According to the National Institutes of Health, Food is Medicine refers to five interventions services aimed at preventing and addressing diet-related diseases:

• Medically tailored meals.
• Medically tailored and healthy food packages and groceries.
• Nutritious food referrals or vouchers.
• Prescriptions for nutritious groceries or produce prescriptions
• Culinary medicine and teaching kitchen programs (National Institutes of Health, 2023).

Within the last five years, momentum in support of Food Is Medicine, and evidence demonstrating improved patient health outcomes from these approaches, has galvanized the field from an emerging approach to a national priority, relevant across care settings, disciplines, and levels of decision making (Bipartisan Policy Center, 2023). As food and nutrition experts, dietitians have unprecedented opportunities to lead and collaborate in Food Is Medicine interventions (Thomas et al., 2023).

This is a key moment to catalyze the breadth and depth of dietetic practice in medical nutrition therapy, and position dietitians at the forefront of policy and interprofessional initiatives. This session reviews the evidence and national context informing the current Food Is Medicine opportunities for dietitians; and present decision-maker and leader-level strategies which successfully equipped dietitians to embrace this work in clinical, academic, government and corporate settings.