For students in the OHSU School of Medicine, nutrition education remains prominent and interwoven throughout their whole curriculum. (OHSU/Christine Torres Hicks)
Oregon Health & Science University’s School of Medicine has been recognized as part of a nationwide effort among America’s leading medical education organizations to incorporate comprehensive nutrition education and training into their curricula.
OHSU’s School of Medicine, home to the OHSU Bob and Charlee Moore Institute for Nutrition & Wellness, has long incorporated nutrition education into its training programs.
Kelly Caverzagie, M.D. (OHSU)
“Nutrition is one of the most effective tools we have for disease prevention, which is why it’s been a cornerstone of our educational program for such a long time,” said Kelly Caverzagie, M.D., senior associate dean for education in the OHSU School of Medicine. “We’re encouraged to see this being discussed on a national level, and that nutrition education it is a priority for so many educational institutions. We’re proud to be one of them.”
Instead of one standalone lesson, nutrition is a thread the OHSU School of Medicine has identified to remain prominent and interwoven throughout the whole curriculum, alongside 18 other key principles, including immunology, genetics and anatomy.
Nutrition is covered at various points throughout students’ education journey — first more generally in the introductory “Foundations of Medicine” series, and then again throughout core intersession courses, Caverzagie says. This provides real-world, clinically applicable knowledge of how nutrition fits into various areas of practice.
There are additional opportunities for students to focus on nutrition at more concentrated level within the Graduate Programs in Human Nutrition, which offer a variety of flexible degree pathways focused on nutrition, food systems and dietetics.
And the Moore Institute’s mission is to reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases by promoting healthy, nutrient-rich diets based on whole foods across the lifespan — before conception, during pregnancy and lactation, and in infancy and early childhood. The institute offers nutrition-focused programs that engage the community through professional training, community outreach, research, clinical care and public policy for the well-being of current and future generations.
Consistent with the HHS’s initiative, OHSU School of Medicine faculty continuously evaluate how to expand nutritional core competencies and are currently seeking new opportunities to further incorporate nutrition throughout the length of the curriculum.
“Our curriculum is strong; we’re proud of our students and the nutrition skills and knowledge they enter the field with,” Caverzagie said.
