People have long believed that eating well-balanced and nutritious meals would lead to a long and healthy life. What does that mean? It is an ever-changing conversation about what is healthy. To help patients make healthier food choices, the School of Medicine and Health Sciences developed a culinary medicine elective that is offered to third- and fourth-year students. The field of culinary medicine combines knowledge of food and cooking with science and medicine. Over 60 academic medical centers use the Health meets Food Culinary Medicine courseware that was created by CulinaryMedicine.org.
Following almost twenty years as a clinician at George Washington University, Dr. Seema Kakar launched culinary medicine education in 2017. She rented a teaching kitchen space and began teaching the Health Meets Food curriculum. The program educates medical students and other healthcare providers to empower their patients on making healthy food choices.
The Seva Culinary Medicine Teaching Kitchen Fund was established by Dr. Kakar and her husband as an endowment for the GW medical school. By establishing this new space, the GW medical community will be able to use food and science to benefit their patients and community. Visit the GW Culinary Medicine Program website for more information.
