Dr. Tim Says....

Doctors are Changing

Those of you who have been following Dr. Gourmet for a while know that I am involved in a very innovative project at the Tulane University School of Medicine. The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine is the world’s first teaching kitchen operated by a medical school. Our programming is far-reaching now, and we have classes for the community, medical students, and residents, and have licensed that courseware to 13 other medical schools.

About 18 months ago we began offering continuing medical education (CME) courses for practicing physicians. You might not be aware that your doctor has to complete a number of hours of CME each year. The amount depends on the state he or she lives in and their specialty, but it generally runs in the 20 to 40 hours per year range. The Goldring Center’s CME is unique in that it offers a combination of lectures, readings, a test, case-based discussion, and hands-on cooking. We have developed 12 modules for doctors, ranging from Mediterranean diet concepts, to pediatric diet, to celiac disease, to pregnancy. In the coming year we will expand the number of classes by at least double.

Why?

When the idea was first presented to me I thought that a few physicians might be interested, but not anywhere near the extent that I have found in the last year and a half. Of the 30 or so modules we have presented in the last eighteen months, we have sold out almost every one. Doctors are really interested in learning about how they can change the dialogue they are having with their patients about food. But for many of them it goes even further than gaining a basic understanding of food and culinary medicine.

Some of them are building kitchens in their medical practices. Yep. Right there in the doctor’s office - a teaching kitchen.

Amazing.

This is Warren Ross. He is a primary care physician in Columbia, Maryland. He came recently for some of our courses at the Goldring Center.

This is Dr. Ross's teaching kitchen, that he is building in his office. In Maryland.

Amazing! The world of medicine is changing fast. Faster than I ever thought it would.

Timothy S. Harlan, M.D.
Dr. Gourmet