Touro's Moving Food Forward

Touro's Moving Food Forward is a project supported through AACOM’s Food As Medicine grant initiative to integrate nutrition education into osteopathic medical education. Touro’s program is positioned to advance holistic, patient-centered care by embedding Food As Medicine concepts into medical training.

Touro’s project will integrate nutrition education across curricular levels, create or enhance experiential learning opportunities for students, foster interprofessional collaboration with community partners and allied health professionals, and expand clinical training in nutritional counseling—each a core principle AACOM promoted for grant recipients. Eligibility guidance for the Food As Medicine grant encouraged collaboration with community organizations, registered dietitians, chefs, and other healthcare professionals, and noted that developing COMs participating in AACOM consulting programs were also eligible. Operating under these parameters, Touro’s Moving Food Forward may pursue partnerships and community-engaged approaches to curriculum implementation, experiential workshops and clinical placements that expose students to practical nutritional counseling and community-based food systems initiatives. The grant’s single-cycle, non-recurring nature emphasizes strategic, sustainable curricular innovations and hands-on learning experiences that can be integrated into ongoing osteopathic education. As part of AACOM’s cohort of awardees, Touro’s initiative joins other programs such as interdisciplinary and culinary medicine trainings highlighted by AACOM. While specific program components and measurable outcomes for Touro’s Moving Food Forward are detailed by the recipient institution, the project contributes to the collective goal AACOM articulated: equipping future osteopathic physicians with the knowledge and skills to use nutrition in both prevention and management of chronic disease.