Teaching Nutrition and Culinary Medicine
At the CHSU College of Osteopathic Medicine (CHSU-COM), we believe we can help improve the health of our community by educating our medical students and others in the Central Valley on healthy eating and nutrition. It is so important that we incorporated it into our COM curriculum where our medical students will learn the basics of nutrition and culinary medicine through team-based learning applications, case studies, and hands-on cooking classes in our Teaching Kitchen in our CHSU-COM building.
Our brand new Teaching Kitchen will allow for hands-on learning and large group demonstrations and is equipped with equipment similar to a home kitchen so students and the community can have a realistic, hands-on experience preparing healthy meals that they can recreate at home. Fresh and locally sourced food from the agriculturally rich and diverse Central Valley will be used whenever possible so healthy meals prepared in the Teaching Kitchen align with available resources, dietary preferences and cultural traditions.
“Our role at the medical school is to train future doctors while educating the community on healthy eating, which will help future generations make better choices,” says John Graneto, DO, MEd, Dean of College of Osteopathic Medicine.
CHSU Teaching Kitchen Featured in The Business Journal
The CHSU Teaching Kitchen was featured in the May 29, 2020 edition of The Business Journal, covering business news in Fresno, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties. Get an exclusive look at the new facility and how nutrition is integrated into the College of Osteopathic Medicine curriculum.
Read the full article.
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Emily Johnston, PhD, MPH, RDNAssistant Professor, Biomedical Education Dr. Johnston is a registered dietitian, holds a doctoral degree in nutrition and is currently pursuing a Culinary Medicine Specialist certification. With extensive experience in teaching culinary medicine classes to medical students and residents, she leads the CHSU-COM culinary medicine classes. |
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Avtar Nijjer-Sidhu, PhD, RDAssistant Professor, Primary Care Dr. Nijjer-Sidhu holds a doctoral degree in nutrition sciences, and teaches the CHSU Health Systems Science course. She guides medical students to develop quality improvement initiatives for federally qualified health centers to improve health outcomes. Dr. Nijjer-Sidhu has taught cooking classes in the community and at food banks to expand upon community health and wellness through healthy eating. |
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Sara Goldgraben, MD, MPH, MBAAssistant Professor, Specialty Medicine Dr. Goldgraben is a board certified preventive medicine and public health physician who will be teaching hands-on classes in the teaching kitchen. Nutrition is an integral component of prevention, and students will learn about this, as well as other behaviors, like smoking cessation and physical activity in their coursework. |
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Samuel Kadavakollu, PhD, MScAssociate Professor, Biomedical Education Dr. Kadavakollu directs the biochemistry course where the metabolism of nutrients is taught in detail. He and Dr. Johnston are working closely to ensure that nutrition is integrated into the biochemistry topics that appear throughout the curriculum. |