Nearly 60 percent of Americans die from chronic diseases that are caused or influenced
by the unhealthy standard American diet — yet most medical students receive only a
few hours of training on nutrition.
In a refreshing show of unity Thursday, medical education leaders from across the
nation, including David J. Skorton, MD, president and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC); federal health officials; and health policy leaders, including American Medical
Association President Bobby Mukkamala, MD, gathered in Washington, DC, to call for change.
The group announced that 53 medical schools in 31 states — including the USF Health
Morsani College of Medicine, Florida State University College of Medicine, the University
of Florida College of Medicine, the University of Central Florida College of Medicine
and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine — have committed to offering
at least 40 hours of nutrition education by this fall.
The Morsani College of Medicine has long been a national leader in this arena, we soon will offer close to 80 hours of nutrition instruction. But it was both moving
and encouraging for me to see this level of bipartisan commitment and recognition
of the scope of the problem. Unless the nation’s physicians put fixing Americans’
diet at the center of medical care, efforts to fight the nation’s epidemic of obesity-related
chronic disease will fail.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the new initiative
is transformative.
“America’s academic institutions stand ready to lead,” Kennedy said. “They want to
bring the full weight of American science to this crisis and they want to move faster
than anyone thought was possible. Our doctors are among the most dedicated professionals
in this country. They chose this calling to heal. The leaders in this room are not
the obstacles to reversing chronic disease. They are the solution.”
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and leaders from the AAMC, AMA, the American
Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine and the Liaison Committee on Medical
Education (LCME) were on hand as well.
This is the kind of broad cooperation and bold imagination we need if we are to make
meaningful progress in improving American health and reducing national health care
costs. It could also go a long way toward restoring trust in health care.
