History and
Leadership
At the outset of his career, in the 1980’s, Dr. David Eisenberg recognized the lack of focus on food, nutrition, and movement in US medical education and healthcare delivery. Inspired by his experiences relating to Chinese medicine, primary care internal medicine, and integrative wellness, Dr. Eisenberg launched the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives educational conference for medical professionals in order to test the notion that teaching kitchens could be built, refined and shown to impact the behaviors, clinical outcomes and costs of care for multiple populations.
The TKC formally launched in 2016 as an invitational network of thought leading organizations using teaching kitchen facilities as catalysts of enhanced personal and public health across medical, corporate, school, and community settings. Dr. David Eisenberg formed the TKC to connect individual innovators using teaching kitchens as catalysts for health enhancement, in partnership with The Culinary Institute of America and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
In 2020, the TKC became an independent 501c3 nonprofit organization. The TKC is now a global network of 48 teaching kitchens, with members that span an organizational range from leading academic medical centers to public youth services institutions to private employers.
The TKC functions as an accelerator to support the reproducibility, scalability, and evaluation of emerging teaching kitchen models and educational programs.
Our Team
David M. Eisenberg, MD, is the director of culinary nutrition and adjunct associate professor of nutrition at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. He is the founding Co-Director of the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives conference, and founding Executive Director of the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, a group of 30+ organizations with teaching kitchens, all of which seek to establish and evaluate best practices relating to nutrition, culinary and lifestyle education.
From 2000-2010, Dr. Eisenberg served as the Bernard Osher Distinguished Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, founding director of the Osher Research Center and the founding chief of the Division for Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies at Harvard Medical School. He simultaneously served as the director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital.
David is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. He completed his fellowship training in general internal medicine and primary care and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine. In 1979, under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences, David served as the first U.S. medical exchange student to the People’s Republic of China. In 1993, he was the medical advisor to the PBS Series, Healing and the Mind with Bill Moyers.
He has served as an advisor to the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and the Federation of State Medical Boards with regard to complementary, alternative and integrative medicine research, education and policy. From 2003-2005 David served on a National Academy of Sciences Committee responsible for the Institute of Medicine Report entitled, ―The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by the American Public. More recently, David served as a member of the US National Board of Medical Examiners Clinical Skills Committee and its Communications Task Force.
David has authored numerous scientific and educational articles involving complementary, integrative and lifestyle medicine and continues to pursue research, educational and clinical programs relating to integrative and lifestyle medicine. As the son and grandson of professional bakers, David aspires to bring together the culinary and medical communities to enhance comprehensive health care for all.
Rachel focuses on member engagement and operations at the TKC.
Rachel Bartlett is a Registered Dietitian with a Master of Science in Nutrition Education. She has worked with USDA food programs, nutrition policy, research, and health promotion in early care & education (ECE) settings. Recently, Rachel served as an Implementation Advisor to several states for a change management program to promote healthy eating and activity in ECE settings at UNC-Chapel Hill. She has experience in coalition building and training and is excited to leverage her skills and experience with the TKC.
Before working in nutrition, she was in culinary book publishing. In her spare time, Rachel enjoys outdoor hikes, yoga, and discovering new recipes.
Emily focuses on content creation and educational resources.
Emily’s insatiable curiosity for food began when she moved to NYC and visited a farmers market for the first time. The more she cooked with whole foods the more she connected the dots between what she was eating and how she felt; and the more she wanted to support others in eating and living more healthfully. She began volunteering on urban farms in NYC and abroad, preparing nutritious meals in shelters, and leading cooking and nutrition classes throughout the city. To hone her own cooking skills, she volunteered as a kitchen assistant at the Natural Gourmet Institute, a health supportive culinary school in NYC, where she would later receive a certificate in culinary nutrition.
Eventually this passion became a career. For the past five years, Emily has enjoyed working in this overlap of cooking, nutrition, education and community engagement. In 2019, she took a year away from the office to work in kitchens across the country, including Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA. Emily now lives in Asheville, NC with her husband and her sourdough starter.
Kate focuses on helping the research efforts of the TKC.
Kate is a Registered Dietitian with her Masters in Public Health. She has previously worked with school food service administration, restaurants as well as a private practice dietitian. She has completed her 200hr yoga teacher training. In addition to her work with the TKC she teaches an undergraduate course at Northeastern University focused on public health nutrition programs in community settings.
Jen leads the research efforts of the TKC.
Jen started her career in public health doing lab bench science at Harvard in the environmental health department investigating occupational health exposures and poor health outcomes. She went onto Johns Hopkins where she helped perform a study of the rescue and recovery workers at the World Trade disaster site and the physical and mental health consequences of their first response efforts. Jen then returned to Harvard where she earned her joint Doctor of Science degree in Epidemiology and Nutrition where she studied diet and lifestyle and associations with cancer in the large Harvard cohorts. In her postdoctoral years, Jen joined a neuro-epidemiology group at Harvard where she studied viral and other environmental exposures and risk of Multiple Sclerosis. As a research associate, she worked at the Channing Lab where she continued her work in preventative medicine looking at sleep and circadian rhythms and risk of cancer and other outcomes. Jen jointly held an appointment as Instructor at the Harvard Medical School where she worked in the Anesthesia Department of Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital helping to conduct randomized clinical studies.
Jen connected with David Eisenberg at the Nutrition Dept where she worked with him to create a study to investigate the teaching kitchen as a preventative health intervention. Now, Jen helps the TKC establish research projects and begin to develop research protocols for the multi-site research efforts of the collaborative.
In addition to her research efforts, Jen was a residential first year proctor and academic adviser at Harvard College for 15 years and continues to sit on the Freshman Board of Advisers where she continues to advise Harvard freshmen. Jen currently lives in Cambridge, MA where she loves to run along the Charles River and dig in her community garden.
Stacey focuses on the Marketing and Communications of the TKC.
Aside from Stacey's professional experience in creative marketing for start-ups and growing businesses, she has helped open several food businesses, taught plant-based cooking classes, built food gardens, and completed training in multiple holistic wellness modalities. She has a B.S. in Environmental Affairs and an M.S. in Holistic Nutrition.
Stacey is passionate about healthy food, sustainability, and holistic wellness, and enjoys utilizing her creativity to support the vision and share the stories of those changing lives through food.
Advisory Committee
Role as Committee Chair
As co-chair of the membership and member engagement committee, along with Anthony Imamura, I work in two primary areas. The first is to coordinate the new member recruitment, application and selection process. Helping new members to feel welcome and connected is another major area of focus. From a member engagement standpoint, we work to make sure all members feel connected, are engaged and see value in the benefits and resources provided them through TKC membership. Finally, we are working to be more inclusive and develop a tiered membership structure so that many more without institutional financial resources may engage with the TKC.
As co-chair of the membership and member engagement committee, along with Anthony Imamura, I work in two primary areas. The first is to coordinate the new member recruitment, application and selection process. Helping new members to feel welcome and connected is another major area of focus. From a member engagement standpoint, we work to make sure all members feel connected, are engaged and see value in the benefits and resources provided them through TKC membership. Finally, we are working to be more inclusive and develop a tiered membership structure so that many more without institutional financial resources may engage with the TKC.
Goals of your committee
- Conduct an objective and inclusive new member selection process
- Connect new members with current TKC members working in similar or complimentary areas.
- Develop a tiered membership structure with specific member benefits at each level.
Links to primary affiliation and other appointments or positions
As Vice President of Nutrition and Wellness for Compass Group, North America, I have the honor of working with over 2200 Registered Dietitian Nutritionists to promote meals and dietary patterns that foster both personal and planetary health. I also serve as Treasurer-Elect, on the Board of Directors of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the world’s largest organization of nutrition and dietetics practitioners
Role as Committee Chair
As co-lead of the Best Practices committee with Diane Imrie, we develop mechanisms for TKC members to share innovations, successes, and new areas of inquiry within the practice of Teaching Kitchens. Such innovations and achievements are shared through a series of webinars. By keeping an ‘ear to the ground’ we identify topics and speakers to share best practices through webinars offered to our members. Our committee regularly checks in with the TKC membership through member meetings, advisory committee calls as well as occasional general member or committee specific surveys. We also encourage members to share their topic interests with us directly at any time. Combined, these efforts are designed to identify broad subject areas as well as ‘hot topics’ for webinars as was seen during the early months of the pandemic.
As co-lead of the Best Practices committee with Diane Imrie, we develop mechanisms for TKC members to share innovations, successes, and new areas of inquiry within the practice of Teaching Kitchens. Such innovations and achievements are shared through a series of webinars. By keeping an ‘ear to the ground’ we identify topics and speakers to share best practices through webinars offered to our members. Our committee regularly checks in with the TKC membership through member meetings, advisory committee calls as well as occasional general member or committee specific surveys. We also encourage members to share their topic interests with us directly at any time. Combined, these efforts are designed to identify broad subject areas as well as ‘hot topics’ for webinars as was seen during the early months of the pandemic.
Goals of your committee
Our committee aims to be both comprehensive and inclusive. Calls for topics are communicated every few months through member meetings and surveys. Calls for speakers for planned topics are distributed to all members. We also encourage speakers from beyond the membership to ensure that our members are exposed to innovations and thought leaders broadly.
Links to primary affiliation and other appointments or positions
Please find a link to the organization that I lead, FamilyCook Productions here. In addition, you can view my bio here. A bibliography of my published articles is also available here. Finally, I am the author of two cookbooks: Cooking Time is Family Time (1999 Morrow) and Get Your Family Eating Right (2013 Fair Winds Press).
Diane Imrie
RD
Director Nutrition Services, University of Vermont Medical Center, University of Vermont Health Network
Melanya Kushla
MS RD
Healthy Teaching Kitchen National Co-Leader, Veterans Health Administration
Robin LaCroix
RD
Healthy Teaching Kitchen National Co-Leader, Veterans Health Administration
Julia MacLaren
RD
Wellness Kitchen Consultant, South Health Campus, Alberta Health Services
Role as Committee Chair
As co-lead of the research committee, along with Auden McClure, I work to promote all research activities of TKC members. We do this through providing feedback and counsel in all aspects of formulation of research ideas, conducting studies, analyzing data, writing manuscripts, and responding to reviewers. We also assist in grant writing and paper writing by offering critical feedback on development of these written materials. Lastly, we work on multi-site investigations asking questions about how the teaching kitchen as a health preventative intervention is associated with various health and wellness outcomes.
As co-lead of the research committee, along with Auden McClure, I work to promote all research activities of TKC members. We do this through providing feedback and counsel in all aspects of formulation of research ideas, conducting studies, analyzing data, writing manuscripts, and responding to reviewers. We also assist in grant writing and paper writing by offering critical feedback on development of these written materials. Lastly, we work on multi-site investigations asking questions about how the teaching kitchen as a health preventative intervention is associated with various health and wellness outcomes.
Goals of your committee
Supporting teaching kitchen research activities of individual institutions within the TKC and helping to create collaborations within the TKC for multi-site research opportunities. To establish a body of scientific papers associated with teaching kitchens within the peer reviewed literature collection.
Links to primary affiliation and other appointments or positions
Please find my primary affiliation with Harvard School of Public Health here as well as my position on the board of freshman advisors at Harvard College. In addition, you can find a list of my published articles here.
Auden McClure
MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Director D-H Culinary Medicine Program, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Culinary Medicine Program
Miranda Moore
PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
Leah Pryor
Executive Chef Manager
Co-founder of the Culinary Medicine Program at University of Vermont Medical Center
Christina Vollbrecht
MA MS
Chef Educator, University of Vermont Medical Center
Olivia Weinstein
MS, RD, LDN
Culinary Nutrition Director, Boston Medical Center
Board of Directors
William Rosenzweig
Chair
Managing Partner, Physic Ventures
Robert Edmiston
JD
Executive Director of Turner Farm
David Eisenberg
MD
Executive Director, the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative
Akio Yonekura
Co-Founder & Executive Vice President, Cancerscan Inc.
Dexter Shurney
MD, MBA, MPH, DipABLM
Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President Wellbeing Division, Adventist Health
Linda Shiue
MD, Chef
Physician and Director of Culinary Medicine at Kaiser Permanente
