After the spring tornado, I wrote about the challenges faced by our students and community and the support we were able to provide in the face of that disaster. This February, the month of heart health, love, Black History, and more, I am writing about a more insidious problem: food insecurity. It is an issue we don’t often think about or talk about in graduate and professional education, yet one that is critical to equitable student success. Unlike a natural disaster, food insecurity often unfolds quietly – out of sight, persistent, and no less disruptive to our students’ health, learning, and sense of belonging.
In November and December of 2024, spurred by the concerns of a few brave students, we asked all students on the School of Medicine campus to complete a validated food insecurity survey. Nine hundred and sixty-four students responded. All degree types were represented: 58% of respondents were from professional degree programs, 36% from PhD programs, and 4% from non-clinical master’s degree programs.
The results of this survey were sobering and deeply concerning. Eight percent of students reported sometimes or often not having enough to eat. These students stretched across all program types. In addition, 274 students (28%) noted that they could not afford to eat balanced meals. Students with dependents were more likely to report food insecurity. These findings underscore that food insecurity is not a personal failure, but a structural challenge that requires an institutional response.
The Office of Education took several immediate steps. We launched a webpage with important local resources and created a mobile app to receive and share alerts when additional food is available from campus events. The emergency fund was also made available for acute needs. We also reassessed the cost of living to adjust financial aid support, as rising rents in St. Louis were a recurrent theme identified in our survey.
However, we knew this was likely insufficient. At AAMC 2025, we learned that WashU was not alone in this challenge; schools across the country have identified similar problems. A cohort of our own interprofessional and graduate students, supported by our faculty and staff, came together to create the WashU Medicine NOURISHING Initiative. After investigating best practices, they proposed several possible options to address food insecurity in our student community. Our Office of Education administrative team then researched each of these options in depth to better understand feasibility and resources needed. The most promising ideas were subsequently vetted by our students in a follow-up survey to better understand interest.
Based on this work, we are launching three additional pilot initiatives for our students. The first is a food pantry, which will become available in the next month. The pantry will provide shelf-stable food for all students in need. While this provides critical staples, we recognized that this may not address the additional concern of being able to afford healthy balanced meals, especially fresh fruits and vegetables. To assist with this need, we are funding 100 subsidized annual memberships to City Greens Market for students who have indicated a need and interest. City Greens is a food co-op supporting local farms and provides both in store and delivery options. Finally, we recently launched the Lentil app. Lentil, created by WashU Medicine alum, Gautam Adusumilli, MD ’21, is a resource to support thoughtful nutrition choices, cooking, and eating out. It includes simple insights, useful recipes, and is well-suited to the pace and demands of health and graduate training. This will be complemented by cooking demonstrations led by our student groups.
Together, we are hopeful that these initiatives will address food insecurity on our campus and we are committed to ongoing reassessment and improvement. We also want to be clear: accessing these resources is encouraged, confidential, and an important part of supporting student success.
These efforts would not be possible without the courage of our students, the ingenuity and creativity of our faculty and staff, and the support and collaboration of the School of Medicine leadership. A special thank you to WashU Medicine students Mike Ferzoco, Sam Meiselman, Annika Agarwal, Ze Ou, Andrew Liu, and Olivia Chen, who led the NOURISHING Initiative work. And deep gratitude to our faculty and staff including (and not limited to) Amanda Thompson, Heather Hageman, Dr. Caroline Day, Betty Feagans, Kayla Young, and wonderful members of our facilities and sustainability teams. I am immensely grateful to all who contributed to this work and to all of you who continue to support our students in small and big ways.
With Gratitude,
Eva