As an undergraduate student at Purdue University, Yasmin Pirbhai earned a degree in nutrition science, learning all she could about the huge impact nutrition can have on health outcomes and how what we eat affects our bodies.
That knowledge, she knew, would serve her well in the pursuit of her ultimate dream of becoming a physician.
“We spent a lot of time going over not only nutrition but also examining the socioeconomic side of the picture including what access to good food looks like and that proper nutrition isn’t just impacted by your diet,” Pirbhai said recently. “When it came time for medical school, I wasn’t expecting that I would get the chance to take that deep dive again and examine those aspects and how they might impact my future patients.”
That all changed though when Pirbhai, a Kalamazoo native, arrived at WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) in June as a member of the MD Class of 2030.
Just a few days after the start of medical school, Pirbhai and her classmates received the calendar for their first course – Fundamentals in Biomedical Sciences I – which Pirbhai noticed included a culinary medicine event for the students to attend in late July at the Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC) Marilyn J. Schlack Culinary and Allied Health Building.
“This type of experience isn’t something a lot of medical schools spend time on,” Pirbhai said. “WMed is actually doing it and that’s amazing.”
The Class of 2030 is the first cohort of WMed students to participate in the culinary medicine experience at KVCC. The event, which is the result of a new and extensive collaboration between WMed faculty and registered dieticians, KVCC chefs, and health educators from Bronson Healthcare, is being led by Abigail Solitro, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at WMed, who serves as course director for Fundamentals in Biomedical Sciences I and nutrition discipline director for the MD curriculum.
For this year’s event, half of the students from the Class of 2030 visited KVCC on Monday, July 20, and the other half visited on Wednesday, July 22. The students listened to several presentations, including a discussion with a health educator from Bronson about the social determinants of health, how a lack of access to healthy foods can impact nutrition and health outcomes for patients, and how the students can help patients overcome those barriers to healthy foods.
The students also learned about proper food portioning and how fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds serve as the foundation of a healthy diet. At the end of their time at KVCC, the students got the chance to watch a cooking demonstration from KVCC culinary instructors Russ Barrett and NaDean Johnson before splitting up into teams of five to cook a vegetable curry. Each student also left the event with a box of healthy ingredients that could be found at a local food pantry to cook a healthy meal at home.
“I thought the presentations did a really good job of highlighting how physicians go into practicing medicine with the aim of making revolutionary change for their patients by talking about healthier eating habits but they are not always taught or given the proper resources to provide that guidance,” M1 Carlos Padilla said. “I think our class is being given those resources now to be that subset of physicians that will be able to properly do that and change the world of medicine for the better.”
Dr. Solitro said the culinary medicine event at KVCC is part of WMed’s commitment to advance medical nutrition education by introducing students to the critical role of nutrition and lifestyle medicine in medical practice, first for themselves, and then for their future patients with the goal of changing the trajectory of chronic disease in the U.S. As part of that effort, almost every course in the pre-clinical curriculum at WMed now includes an event related to nutrition and lifestyle medicine.
“We are being intentional about emphasizing this very early in the curriculum and this hands-on event provides a foundation for interweaving the principles of nutrition into every course that follows,” Dr. Solitro said. “The aim is to equip the students with the tools they will need as physicians to educate their patients about the importance of whole-food, plant-based nutrition and healthy lifestyle changes as part of a treatment plan. A physician who is not having a conversation with their patient about nutrition is missing a huge opportunity to impact that patient’s health trajectory.”
At WMed, the nutrition curriculum aligns with the institutional vision by striving to teach nutrition through the lens of health equity and providing cost-effective, accessible, and sustainable nutrition habits for everyone in Southwest Michigan. As part of that effort, Dr. Solitro chairs the medical school’s Nutrition Discipline Committee which is tasked with the ongoing development of innovative strategies for integration of the nutrition discipline across all four years of medical training.
Additionally, WMed’s Well-Being in Medicine Distinction Program now boasts a Lifestyle Medicine Concentration with electives that explore nutrition’s role in the prevention, management, and remission of chronic disease.
“This is the unique angle we want to take at WMed in that we want to serve the underserved and achieve health equity through empathy and an understanding that everyone comes from different backgrounds with different access to healthy food and whole-food, plant-based nutrition,” Dr. Solitro said.
Dr. Solitro said she is grateful for the collaboration with Bronson and KVCC’s culinary program that gave the first-year medical students the chance to participate in the unique and multidisciplinary event at the Culinary and Allied Health Building. She said the group is already discussing ideas for future culinary medicine events.
“I’m really excited for what the future holds and for the opportunity to host more events like this throughout the curriculum,” Dr. Solitro said.
When she reflected on her experience at the culinary medicine event, Pirbhai said the integration of nutrition in the practice of medicine is “a passion point” for her and she was appreciative that the event not only emphasized healthy eating but also highlighted the importance of having empathy for their future patients, meeting them where they are, and having the know-how to help those patients overcome barriers that limit access to healthy foods.
When she decided at a young age that she wanted to become a doctor, Pirbhai said she knew she wanted to pursue her MD degree in her hometown at WMed. Her experience so far as a first-year student and witnessing the integration of medical nutrition education in the MD curriculum has only solidified for Pirbhai that being a member of the Class of 2030 was meant to be.
“WMed already feels like home,” she said. “I’m really excited and really proud to be here during such an awesome and progressive time in this field.”