From the desk of TKC Founder and Board Member
Dr. David Eisenberg

October 17, 2023

Dear TKC friends and colleagues –

In 2016, a group of 26 forward-thinking teaching kitchen pioneers agreed to form a “collaborative” in order to learn from and with one another, and to imagine how teaching kitchens could enhance personal and societal health and wellbeing. Fast forward to 2023 and we are seeing teaching kitchens flourish in places we never thought possible!

It has been my great honor to witness this movement gain momentum over the past decade, with several recent events propelling teaching kitchens onto “center stage” as an essential element of the Food Is Medicine movement, health professionals’ education, clinical care, research, and national policy.

Teaching Kitchen Collaborative (TKC) leaders and members are playing catalytic roles as visionaries, resource providers, and research partners promoting the scientific integrity of this emerging field. With the growth and increasing demand for resources and leadership, the Board of Directors and I have decided to make organizational changes to ensure the TKC’s success now and in the future.

I have pivoted to a strategy-focused leadership role as TKC’s Founder and Board Member, utilizing my energies and passion to enhance the TKC’s membership organization and helping to drive teaching kitchen-related research, advocacy, and educational initiatives. And I am thrilled to announce that Katie Welch, our Director of Advancement and Strategic Partnerships, has brought her seasoned leadership and management skills to serve as the next Executive Director of the TKC! I am confident in Katie’s ability to further elevate our organization as a principal membership hub–producing tremendous value for our members, and supporting the reproducibility, scalability, and evaluation of teaching kitchens nationally and internationally. Please join me in welcoming Katie to her new leadership role. She can be reached at Katie.Welch@teachingkitchens.org.

The TKC is privileged to have you join us on this journey. Together we enable others to eat, cook, move and think more healthfully for themselves and for our planet.

Sincerely,

Dr. David Miles Eisenberg
Founder & Board Member, Teaching Kitchen Collaborative

Director of Culinary Nutrition, Adjunct Associate Professor
Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
deisenbe@hsph.harvard.edu