About the Event
In collaboration with Kaiser Permanente, the Food is Medicine Institute was pleased to have hosted the second annual Food is Medicine National Summit in Boston, MA on April 24-25, 2024.
This 2-day Summit, supported by Kaiser Permanente, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the Walmart Foundation, was the nation’s premier event on food is medicine. It built on last year’s Summit, which was attended by over 1,200 people in person and online. We had an even bigger audience this year, bringing together healthcare leaders, clinicians, community and advocacy organizers, investors, entrepreneurs, policy makers, and patients with lived experience to share and highlight advances, best practices, challenges, and next directions in food is medicine.
This year’s Summit focused on the exciting new directions in food is medicine research in communities, healthcare, research, and government; and the intersections with policy and patients.
Watch: 2nd Annual Food is Medicine National Summit
00:00 – Welcome to the 2nd Annual Food is Medicine National Summit and Introductory Remarks: Overview of Food is Medicine, Chris Economos, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy; Cecilia Gerard, Food is Medicine Institute; Bechara Choucair, Kaiser Permanente; Devon Klatell, The Rockefeller Foundation
15:20 – Opening Remarks and Introduction of Keynote: “Food is Medicine Platform for the Country and the Provider,” Dariush Mozaffarian, Food is Medicine Institute
31:09 – Opening Keynote: “Build a Healthier, Hunger Free America,” Congressman Jim McGovern, U.S. House of Representatives
52:22 – Panel 1: “Federal Policy Directions in Food is Medicine,” Jessica Lee, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; Ruth Petersen, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Caree Cotwright, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Joshuah Marshall, Indian Health Service; Christine Going, Department of Veterans Affairs; Dan Glickman, Moderator, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy; Bipartisan Policy Center
1:52:51 – Fireside Chat 1: “Lived Experience with Food is Medicine Programs,” Vanessa Georges, FIMMA Advisory Board Member; Debra Cooper, FreshRx Oklahoma; Joseph Moeykens, Veterans Affairs Produce Rx Program; David Waters, Moderator, Community Servings
2:28:52 – Panel 2: “Food is Medicine Advances in Cities and Communities,” Richard Comeau, Hunger Free Oklahoma; Erin McAleer, Project Bread; Dion Dawson, Dion’s Chicago Dream; Benjamin Leong, Kaiser Permanente; Brent Ling, Moderator, Wholesome Wave
3:15:53 – Fireside Chat 2: “The Business Case for Healthy Communities,” Dariush Mozaffarian, Food is Medicine Institute; Brooks Tingle, John Hancock
3:36:23 – Panel 3: “FIM Advances in Healthcare,” John Lumpkin, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation; Nebeyou Abebe, Highmark Health; Kofi Essel, Elevance Health; Livleen Gill, Apostle Group; Rishi Manchanda, Moderator, Health Begins
4:29:29 – Closing Remarks: “Call to Action,” Cecilia Gerard, Food is Medicine Institute
Summit Resources
Speakers
Nebeyou Abebe
SVP, Social Determinants of Health, Highmark Health
Ariel Altman
Head of Industry Partnerships, YouTube Health
Allison Aubrey
Correspondent, NPR News
Seth Berkowitz
Associate Professor, University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Kelliann Blazek
Special Assistant to the President for Agriculture and Rural Policy, The White House
Andrew Bremer
Director, NIH Office of Nutrition Research
Bechara Choucair
Senior Vice President and Chief Health Officer, Kaiser Permanente
Allison Collins
Director of Lifestyle and Culinary Medicine for Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara
Richard Comeau
Chief Program Office, Hunger Free Oklahoma
John R. Combes
Chief Communications and Public Policy Officer, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
Debra Cooper
Outreach Coordinator, FreshRx Oklahoma
Caree Jackson Cotwright
Director of Nutrition Security and Heath Equity for the Food and Nutrition Service at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Dion Dawson
Founder/Executive Director, Dion’s Chicago Dream
Stephen Devries
Executive Director, Nonprofit Gaples Institute Nutrition and Lifestyle Education
Joseph Doyle
Erwin H. Schell Professor of Management and Applied Economics, MIT Sloan School of Management
Stacey Ecoffey
Deputy Director for Intergovernmental Affairs, Indian Health Service
Christina Economos
Dean, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University
Shereef Elnahal
Under Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Kofi Essel
Food as Medicine (FAM) Program Director, Elevance Health
Holly Freishtat
Senior Director of Feeding Change, Milken Institute
Pritesh Gandhi
Chief Healthcare Executive, Walmart Health & Wellness
Katie Garfield
Director, Whole Person Care, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, Harvard Law School
Vanessa Georges
FIMMA Advisory Board Member
Livleen Gill
President & CEO, Apostle Group, LLC
Secretary Dan Glickman
Senior Fellow, Bipartisan Policy Center
Adjunct Professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts Unviersity
Christine Going
Senior Advisor, Food Security Office at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Nira Goren
Head of Health Information Quality, Google
Lisa Green
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Family Christian Health Center
Timothy Griffin
Dean for Educational Affairs, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University
Josh Hix
CEO, Season
Michelle Howell
Farmer, Need More Acres Farm
Mark Hyman
Founder and Senior Advisor, Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine
Jim Jones
Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods, Food and Drug Administration
Jim Kirby
Chief Commercial Officer, Kroger Health
Devon Klatell
Vice President, Food Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation
Jessica Lee
Acting Chief Medical Officer, Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, CMS
Benjamin Leong
Physician Director for the Center for Healthy Living, Kaiser Permanente Downey
Brent Ling
Director of External Affairs, Wholesome Wave
John Lumpkin
President, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation
Yvonne Maddox
President and CEO, TAThornton Foundation
Rishi Manchanda
CEO, HealthBegins
Joshuah Marshall
Senior Advisor to the Director, Indian Health Service
Erin Martin
Director, FreshRx Oklahoma
Sarah Mastrorocco
Vice President and General Manager of Health, Instacart
Erin McAleer
President & CEO, Project Bread
Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA)
Ranking Member, House Rules Committee
Joseph Moeykens
Veterans Affairs Produce Rx Program
Andrew Moose
Head of Health and Wellness, World Economic Forum
Michelle Morse
Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Commissioner for the Center for Health Equity and Community Wellness, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Danielle Nierenberg
President and Founder, Food Tank
Ed Park
Co-founder and CEO, Devoted
Ruth Petersen
Director, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Lisa Quintiliani
Associate Professor of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Tufts Medical Center
Pamela Schwartz
Executive Director for Community Health, Kaiser Permanente
Hilary Seligman
Professor of Medicine and of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco
Stefany Shaheen
President, Good Measures
Linda Shiue
Director of Culinary Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine, Kaiser Permanente San Francisco
Alissa Wassung
Executive Director, Food Is Medicine Coalition
David B. Waters
CEO, Community Servings
Fang Fang Zhang
Food is Medicine Institute
About the Food is Medicine Institute
The Food is Medicine Institute is a university-wide collaborative effort based at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, bringing together experts from across disciplines with other local and national collaborators to advance food is medicine research, training, patient care, and community and policy engagement. Tufts is the leading academic institution globally for advancing food is medicine, engaging in multiple large food is medicine interventional trials in collaboration with health care systems, extensive policy and comparative effectiveness analysis, and more. The first-of-its-kind Institute serves as a catalyst to drive change, improve health, reduce health disparities, and create a more equitable and resilient health care system that recognizes the power of nourishing food.