Food As Medicine 2024, Our Speakers

Benjamin Perkins is a seasoned public health advocate and social justice practitioner with 25 years of experience. Formerly the CEO of Wholesome Wave, he created the FED (Fidelity, Equity, and Dignity) Principle ® and chaired its board’s FED Committee. He is the Founder and CEO of Upstream Impact Consulting Solutions and a certified program leader with the Groundwater Institute, facilitating racial equity workshops nationally. An ordained pastor, Benjamin holds degrees from Harvard Divinity School, Antioch University, and UCLA, driving change in underserved communities.

Catherine/Katie Brown is an award-winning Dietitian and the Clinical Lead at Flourish Nutrition, an outcomes-focused specialty nutrition practice. Drawing from her own experiences with disabilities, Katie aims to establish an inclusive environment where nutrition therapy is readily available to all. Currently, Katie is President of the New York State Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics where she advocates and supports advancing the dietetics profession in New York State. She is passionate about expanding access to nutrition care and educating dietitians to better serve the mental health and disability communities.

Jillian Hanesworth is a spoken word artist, the founding Poet Laureate Emeritus of Buffalo, New York, a community activist, and the recent recipient of the national sports Emmy award in the  Dick Schaap Outstanding Writing category. Jillian was born and raised on the east side of Buffalo where she developed a vision to use art and advocacy to help her community reimagine justice and work together to create a system where all people can thrive.

Currently, Jillian travels the country performing poetry and speaking on various topics including art for activism, the impacts of storytelling and the importance of honest and critical social and political conversations. In addition, Jillian oversees “Buffalo Books”, a nationally recognized program that aims to improve access to culturally relevant books for residents of the east side of Buffalo with the hopes of helping to increase literacy rates among Black and brown communities.

Arjav Raol is the founder & CEO of Hearth Meals, a medically tailored meal service empowering Americans with chronic conditions to lead healthier lives with food as medicine! The service is active in seven states, and serves clients with high cholesterol, hypertension, PCOS, prediabetes, or Type 2 diabetes.

Arjav derived the company from a nationwide investigative research project, named “The Next Tide”. Hearth Meals aims to address the rising food insecurity and prevalence of several chronic conditions among Americans nationwide.

Arjav previously worked in government & non-profit consulting, digital marketing strategy, and pharmaceutical & life sciences consulting.

Sharon Cryan, Esq., is the founder and CEO of FoodNerd Inc. and co-founder of the Anti-A.G.E.s Foundation. Driven by her passion for transforming the food industry, Sharon combines her legal expertise with a deep commitment to providing nutrient-dense foods for families. As a single mother, she created FoodNerd to bridge the gap between convenience and nutrition, using innovative Nutrient Lock Cold Processing to ensure every bite retains the nutrient density of nature’s best ingredients. Sharon’s mission is to redefine children’s nutrition so no parent has to compromise their child’s health for the sake of convenience.

Dean S. Seneca, MPH, MCURP, is a national expert on indigenous health disparities and teaches a course on the subject at the University of Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions. He is CEO of Seneca Scientific Solutions+, a public health and urban and regional planning organization that provides capacity building assistance for tribal nations, states, regions, cities and territories. His previous work on capacity building was as a senior health scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He also served as tribal planning director for the Seneca Nation of Indians. Other areas of expertise include infectious disease outbreaks, emergency preparedness and response, environmental health, historical trauma and social determinants.

Sherene Chou, MS, RDN is an award-winning dietitian and chef focused on building a more equitable and sustainable food system through the intersection of plant-based nutrition, culinary medicine, and health equity. She works with national brands and institutions to build innovative programs for more accessible and culturally inclusive nutrition education. In 2020, she co-founded Food + Planet, an initiative to empower healthcare professionals to transform the food system. She has served as chair for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Vegetarian Nutrition Practice Group and as nutrition advisor for the Plant-Based Foods Association. Currently, she serves on Padilla’s DE+I Collective and the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative Advisory Council. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Today’s Dietitian, and British Vogue. (Los Angeles, CA) @eatsustainablefoods (Instagram)

Dr. Albin is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Public Health at UTSW. She serves as the Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine/Pediatrics (Med/Peds) Residency Program and as the Medical Director for Food as Medicine Innovation at Parkland Health. Dr. Albin founded and directs UTSW’s Culinary Medicine program, working to teach nutrition through hands-on cooking classes to health professional learners and the community. She strives to blend clinical innovation, research, and community partnership to creatively advance the role of lifestyle health and nutrition security.

Dr. David Ditor is a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Brock University, and his research program focuses on the secondary health complications that accompany spinal cord injury (SCI). More specifically, Dr. Ditor’s research interests involve chronic inflammation after SCI, the associated range of negative effects and role of exercise and diet in reducing inflammation and improving health.
In addition to his teaching and research responsibilities at Brock University, Dr. Ditor is also the Founder and Director of POWER CORD; an accessible facility that provides specialized and supervised exercise for individuals with SCI, Multiple Sclerosis and other neurological conditions.

Classroom Cafe, a woman-owned LLC established in 2022, was founded by Chef Mignon, who is driven by a passion to connect cooking with education—especially for youth.

In May 2019, Dom took a bold step by founding MIGHTY MEATS, a company born from his passion for optimal nutrition and sustainable food practices. Dom is making waves with products containing organ meats (something that most Americans don’t traditionally eat.) That might sound like a liability for some, but Dom has built a market, an audience, and is on a trajectory to keep growing. And he’s done it all without venture funding. Leveraging his expertise in user-centric design and lean experimentation, Dom set out to make superior food both accessible and delicious. MIGHTY MEATS focuses on reducing food waste by utilizing under-appreciated ingredients, transforming them into nutritious and flavorful products.

Tambra Raye Stevenson is the founder of WANDA: Women Advancing Nutrition, Dietetics, and Agriculture, and a passionate advocate for healthy communities and championing the Food Bill of Rights. As a professor at American University’s School of Communication, she is completing her PhD there. Hailing from Oklahoma, Tambra has served on the DC Food Policy Council, the NAREEE Advisory Board to the USDA, and as the North American Representative for the African Nutrition Society. A sought-after speaker, she has spoken on the TEDx stage, World Food Prize, US Library of Congress and Uppsala Health Summit in Sweden, and across Africa. Tambra’s work centers on empowering women and promoting food as medicine within the Black community.