Labs

Family Lifestyle Program Laboratory

About the Lab

Founded by nationally recognized Food as Medicine expert Kofi Essel, MD, MPH, the Children’s National Hospital Family Lifestyle Program (FLiP) addresses barriers to food security and healthy eating among families with children living in the Washington, D.C. and surrounding area. Co-principal investigators Laura Fischer, PhD, RD, and Qadira Ali, MD, MPH, lead the FLiP Produce Prescription initiative (FLiPRx), and Alicia Tucker, MD, leads the FLiP Patient Navigator program (PN).

Food insecurity and its associated increased risk of diet-related chronic diseases disproportionately affect structurally marginalized communities, which is where FLiP focuses its work. Using a clinical-community collaborative approach, clinicians refer families who screen positive for food insecurity to FLiP Patient Navigators – comprehensively trained medical students and community health workers - who connect families to short-term produce home delivery, plus community-based food access, nutrition education and physical activity resources. Eligible families are subsequently referred to FLiP Produce Prescription (FLiPRx) based upon individual or household-level risk of diet-related chronic disease. Through FLiPRx, families receive eight pounds of fresh produce to their homes every other week for six months. FLiPRx also provides culturally informed, evidence-based, family-centered culinary and nutrition education in the form of live instruction and on demand print and digital media.

  • Lab Focus Areas

    Addressing diet-related chronic diseases

    Improving nutrition security

    Culinary and nutrition education

    Health equity

  • Contact

    Qadira Ali, MD, MPH

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