WASHINGTON (Nov. 4, 2019) — The George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) is pleased to announce that Timothy S. Harlan, MD, FACP, will join the faculty at GW and establish the GW Center for Culinary Medicine.
“We are thrilled to have an internationally recognized leader in the field of Culinary Medicine join our faculty. Many of our clinicians and students want to learn how to help their patients prevent and treat disease using one of the most powerful interventions we have – food. The Health meets Food curriculum will give students at GW SMHS, Milken Institute School of Public Health at GW, and the GW School of Nursing, as well as clinical faculty, new knowledge, skills and experience in this emerging field of medicine,” said Jeffrey S. Akman, MD ’81, RESD ’85, vice president for health affairs, Walter A. Bloedorn Professor of Administrative Medicine, and dean of GW SMHS. “Dr. Harlan’s experience as a skilled clinician, educator and accomplished chef has helped him create a vision that will make GW a national leader in the field of culinary medicine.”
Harlan currently serves as the associate dean for clinical services at Tulane University in New Orleans. He is also the medical director of the Tulane University Medicine Group and the executive director of the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane.
Harlan is the nation’s leading catalyst for teaching culinary medicine to health professional students and providers. In addition to implementing culinary medicine within his own practice, he has also developed the Health meet Food Curriculum that consists of more than 30 content-specific educational modules for healthcare professionals. Each of the educational modules presents basic and clinical science related to evidence-based nutritional and dietary goals for specific topics, case presentations, recipes, and cooking instructions, discussion questions, and quizzes. This curriculum is used by medical students, residents, and clinicians at over 50 academic medical centers across the globe.
“We are extremely excited about having Dr. Harlan teach our students and faculty, treat our patients, and conduct evidence-based research to show the benefits of this approach to attaining better health,” said Lawrence Deyton, MD ’85, MSPH, senior associate dean for clinical public health and Murdock Head Professor of Medicine and Health Policy at GW SMHS. “In an era that obesity and food-related chronic conditions are the leading causes of disease and disability for patients, families and communities, costing the U.S. health care system nearly $175 billion a year, clinicians consistently tell their patients to ‘eat a healthy diet.’ Many patients don’t know where to begin and many clinicians want more tools to support their patients’ good health. Culinary Medicine is the right tool to do just that and with Dr. Harlan joining our faculty, GW can help lead this new field of medicine.” Harlan is an accomplished researcher and author and has been published in many prestigious academic journals. He is a regular guest speaker at conferences and at academic medical institutions across the country, providing grand rounds for studying medicine and health.
He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the James Beard Foundation, and the La Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs.
Harlan will join the GW SMHS faculty on January 1, 2020. He will also join the GW Medical Faculty Associates in the Division of General Internal Medicine.
The GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences currently has an elective in culinary medicine offered to third- and fourth-year MD program students.
