By Katarina A. Lewczyk | Date published: December 16, 2024
Elena Byhoff to Study Health Impacts of Food Insecurity Intervention with Recent Grant
As food insecurity and its association with chronic diseases remains a growing concern, researchers at UMass Chan Medical School are studying the health impacts of food insecurity intervention to improve patient outcomes.
Elena Byhoff, MD, MSc, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Health Systems Science, serves as the principal investigator of a hybrid effectiveness-implementation study, in partnership with clinical and community organizations, to understand the health impacts of food insecurity intervention. According to UMass Chan News, the $2.8 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research, will tailor services to meet a variety of patient needs, including access to kitchen supplies, SNAP enrollment assistance, food vouchers, care management services, cooking classes, and dietary counseling. With these services in place, Dr. Byhoff and her team will evaluate health outcomes and the impacts on cost and health care utilization. Additionally, researchers plan to identify determinants of a pragmatic food intervention for scaling and sustainability to be adapted in other settings.
“If we can start understanding who needs what, we can be more thoughtful and efficient in the way we address food insecurity and think about applications of this in the future,” said Dr. Byhoff.