Food Insecurity in the US with Dr. Tom Summerfelt

Today's Episode Dr. Raj talks with Dr. Tom Summerfelt about his role in Feeding America’s mission to ensure equitable access to nutritious food for all. They discuss the factors regarding food insecurity and what we can do at both local and federal levels.  Today's Guest As the Chief Research Officer, Tom Summerfelt, Ph.D., leads the development and execution of Feeding America’s strategic research agenda—a roadmap for developing a deeper understanding of hunger in America, identifying the transformative strategies that will solve hunger and measuring and reporting the organization’s progress along the way. He partners with world-class external research experts to develop and conduct some of the most comprehensive and important studies on food insecurity—studies that are guiding changes in how our country addresses domestic hunger from the ground up. Prior to Feeding America, Tom served as the North America President of Convergence CT, where he worked collaboratively with health care providers, life science companies and payers in using technology to leverage real-world data to improve outcomes across the healthcare ecosystem. Before that, Tom served as the Vice President of Research & Innovation at Advocate Health Care, where he led a department that managed over 600 research studies at any given time and produced over 200 publications annually. Tom has spent over 20 years utilizing research and program evaluation as vehicles to create collaboration and partnership among organizations, to make community programs more efficient and effective, and to demonstrate impact in the lives of people. His work has included diverse projects that share a common focus on improving outcomes for vulnerable populations and reducing social disparities.  Tom earned his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University and has held faculty appointments at Vanderbilt, Michigan State University and The University of Chicago.   About Dr. Raj Dr Raj is a quadruple board certified physician and associate professor at the University of Southern California. He was a co-host on the TNT series Chasing the Cure with Ann Curry, a regular on the TV Show The Doctors for the past 7 seasons and has a weekly medical segment on ABC news Los Angeles.   Want more Dr. Raj? Check out the Beyond the Pearls lecture series! The Ultimate High Yield Bundle: The complete review of high-yield clinical medicine topics necessary for graduate medical education board exams including NBME, USMLE Steps 1/2/3, ITE and ABIM Boards. You can also listen to the Beyond the Pearls podcast.   Check out our other shows: Physiology by Physeo Step 1 Success Stories The InsideTheBoards Study Smarter Podcast The InsideTheBoards Podcast   Produced by Ars Longa Media To learn more about us and this podcast, visit arslonga.media. You can leave feedback or suggestions at arslonga.media/contact or by emailing info@arslonga.media. Produced by: Christopher Breitigan and Erin McCue. Executive Producer: Patrick C. Beeman, MD The information presented in this podcast is intended for educational purposes only and should not be construed as professional or medical advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices