Kennedy announces voluntary push to add 40 hours of nutrition education to medical training

Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a voluntary, multi‑agency effort on Wednesday in which medical schools, accrediting bodies and federal agencies pledged to elevate nutrition as a core part of medical training.

Kennedy said nine major accrediting, certifying and testing organizations and 73 medical schools have committed to either provide at least 40 hours of nutrition education or an equivalent competency beginning this fall. "Nutrition is returning to the center of American medicine," he said, calling the changes a "structural" and voluntary shift led by schools and professional organizations.

The initiative is paired with federal support for curriculum development: Kennedy said the National Institutes of Health has launched a challenge to identify and scale effective approaches to integrate nutrition into medical and nursing education, and that winning curricula will be made publicly available.

"These organizations came forward voluntarily," Kennedy said, adding that HHS had acted as a catalyst and that there would be no punitive enforcement if institutions fail to deliver the pledged hours. "They've put their name and their reputation at stake," Sam Waters, counselor in the HHS secretary’s office, said when asked about consequences.

Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), described complementary actions at CMS to create a nutrition competency tied to continuing medical education and hospital practice. Oz cited work he described as incentivizing states to include nutrition criteria in continuing medical education and highlighted hospital food improvement pilots as practical steps to change clinical practice and patient care. "To not need them [drugs] is the best way to reduce spending," Oz said, arguing prevention through nutrition can lower medication use over time.

Dr. Jessica Snowden, a pediatrician and vice chancellor for research at University of Tennessee Health Sciences, told the event that academic programs in culinary medicine and partnerships with community organizations will be essential for implementation, especially in rural areas where access to healthy foods can be limited.

In the event’s question-and-answer session, reporters pressed officials on accountability and scientific disagreements over dietary guidance. Sam Waters reiterated the voluntary, public nature of the commitments and said HHS would not impose curricular mandates: "We brought nutritionists from the best universities in the country together... Every line, every recommendation is cited in the source. We're going to constantly revise it as the science evolves. But we're going to leave it up to the medical schools to figure out what the best curriculum is for their students." Kennedy repeated that departments will "spotlight" promising models rather than dictate content.

Next steps announced at the event include NIH’s challenge to develop and disseminate effective curricula and CMS efforts to advance nutrition competency across CME and hospital practice; officials said more details about timelines and implementation will be shared on an HHS public website listing institutional commitments. The administration emphasized that the effort is voluntary, peer‑driven and intended to be adopted and adapted by institutions over time.