U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Education Recognized Efforts in the Academic Medicine Community to Further Strengthen Nutrition Education
Leaders from the AAMC and a number of member medical schools joined a convening hosted today by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to recognize ongoing progress in strengthening nutrition education across all stages of medical education.
Over the past decade, AAMC efforts have helped catalyze a national shift toward integrated, competency-based nutrition education by convening stakeholders, generating data and resources, and empowering locally driven innovation across academic medicine. Building off this decade of work, the AAMC encourages medical schools and academic health systems to continue identifying areas of opportunity to further embed nutrition into their curricula, ensuring physicians are prepared to address the role of nutrition in patient care.
“We’ve made significant progress over the past ten years, reflected in the dedication of our medical school deans and curriculum leaders across the country,” said David J. Skorton, MD, AAMC president and CEO. “Today is about recognizing the important work medical schools have already done and their commitment to further progress in the future.”
In November 2025, the AAMC issued a call to action for U.S. medical schools and academic health systems to further strengthen nutrition education, including by sharing their strong models across all stages of medical education. The call to action asked deans and medical education leaders at AAMC member medical schools to evaluate their institutions’ current practices and identify, if needed, additional opportunities to further integrate nutrition education within their curricula.
The AAMC remains deeply committed to supporting its member institutions as they continue to further integrate targeted and longitudinal training opportunities in nutrition throughout every stage of medical education. In April 2026, the AAMC will host a convening of medical educators to share effective strategies to teach and assess competency-based education in nutrition. The event is organized by the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, with the active participation of the National Board of Medical Examiners.
“The AAMC and its member medical schools look forward to continuing to build on this progress and ensure nutrition remains an ever-evolving core part of how we train the next generation of physicians,” said Alison Whelan, MD, AAMC chief academic officer. “We appreciate the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education for recognizing this good work and for their support of nutrition education.”
More information on the AAMC’s call to action and commitment to strengthening nutrition education is available at aamc.org/nutrition.
What Medical School Leaders are Saying
“Nutrition education has been part of the curriculum at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine since our founding, as we focus on boosting the health of our communities. Every Geisinger medical student receives foundational instruction in nutrition in the preclinical years and tailored nutrition content into their core clinical training,” said Julie Byerley, MD, MPH, president of Geisinger College of Health Sciences, dean of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, and executive vice president and chief academic officer, Geisinger. “One of our newest initiatives, ‘Nutriments,’ delivers concise, clinically relevant nutrition modules aligned with disease presentations. These help students connect nutrition directly to patient care. Nutrition isn’t just one-size-fits-all—our patients trust us as their doctors to help them navigate what is best for their own well-being. We make sure our Geisinger doctors can do that.”
“Indiana University School of Medicine is grateful for the opportunity provided with this federal initiative to work with other leading U.S. medical schools to share ideas and approaches to educate students on the many intersections of health and nutrition. The impact of nutrition on promoting health, preventing illness, and managing chronic conditions has been a key area of focus in our curriculum for over ten years,” said Bradley Allen, MD, PhD, executive associate dean for educational affairs at Indiana University School of Medicine. “However, as we teach our graduates, we must always be alert for new, evidence-based approaches to improve. We appreciate the support of the AAMC to provide guidelines to work nutritional content into our competency-based curriculum so we can compare notes with our colleagues. This is a recipe for success for our students in all training phases and for the patients and communities they serve.”
“Education on healthy living, as well as disease prevention and treatment, is a critical component of physician training and necessitates an understanding of the role of nutrition in these areas. We are excited to participate in the effort to bring renewed focus to evidence-based nutrition education in medical school curricula,” said University of Nebraska President Jeffrey P. Gold, MD. “This is an area the University of Nebraska Medical Center has been strengthening for a number of years, through the work of a dedicated team established by the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine and our six other health professions colleges. Together these colleges have been working to expand the research and application of nutrition concepts across all three phases of the medical curriculum.”