Feinberg
Northwestern Medicine | Northwestern University | Faculty Profiles

News Center

  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Releases
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Menu
  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Releases
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Home » New Project Aims to Improve Healthy Food Access and Education
Clinical Breakthroughs

New Project Aims to Improve Healthy Food Access and Education

By Melissa RohmanJul 15, 2021
Share
Facebook Twitter Email
Dinee Simpson, MD, assistant professor of Surgery in the Division of Organ Transplantation, is co-principal investigator of the project, “A Desert Oasis: Prescribing Healthy Food and Education to Improve Kidney Health in Black Communities”.

A new project led by Northwestern Medicine investigators aims to mitigate food deserts — areas with limited access to affordable healthy food — as well as improve outcomes for patients with kidney disease in predominantly Black communities in Chicago.

The project is a partnership between Northwestern Medicine’s African American Transplant Access Program (AATAP), NUGoKidney, and the Endeleo Institute, a non-profit member organization of the Trinity United Church of Christ focused on creating a culture of health in Chicago’s South Side neighborhood of Washington Heights.

“There has been so much research about the barriers to health equity for communities of color, but far fewer interventions. Our three groups have worked together previously supported by a seed grant from the Alliance for Research in the Chicagoland Communities. That work included community conversations where the residents of the Washington Heights community identified access to healthy food and education about healthy food choices as barriers to kidney health- and this is certainly supported in the medical literature. Therefore, this project represents an intervention that is backed by research, but also concordant with community-reported need — it is how community partnerships should be,” said Dinee Simpson, MD, assistant professor of Surgery in the Division of Organ Transplantation, director of AATAP and a co-principal investigator of the project.

Melvin Thompson, executive director of the Endeleo Institute and community co-principal investigator of the project.

The project will expand on the Endeleo Institute’s recent establishment of a food pantry in Washington Heights by adding healthy food access and nutrition programming, support groups and educational resources to help guide community members in making better food choices that can help improve disease, with a specific focus on kidney disease. The team will also develop an action plan for food justice advocacy in the neighborhood.

“We’re living in a city where, inexplicably, there are barriers to opening food pantries in community. Yet food deserts are allowed to proliferate in these very same neighborhoods. Our collaborative aims to address and mitigate a perfect storm contributing to health disparities that are actually expanding the life expectancy gap in Black communities,” said Melvin Thompson, executive director of the Endeleo Institute and a co-principal investigator of the project. Thompson is also a community partner on the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute Executive Council.

The project is supported by Northwestern’s Racial Equity and Community Partnership grants program, which is currently supporting 21 projects aimed to advance racial equity and build partnerships with community-based organizations, as well as a partnership development seed grant from the Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) through the Center for Community Health.

Community Engagement Public Health Surgery
Share. Facebook Twitter Email

Related Posts

Drug Extends Survival in Prostate Cancer with Genetic Mutations  

Dec 6, 2023

Family Language Tied to Hospitalization Rates in Feverish Babies

Dec 5, 2023

Comparing Cardiac Monitoring Methods to Detect Atrial Fibrillation After Stroke

Nov 30, 2023

Comments are closed.

Latest News

Drug Extends Survival in Prostate Cancer with Genetic Mutations  

Dec 6, 2023

Pioneering Biochemist Craig Crews Named Winner of 2024 Kimberly Prize

Dec 5, 2023

Family Language Tied to Hospitalization Rates in Feverish Babies

Dec 5, 2023

New Therapeutic Strategies for Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Dec 4, 2023

Investigating Drug Combinations for Heart Failure

Dec 1, 2023
  • News Center Home
  • Categories
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
  • News Archives
  • About Us
Flickr Photos
2023-Sim-Open-House_161
2023-Sim-Open-House_127
2023-Sim-Open-House_108
2023-Sim-Open-House_106
2023-Sim-Open-House_118
2023-Sim-Open-House_068
2023-Sim-Open-House_069
2023-Sim-Open-House_027
2023-Sim-Open-House_155
2023-Sim-Open-House_161
2023-Sim-Open-House_127
2023-Sim-Open-House_108

Northwestern University logo

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

RSS Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr YouTube Instagram
Copyright © 2023 Northwestern University
  • Contact Northwestern University
  • Disclaimer
  • Campus Emergency Information
  • Policy Statements

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.