Food as Medicine Series

Moore Family Center

We're taking a food-based and systematic approach to nutrition education — narrowing in on a single food group for each edition of the series and exploring food systems, production and processing, and nutrition science. 

The Food as Medicine Series is a two-part nutrition outreach program designed to both equip the next generation of health practitioners with the knowledge and skills to address diet’s implication in chronic disease, while providing accessible nutrition education to OSU and our community. With our expert panelist seminar discussion and culinary medicine workshop, you can learn about nutrition’s dynamic role in health and how science informs patient care.
 
The burden of diet-related chronic disease is only projected to worsen in the US and throughout the globe (Ma et al., 2025). We need all hands-on-deck to address the epidemic of preventable chronic disease.

The facts about diet-related chronic disease

  • Over 100 million Americans struggle with at least one diet-related chronic disease (Benavidez, 2024).
  • Over 1 million American adults die from diet-related chronic disease each year (Matthews & Kurnat-Thoma, 2024). 
  • The annual cost of diabetes alone is estimated to total $413 billion in the United States (direct medical care costs combined with estimated losses from reduced productivity CDC, 2024). 
  • Each year, an average of $334 billion was spent between private (out of pocket and private insurance) and federal (Medicare, Medicaid, and other) payers to treat key diet-related conditions among adults each year in 2021 and 2022 (Hill, S and Fang, Z 2025).

With a desire to help solve the burden of chronic disease, the Moore Family Center aims to address the call from government and the professional medical community to further develop nutrition education and dietetic literacy among medical trainees (Affairs (ASPA), 2025); (Eisenberg et al., 2024). 

Food as Medicine: Dairy in Health Practice

Food as Medicine: Dairy in Health Practice

For the first episode in the Food as Medicine Series, we’ll be exploring dairy’s role in a healthy diet and how it is implicated in preventing and managing chronic disease.

Our two-part program includes:

Expert Panelist Seminar Discussion

October 27
5-6 p.m.
LINC 128

Free & open to all — no registration required

Join us for thought-provoking conversation on the power of dairy foods in health and disease — and strengthen your ability to promote well-being and address chronic illness. Learn more about myths surrounding the effects dairy has on health!

What you’ll gain

  • Discover how dairy shapes chronic disease prevention and treatment
  • Explore the future of dairy production and sustainability
  • Envision where dairy nutrition research and dietetic science are headed in patient care
  • Q+A session at the end

Culinary Medicine Workshop

October 30
4-6 p.m.
The Moore Family Center, Milam Hall 203

Calling future healthcare practitioners

Apply what you learned in the expert panel discussion in the Moore Family Center teaching kitchens by preparing medically tailored meals. Learn more about how dietetics can be applied to the dinner plate to prevent and manage chronic diseases like type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

What you’ll gain

  • Understand the pathology and pathophysiology behind diet-related chronic disease

  • Cook to enhance your food and nutrition literacy by preparing medically tailored meals

  • Gather together with your allied-health peers to enjoy food cooked with purpose

  • Bonus: Participate for a chance to win a $50 gift card!

  • Offered exclusively for allied health and pre-health students

Attending panel encouraged, but not required

If you’re an allied health or pre-health student interested in joining the Culinary Medicine Workshop, you’re encouraged to participate in both parts of the Food as Medicine Series!

However, attending the Expert Panel Discussion is not required to join the Culinary Medicine Workshop.  

Register

Spots are limited! Use button or QR code to sign up.

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QR code to sign up for culinary medicine workshop

Food Insecurity: Learn and Act with the Moore Family Center

Monday November 24
5:30 to 6:40 p.m.
Corvallis Public Library
Main Meeting Room
645 NW Monroe Ave, Corvallis, OR 97330

Can't make it in person? Watch via the live stream.

What you’ll gain

The Moore Family Center is hosting the Program Director of Linn Benton Food Share, OSU food insecurity researchers, and community advocates from OSU Extension and Linn County Health Department to discuss the current state of food insecurity. 

SNAP benefits have been restored, but it's no secret that food insecurity is worsening in Oregon and across the country. Our goal is to educate our community about the facts, challenges, potential solutions, and how to get involved. There will be time dedicated to Q+A from audience members. 

Panelists include

  • Ryan McCambridge – Linn Benton Food Share
  • Diego Nieto – Linn County Health Department
  • Tina Dodge, MPH – OSU Extension 
  • Jenny Jackson, PhD, RDN, CHWC – OSU Nutrition faculty
  • Mark Edwards, PhD – OSU Policy Analysis Laboratory

If you have questions or are interested in learning more, please contact Adam Choate at the Moore Family Center, Milam Hall 214.