Nurturing the Seeds of Change: Strengthening the Lifestyle Medicine Movement With the Donald A. Pegg Student Leadership Award

Abstract

Student-led Lifestyle Medicine Interest Groups (LMIGs) empower the next generation of healthcare professionals to tackle the pandemic of lifestyle-related chronic diseases and provide important pathways to increasing the visibility of Lifestyle Medicine (LM) in health professions schools. Each year, the Donald A. Pegg Student Leadership Award offers four allied health students a seed grant to start or support LMIGs at their schools as well as financial assistance to attend the annual American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) conference. The 2017 student winners were Paresh Jaini, Albert Barrera, Alyssa Greenwell, and Alicja Baska. With the support of the Pegg Award, the awardees and their faculty advisors have made great strides in LM at their institutions in the areas of research, community outreach, student education, and global networking. Their LMIG activities have included students presenting research at national conferences, initiating a chapter of the national organization Walk with a Doc, hosting educational lectures on LM principles, sponsoring plant-based cooking sessions, facilitating stress management workshops, and hosting a national-level LM congress in Europe. Through the ACLM, the Pegg Award generates an atmosphere of growth for LMIGs, fostering the expansion, vision, and integration of LM into the education of health professions students worldwide.

The Time is Now For Lifestyle Medicine: Lesson From Lifestyle Medicine Leaders

“…7 Additionally, the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine publishes an education column each year, authored by leaders in lifestyle medicine. [8][9][10] To make lifestyle medicine education mainstream, LM needs to become part of the public school education system. ACLM members have been working to make this a reality throughout the United States for the past four years.…”

“…7 Additionally, the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine publishes an education column each year, authored by leaders in lifestyle medicine. 8-10…”

Catalysts for Change: Accelerating the Lifestyle Medicine Movement Through Professionals in Training

“…Dr. Lee mentors 2 Preventative and Lifestyle Medicine Interest Groups (PLMIG); in addition, she provides lifestyle medicine research student mentorship. 27 Engage, Imagine, and Align…”

“…26 They increased lifestyle medicine exposure by hosting lifestyle medicine workshops, cooking classes with lessons on food labels, smart grocery shopping and plant-based myths, and exercise classes of circuit-style body weight training and yoga. 27…”

“…Medical student Alijca Baska and faculty adviser Dr. Daniel Sliz, MD, PhD, developed the first LMIG in Poland, “Lifestyle Medicine Scientific Club” who hosted a well-attended (350 participants) National Lifestyle Medicine Congress. 27 PiT and LMIGs can draw positive attention and gain traction with faculty and students LMIGs at their local institutions. University of North Texas Health Center’s (UNTHSC) lifestyle medicine faculty Dr. Jenny Lee, PhD, MPH, along with current psychiatry resident physician Paresh Jaini have worked together on studying epigenetic changes underlying the efficacy of lifestyle interventions in the context of depression.…”