Kentucky medical schools to integrate more nutrition education through federal initiative
Under the program, the medical schools will provide at least 40 hours of nutrition education or an equivalent competency throughout all four years of medical school starting this fall.
Kentucky’s medical schools have agreed to take part in a U.S. Department of Health and Human Service nutrition education program.
According to a Kentucky Senate Republicans’ press release, University of Louisville School of Medicine, the University of Pikeville Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine and Eastern Kentucky University’s proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine have agreed to participate in the Nutrition Education Initiative. The University of Kentucky previously agreed in March.
Under the program, the medical schools will provide at least 40 hours of nutrition education or an equivalent competency throughout all four years of medical school starting this fall. The DHHS and the U.S. Department of Education launched the initiative earlier this year.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the Kentucky schools’ commitments during a visit to UK in early August.
“We cannot solve America’s chronic disease epidemic if doctors graduate without understanding how food shapes health,” Kennedy said in a statement. “Kentucky’s medical schools are changing that. By making nutrition a core part of medical education, they are preparing the next generation of physicians to prevent disease, treat its root causes, and help patients achieve lasting health.”
The Senate Republicans said the work with the federal initiative builds on a 2026 resolution declaring Kentucky a “Food Is Medicine State.” The resolution, sponsored by Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, said a goal of the declaration was to “recognize the critical role of nutrition in preventing and managing chronic diseases and to promote the use of local food products in health care systems.”
“This announcement confirms what we’ve believed all along: nutrition belongs at the center of healthcare,” Frommeyer said of the medical schools’ commitment. “When future physicians understand the role food plays in preventing and treating chronic disease, patients benefit, families benefit and Kentucky benefits. The General Assembly’s Food Is Medicine initiative laid the groundwork for this kind of collaboration by recognizing that better health outcomes and stronger rural economies go hand in hand.”
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