‘Food is joy’: Dr. Kofi Essel’s innovative approach to family wellness

Published: September 18, 2024

As healthcare continues to evolve, Dr. Kofi Essel stands at the forefront of a transformative perspective that defines food as medicine. A pediatrician by training, Essel brings a unique, family-centered approach to his work addressing food insecurity and improving health outcomes.

“One of the things that people often overlook is that our (pediatricians’) focus isn’t just on children, but on entire families,” Essel said. “The whole family has to be involved for the intervention to be successful, for both the child and the family.”

Placing the family unit at the center of any treatment plan demonstrates Essel’s recognition of the significance of households and community in individual health. His work in food as medicine is built on a multi-faceted strategy comprising six key approaches, which providers can tailor to patients for maximum impact that extends to the whole family:

“We’ve seen in the data that coupling interventions together is powerful,” Essel said. “It allows us to address both immediate needs and long-term health goals.”

Beyond his clinical practice, Essel is a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences. Since 2023, he has served as the Food as Medicine Director at Elevance Health, a health company that serves approximately 100 million+ people across their entire health journey with an integrated whole health approach.

“We are well-positioned to support members and families around the country,” Essel said. “Addressing food insecurity, nutrition insecurity, and diet-related chronic disease using food as medicine is one of the ways we have prioritized a whole health approach to support our members.”

Essel, who used to run a culinary medicine program, also noted the transformative power of food as both sustenance and medicine when integrated into an individual’s broader treatment plan that may include medication.

“Medication and food are powerful complements,” Essel said. “Oftentimes, you will see medications reduce or diseases go into remission when we integrate food and lifestyle changes.”

Essel is optimistic about the future and potential impact of food as medicine for families and communities.

“Food can be nutritious and tasty. Food is joy. Food is togetherness,” Essel said. “I hope that ‘food as medicine’ becomes a household term. It should be a tangible strategy used by families, clinicians, and communities to manage outcomes and prevent and treat disease.”

Kofi Essel, MD, MPH, FAAP will deliver the 9th Annual Nader Legacy of Health Lectureship on October 3, 2024, at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. He is the inaugural Food as Medicine director at Elevance Health and a board-certified community pediatrician at Children’s National Hospital and Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University (GWU) School of Medicine & Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., most recently serving as the director of the GWU Culinary Medicine Program.

Written by Kirsten Handler, communication specialist at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in Austin.