Leadership and Faculty
Alicia Tucker, MD, FAAP, ABOM
Director of Culinary Medicine Education
Alicia Tucker, M.D., FAAP, ABOM is a pediatrician at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences. She works clinically in child and adolescent obesity medicine with the Children’s National IDEAL Clinic, a multidisciplinary tertiary care weight management program.
Over the past decade Dr. Tucker has worked with students, residents, and faculty to support education around pediatric obesity and diet related chronic disease. Her advocacy work centers around how social determinants of health and food insecurity impact access to quality nutrition that is an integral part of disease management.
Jennifer Leon, BS, RDN, LN
Jennifer Leon, BS, RDN, LN, is the Lead Instructor for the GW University (GW) Culinary Medicine Program. Ms. Leon teaches Medical Students, Residents, Undergraduates, and community members at GW. She also teaches continuing medical education courses to health professionals. Ms. Leon has helped to develop and revise the curriculum for the Undergraduate course, and she manages the community education program.
Prior to this, Ms. Leon was the dietitian at the George Washington University Cancer Center. There, she provided medical nutrition therapy for patients in the high risk prevention program, in current treatment, and in survivorship. She founded and led the Nutrition Club support group - a monthly meeting open to patients, caregivers, providers, and community members, where nutrition topics were presented and good food was enjoyed. Ms. Leon worked with each patient’s health history and current environment, and worked to use nutrition as prevention, treatment, and support.
Ms. Leon earned Bachelor of Science degrees from Indiana University, Bloomington and the University of the District of Columbia. She completed a dietetic internship through Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Campus.
Before becoming a dietitian, Ms. Leon was a management consultant, focusing on higher education institutions and government organizations. She brings years of professionalism and attention to detail, along with a passion for healthful living, to the Culinary Medicine program at GW.
Genesis Villiareal
Kitchen Manager
Genesis Villarreal is the Kitchen Manager for the Culinary Medicine Program at George Washington University. She holds dual bachelor's degrees in Sociology and Political Science from Florida State University. Upon completion of her undergraduate studies, Villarreal pursued her passion for culinary arts, gaining experience in Michelin-starred restaurants in Washington, DC, where she progressed from prep cook to line cook. Now, at the SEVA Teaching Kitchen, Villarreal combines her culinary expertise with a focus on kitchen management and sanitation standards, while also mentoring students in efficient cooking techniques.
Allison E. Jordan, MD, CCMS, NBC-HWC, FAAHPM
Community Instructor
As a board certified internist, psychiatrist, palliative medicine, culinary medicine specialist and health and wellness coach, I am passionate about whole health for people living with serious illness. I am excited for the opportunity to teach classes over Zoom with people all over the country. I love sprinkling nutrition information into the sessions and sharing my culinary finds from Trader Joe’s!
Armando Tellez, MD
Community Instructor
I am originally from Mexico where cooking and the cuisine its part of our culture. Following my medical training I decided to focus in cardiovascular research. This lead me to my current position on the coronary interventional devices team. While medical device evaluation its an exciting field cooking has been my passion and for this reason I enrolled in culinary school. I later was immensely attracted to culinary medicine and the program run by George Washington University. I am excited for the opportunity to be part of this journey with this team and with all students to learn more about healthy choices without compromising flavors and increasing the eating experience.
Maya Fiellin, MPH
Research Lead, Culinary Medicine
Maya Fiellin, MPH is a Public Health Researcher and Educator, based in Washington, DC. Her areas of focus include nutrition education, health equity and operations management. As a hands-on senior leader, her background combines 10+ years in public health, community outreach as well as hospitality management.
Additionally, Maya is fluent in Spanish and has spent time in translation and interpretation. Working in a variety of settings from start-up environments to well established programs, Maya is a self-directed leader and an advocate for her team and community.
Lawrence Deyton, MSPH, MD
Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Public Health, George Washington University
As Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Public Health, Dr. Deyton is creating new curriculum and pedagogy for medical education to teach medical students the principles of public health, population health, and leadership in medical care and health systems decision-making. These are the tools that are required of clinicians who practice in 21st Century health care systems.
Dr. Deyton is well-positioned to work with Dr. Harlan and the GW Culinary Medicine team to facilitate, lead, and catalyze discussions on the scalability of culinary medicine across the spectrum of health professional education.
Timothy S. Harlan, MD, FACP, CCMS
Executive Director - George Washington University Culinary Medicine Program
Email: drdrmrmd@culinarymedicine.org
"Eating well and eating healthy is the same thing," says Dr. Tim Harlan, aka Dr. Gourmet, who discovered his love of food long before embarking on a successful career as a physician. By the age of 18, Harlan was managing his first restaurant and had learned cooking techniques from some of the finest chefs. He subsequently opened an intimate French bistro at age 22.
Returning to school to pursue a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management, Dr. Harlan found his way to medicine. While completing his degree at Emory University School of Medicine, he began writing about the clear link between food and health, blending his extensive knowledge of food and nutrition with his medical expertise.
Culinary Medicine Programming
Medical Student Programming
The Culinary Medicine elective is offered during the fall and spring semester to third- and fourth-year medical students and provides students the skills to teach patients how to incorporate healthy eating for the prevention and treatment of disease by altering their diets, meal preparation and food choices. The Culinary Medicine elective using the Health meets Food programming.
The eight-module Health meets Food core programming is offered as an elective to 3rd and 4th year medical students during the Spring semester each year. The course was first offered in 2017. Two cohorts of 16 students in each two-week elective for a total of 32 students each year.
Media Coverage
GW MD Program Adds Culinary Medicine Elective
Funding
Funding is through the Clinical Public Health programming.
