That's why I was proud to fund this Food as Medicine Initiative in partnership with SUNY Downstate. This initiative builds on our previous advocacy, including the Plant-Based Lifestyle Medicine Program at Bellevue Hospital. It is my hope that we can scale up programs like these at medical schools throughout the city in the years ahead and ensure all healthcare workers are equipped with the knowledge about the importance of healthy diet when they enter the workforce," said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

"We are always inspired to expand our collaborative offerings, and especially those where we can focus on disease prevention," said School of Public Health dean Kitaw Demissie, M.D., Ph.D. "We are grateful to our College of Medicine, the Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group, and Borough President Eric Adams's continued commitment to engaging the community about the importance of diet, health, and nutrition. In communities with high rates of chronic illnesses, we must prepare our healthcare professionals to look closely at these variables.

"There is no better way to help patients heal themselves than to provide them with this valuable information," said Anika Daniels-Osaze, Ed.D, MPH, Director of Diversity Education and Research in Downstate's College of Medicine. "I believe that every student looking to enter a career in a health profession and every healthcare provider should be required to take this course—particularly as we continue to address health disparities in underserved communities.

Plant-forward nutrition is a powerful and often overlooked approach to preventing, treating, and – in some cases – reversing chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. The Food as Medicine Initiative will address how preventing these conditions will create a more sustainable and equitable healthcare future.

"Everyone should have access to this information. Too often, pharmacological treatments are the go-to for chronic disease management instead of dietary interventions that are clearly backed by science,\" said Aliye Talal Mosaad, MPH, a public health doctoral student. \"I changed my dietary habits after completing these certificate courses and shared the knowledge I learned with my family to help them improve their diets.

SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University plans to continue offering the Food as Medicine coursework and its existing educational programming around lifestyle medicine. Downstate is home to one of the first Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group (LMIG) in the New York metro area under the auspices of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Additionally, SUNY Downstate has an active Committee on Plant-Based Health and Nutrition, a multidisciplinary effort by the College of Medicine, School of Public Health, and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President. Finally, the student-led Downstate Initiative on Nutrition Empowerment (DINE) Club recently installed a vegetable garden on campus to facilitate community gathering and educational initiatives around agricultural sustainability and nutritional wellness. For more information about SUNY Downstate's Food as Medicine Initiative, please click here.

"New Forward-Thinking Courses for Healthcare Workers at University Hospital of Brooklyn Focus on Plant-Based Nutrition and Medicine

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About SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University

SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University is the borough’s only academic medical center for health education, research, and patient care, and is a 342-bed facility serving the healthcare needs of New York City, and Brooklyn’s 2.6 million residents. University Hospital of Brooklyn (UHB) is Downstate’s teaching hospital, backed by the expertise of an outstanding medical school and the research facilities of a world-class academic center. More than 800 physicians, representing 53 specialties and subspecialties—many of them ranked as tops in their fields—comprise Downstate's staff.

A regional center for cardiac care, neonatal and high-risk infant services, pediatric dialysis, and transplantation, Downstate also houses a major learning center for children with physical ailments or neurological disorders. In addition to UHB, Downstate comprises a College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School of Health Professions, a School of Graduate Studies, a School of Public Health, and a multifaceted biotechnology initiative, including the Downstate Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT for early-stage and more mature companies, respectively. For more information, visit www.downstate.edu or follow us on Twitter at @sunydownstate.