Overview

More and more, research affirms the strong correlation between nutrition security and health. This has led to a paradigm shift from prioritizing the quantity of food to prioritizing the quality of food available in our communities. Public health stakeholders — providers, payers, charitable foundations, nonprofits, and government entities — are increasingly recognizing nutrition security as a social determinant of health and are seeking to invest in strategic partnerships that will improve healthy food access among their constituent populations.

The 2022 Virginia Nutrition Security and Health Summit will bring together all of these groups to share best practices, strengthen our networks, build support for policy solutions, and spark collaboration. Review our agenda for the conference.

Keynote Speaker

Kofi Essel, MD, MPH of the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences

​We are thrilled to announce our 2022 keynote speaker, Dr. Kofi Essel. Dr. Essel is a community pediatrician and Director of the GW Culinary Medicine program with over 10 years of experience as a nutrition educator, researcher, and anti-hunger advocate. His advocacy work and research revolve around health care training, health disparities and community engagement, with a special interest and national recognition in the areas of addressing obesity and food insecurity in families.

Objectives

  1. To strengthen relationships between providers, funders, and communities in order to improve healthy equity
    • Drive funding/investment
    • Catalyze strategic partnerships
    • Facilitate improved screening and referral processes
  2. To facilitate learning and best practice sharing across food access organizations
  3. To strengthen food access advocacy networks and build support for policy/program solutions
  4. To increase awareness of key learnings, stakeholders, resources, and best practices for addressing food insecurity as a social determinant of health