Nate Wood, MD, is an internal medicine, obesity medicine, and primary care physician with special expertise in culinary medicine. He describes the latter as an interprofessional, evidence-based field that combines culinary arts, nutrition science, and medical education to prevent and treat diet-related disease.

“I grew up in a family that loved food,” Dr. Wood says. He recalls family recipes passed down through the generations, growing fruits and vegetables in the backyard garden, and buying fresh produce at farmers’ markets. “I was also fortunate to grow up in a family that had a lot of knowledge about the connection between diet and health,” he says.

Food and nutrition can have a significant impact on health, says Dr. Wood, who completed a degree in Professional Culinary Arts at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York in addition to studying medicine. Diets low in plants, like fruits and vegetables, and high in ultra-processed foods are associated with conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver disease, and overweight and obesity, he says.

In addition to caring for patients, Dr. Wood is exploring ways to bridge what he says is a gap among physicians, dietitians, and chefs. He teaches nutrition to students at Yale School of Medicine and resident physicians at the Irving and Alice Brown Teaching Kitchen at Yale New Haven Health’s Digestive Health Center in North Haven to help address this. He also is interested in teaching culinary medicine to patients and community members. “People want to improve the way they eat, but sometimes they don’t know what foods to eat or how to prepare those foods,” he says. “I want people to understand that cooking can be fun and healthy food can be delicious.”