Health meets Food: The Culinary Medicine Conference

2027 Health meets Food: the Culinary Medicine Conference Speakers

Friday June 11, 2027

Uma Naidoo, MD

Food, Mood, and Mental Health Across the Lifespan

In her role as a Clinical Scientist, Dr. Naidoo founded and directs the first hospital-based clinical service in Nutritional Psychiatry in the USA. She is the Director of Nutritional and Metabolic Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital & Director of Nutritional Psychiatry & Lifestyle Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital Academy while serving on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. She is pioneering the nascent field of Nutritional Psychiatry in the USA. Dr. Naidoo is a trained psychiatrist, professional chef and nutrition specialist.

Dr Naidoo graduated from the Harvard-Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program in Boston during which she received several awards, some of which included a “Junior Investigator Award” (American Psychiatric Association); “Leadership Development for Physicians and Scientists” award (Harvard), as well as being the very first psychiatrist to be awarded the coveted “Curtis Prout Scholar in Medical Education”. Dr Naidoo, has been asked by The American Psychiatric Association to author the first academic text in Nutritional Psychiatry. She has written a national bestselling non-fiction trade book published in 2020, This Is Your Brain On Food, based on her work in Nutritional Psychiatry. Based on her book she has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Harvard Health Press, The Today Show, Live with Kelly and Ryan, Bon Appétit and others.

Jamie Zeldman, PhD, MS, RD, CHES

Overcoming Barriers to Youth & Child Healthy Eating

Motivated and reliable Research Scientist, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, and Certified Health Education Specialist® who champions empathetic leadership, with a passion for nutrition education and behavior change to prevent diet-related chronic diseases.

Postdoctoral Associate within the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) Extension Administration at the University of Florida, where I help lead and manage the UF Food is Medicine Initiative and serve as Coordinator for the Projects Linking Agriculture and Therapeutic Medicine for Every Diet (PLANTMED) Seed Funding Program.

Research interests include nutrition, obesity prevention, food and nutrition security, mHealth, Food is Medicine, and the development of evidence-based interventions and programs using community engagement, implementation science, and mixed methods.

Barbara Rolls, PhD

How We Eat Shapes How We Think

Dr. Barbara J. Rolls is professor of nutritional sciences and the Helen A. Guthrie Chair in nutrition at Penn State University. She received a BA in biology from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in physiology from the University of Cambridge, England. After spending her early research career at the University of Oxford, England, Dr. Rolls joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as professor of psychiatry. In 1992, she became a faculty member at Penn State.

Dr. Rolls is past president of both the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior and The Obesity Society, and has been a member of the Advisory Council of the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Dr. Rolls is the recipient of a number of awards, including the American Society of Nutritional Sciences Award in Human Nutrition and a MERIT award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

She is the author of five books, including The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan: Feel Full on Fewer Calories and The Volumetrics Eating Plan.

Adriana Ruiz, PA, CCMS

Culinary Medicine Program Building – Atlanta Diabetes Associates

Adriana Ruiz is a board-certified Physician Assistant with over a decade of clinical experience. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Adriana began her career in family medicine and urgent care before specializing in endocrinology in 2015. She joined Atlanta Diabetes Associates in 2023 after relocating from Las Vegas, Nevada, and has been actively involved in the diabetes community, including participation with Breakthrough T1D.

She has served as a sub-investigator on multiple endocrine clinical trials and is a member of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, and the American Society of Endocrine Physician Assistants.

With a longstanding passion for preventative medicine, nutrition and cooking, Adriana pursued certification and became a Certified Culinary Medicine Specialist in 2025. She integrates evidence-based nutrition, lifestyle strategies, and patient education into her clinical approach to support sustainable and achievable health outcomes.

Saturday June 12, 2027

Maggie Moon, MS, RD

Dietary Patterns for Brain Health Across the Lifespan

Maggie Moon, MS, RD, is a registered dietitian, best-selling author, and health communications expert with past lives as university faculty, e-grocery RD, and in-house nutrition expert for global CPG brands.

Currently, Ms. Moon is a strategic consultant to better-for-you brands and commodities, as well as a writer and speaker on nutrition for brain health. For 10+ years, she was an executive at The Wonderful Company where she was the top thought leader, subject matter expert, and spokesperson on health & nutrition for the Wonderful Company’s portfolio of healthy CPG brands.

As an educator, Ms. Moon was an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences at Brooklyn College in the City of New York, in both undergraduate and graduate programs. She also developed and implemented nutrition curricula for NYC public schools.

Maggie Moon was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from U.C. Berkeley, then went on to earn a Master of Science degree in Nutrition and Education from Columbia University Teachers College. She completed her clinical training at New York Presbyterian Hospital of Columbia and Cornell; and has community training from United Way of NYC, Columbia Head Start, and the Healthy Schools, Healthy Families program of the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian.

William Sharp, PhD

Neurodevelopment, Executive Function & Diet

The current focus of my research examines the prevalence, topography, and potential impact (including social, medical, and developmental) of chronic feeding difficulties among children with autism spectrum disorders. Related projects include developing/evaluating methods for assessing feeding concerns (e.g., standardized questionnaires, estimates of nutrient intake, behavioral observation) and disseminating evidenced-based behavioral treatments to caregivers and healthcare providers.

Rachel Herz, PhD

Flavor and the Brain

Rachel Herz, PhD, is a neuroscientist and a leading world expert on the psychological science of smell. Dr. Herz is a TEDx and TED speaker, has published over 110 original research articles to date, and received many awards and grants. She is on the faculty at Brown University, has extensive research collaborations with scientists in the US and Europe, is a professional consultant to numerous international companies, and is frequently called upon as an expert witness in legal cases involving the chemical senses.

Dr. Herz is also actively involved in outreach, advocacy, and education on scent and taste-food-flavor with the principal non-profit organizations in this sector, and she is the incoming President of the International Society of Neurogastronomy (2026-2028).

Dr Herz is the author of a number of academic and popular science books including: the leading college textbook on Sensation & Perception (Oxford University Press, 2024); The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell (Harper Collins, 2008), which was selected as a finalist for the “2009 AAAS Prize for Excellence in Science Books”; That’s Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion (W.W. Norton & Co, 2012), a New York Times Book Review “Editor’s Choice”; and Why You Eat What You Eat: The Science Behind Our Relationship with Food (W.W. Norton & Co, 2018), which was a finalist for the “2018 Readable Feast Awards” and ranked among the “Best Food Books of 2018” by The Smithsonian and The New Yorker.

Amy Robinson, MD

Culinary Medicine Program Building

Dr. Amy L. Robinson is a family medicine doctor with over 35 years of clinical experience serving patients in the Albuquerque, NM area. She completed her medical training at University Of Texas Medical Branch At Galveston and has been in practice since 1991. She currently practices at Unm Medical Group Inc.

Sunday June 14, 2026

Traci Stevenson, DO, D-ABFM, CCMS IFM, FMCP-M

Culinary Medicine Program Building – Touro University

I earned my D.O. from Midwestern University/Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed an osteopathic internship in Mt Clemens Michigan and Family Medicine residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I grew up in rural Michigan, and training in Chicago revealed both the beautiful diversity of communities and the depth of health inequities. Across multiple practice settings from inner-city Chicago to rural Wyoming, Molokai HI,—as well as internationally—I’ve seen how structural determinants affect health and that food serves not merely as nutrition but also a universal connector.

These experiences led me to focus on prevention and food as medicine. I am board certified in Family Medicine, a Certified Culinary Medicine Specialist, and an Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner. My work integrates nutrition, lifestyle medicine, and structural competency into care and medical education, with a strong emphasis on nutrition security and the social determinants of health.

With Dr. Grace Marie Jones, I co-developed a 40+ hour culinary medicine curriculum integrated into the pre-clinical experience, combining teaching kitchens with community-based service-learning in partnership with local organizations. TUCOM’s culinary medicine program has been recognized by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services as a leader in medical nutrition education and aims to position TUCOM students as expert residency candidates.

Todd Ichinaga, CCMP

Reimagining Healthcare Dining: Delicious, Health-Promoting Food at Scale

Assistant Director, Food Services – Auxiliary Restaurant Group at UT Southwestern Medical Center

Visionary food service leader with 20+ years of experience in culinary operations, corporate dining, and health-forward programs. Proven track record of operational excellence, strategic growth, and building community-rooted food ecosystems.

Allison Cammer, PhD, RD

Building Brain Health Programming: From Clinical Practice to Community Impact

Assistant Dean, Associate Professor – Nutrition and Dietetics
College of Pharmacy and Nutrition
University of Saskatchewan

Allison Cammer, PhD, RD is an Associate Professor of Nutrition and Director of Dietetics College of Pharmacy and Nutrition at the University of Saskatchewan. She completed a BSc – Nutrition, a dietetic internship, BA – Women and Gender Studies, MSc -Community Health and Epidemiology, and PhD – Nutrition.

>Her program of research focuses on nutrition, aging, and neurodegeneration. Her dementia research spans risk reduction, health promotion and strategies to promote living well with dementia, caregiver support, long-term care, and end of life care. She uses codesign methods to develop and test innovative strategies to translate evidence into practical actions to support health.

She leads the Cognitive Kitchen Program, is a member of the Canadian Consortium for Neurodegeneration in Aging, co-leads the Rural Dementia Action Research (RaDAR) team, and is a member of the national Dining in Residential Communities team (DiRECT). She champions practical solutions, collaborative learning, and authentic engagement to support quality care.