About
Program Overview
Based in Columbus, Ohio, Mount Carmel College of Nursing (MCCN) integrates Culinary Medicine across medical education, nursing curricula, and community health programming through a strong collaboration with Mount Carmel Health System (MCHS). Led by Aimee Shea, MPH, RDN, CCMS, LD, the program has steadily expanded since its launch in 2016 and now reaches medical residents, undergraduate nursing students, and community members through a combination of hands-on cooking and nutrition education.
Programming spans multiple disciplines:
- Internal Medicine and Family Medicine Residents complete four culinary medicine modules per year—covering topics such as fats and heart disease, carbohydrates and diabetes, gastrointestinal health, and geriatric nutrition. Each session includes a didactic lecture, case study, and cooking component delivered in partnership with a local nonprofit, Local Matters, who provides recipe ingredients and supplies in addition to chef educators.
- Undergraduate Nursing Students engage with culinary medicine in both junior and senior courses. In the OB Nursing course, students prepare recipes for gestational diabetes and learn nutritional management strategies for pregnancy. In the Transitions to Practice course, senior students previously participated in a culinary medicine session focused on self-care through healthy meals and snacks for long shifts—reinforcing nutrition as part of professional wellness.
- Community Members participate in a six-week Culinary Medicine series offered at least twice yearly at the Mount Carmel Healthy Living Center, where participants build cooking skills and nutrition confidence while completing pre- and post-series surveys to measure impact. Participants join through word of mouth, internal marketing, and referral through EPIC.
- Family Nurse Practitioner Students have also completed hands-on culinary medicine sessions during their three-day on-campus immersion
Classes are primarily held at the Mount Carmel von Zychlin Healthy Living Center’s teaching kitchen and are occasionally adapted to conference spaces when satellite locations are necessary. Aimee aims to continue growing the program with more robust culinary medicine offerings, including expanded community classes such as a new four-week intermediate/advanced series, more widespread resident participation and continuing education opportunities for medical providers.
Faculty Leadership
Aimee Shea, MPH, RDN, CCMS, LD — Program Lead
Aimee Shea is an Associate Professor of Nutrition at Mount Carmel College of Nursing and Culinary Medicine Program Lead within Mount Carmel Health System. A Registered Dietitian Nutritionist since 2006 and former Board-Certified Oncology Dietitian, she has taught culinary medicine since 2016 and earned the Certified Culinary Medicine Specialist credential in 2023. Aimee designs and delivers programming for medical residents, nursing students, and community audiences, integrating evidence-based nutrition with hands-on culinary education.
Spotlight & Media
- MCCN’s Culinary Medicine program has been featured in local news, including Good Day Columbus, for its leadership in bringing food-as-medicine education to Central Ohio.
Research & Outcomes
- The program reached 228 participants across residents, nursing students, and community members in FY2025, with consistently strong gains in nutrition knowledge, cooking confidence, and self-efficacy.
- Two IRB-approved studies are underway—one tracking Internal Medicine resident knowledge and perceptions, and another evaluating the community 6-week series.
- Student and resident surveys show near universal agreement that the classes increased their knowledge and appreciation for the role of nutrition in patient care.
- Nursing students describe the classes as “fun, hands-on, and applicable,” noting how the experience improved both their own eating habits and their ability to counsel patients on healthy choices.
- Resident surveys show universal agreement that they learned new information and view nutrition as essential to patient care; nursing students report increased confidence counseling patients, particularly in nutritional management of gestational diabetes.
- Community participants demonstrate improved beliefs about healthy eating, greater confidence shopping for and preparing nutritious foods, and stronger understanding of how nutrition supports disease prevention.
