Dietary Delights
The Many Meanings of “Food is Medicine”
D
r. Marianna Wetherill describes interdisciplinary health science research as “leveraging the perspectives from diverse professions to better understand determinants of well-being for people and populations.” As a dietitian and public health practitioner, she values the unique viewpoints that different disciplines can bring when studying any nutrition-related health problem. Wetherill explains, “The way a social worker might strategize to improve food security will likely be different from how an occupational therapist might work to study and solve the problem—integrating these perspectives can facilitate deeper understandings of complex issues that single disciplines are unlikely to solve on their own.” This interprofessional awareness is an important focus in her Lifestyle Medicine in Public Health course, offered via live Zoom for Tulsa and Oklahoma City students. The course covers various lifestyle medicine intervention areas—ranging from food to sleep and stress. In addition to being a faculty member in the Department of Health
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OU Public Health | fall 2023
OU Public Health | fall 2023
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