Director of Medicaid and Food Security Network at Share Our Strength
At Duke: “When I started at Duke Med, my mentors in the Department of Community and Family Medicine guided me in figuring out what to do, during clinical rotations, when my patients expressed how existing food assistance resources were not sufficient for affording nutritious foods. That led me to found the Root Causes Fresh Produce Program at Duke Health to provide fresh food to patients with food insecurity. We got funding to partners like Farmer Foodshare, and figured out how to get social workers, dietitians and physicians to connect patients to the program.”
Future: “Food is Medicine and nutrition benefits are at pivotal moments. On one hand, there’s been national attention with bipartisan support to improve food and nutrition security through Food is Medicine. On the other hand, the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act has cut Medicaid and SNAP. So, in the near term, I’m going to be part of the fight to protect critical nutrition programs while also communicating about how much common ground there really is about making sure people can access healthy food. In the near term, my main thing is to continue my work to get more states to adopt policies that create more connection between health care and food. My big life goal is to create a healthier and more sustainable food system – one that’s good for people and the planet.”