Research
Grant Funded Programming
The Alliance was honored to receive a grant from the American Heart Association as a recipient of their new Health Care by Food Initiative™ to look at the development and testing of a user-centered framework to address food insecurity and diet-sensitive health outcomes. Those programs are off to a great start! So far, 158 patients with hypertension who screened positive for food insecurity have been enrolled through referrals from UK HealthCare and Appalachia Regional Healthcare. Beginning in October 2024, participants will receive either Medically Tailored Meals or a Grocery Rx for 12 weeks as part of our innovative food is medicine initiative. To enhance our understanding of the program’s impact, the research team is conducting user experience surveys and interviews with both participants and providers, gathering valuable insights at every stage of the screening, referral, and enrollment process.
Pilot Programs
Food as Medicine Pilot Programs
Across the state of Kentucky, the Food as Health Alliance is launching 4 new food as medicine pilot programs. These programs will test a variety of food delivery packages to food insecure populations who are experiencing diet sensitive chronic disease. This research will bring together partners from the healthcare, industry, agriculture, and non-profit sectors to research the ways in which addressing food insecurity can improve health outcomes in the Commonwealth. Eligible patients will work with their healthcare provider to be referred into one of the 4 programs.
For this pilot, every other week for 3 months, participants will receive refrigerated prepared meals that have been medically tailored to help manage blood pressure.
In partnership with Kroger and Soda Health, participants in the grocery prescription pilot will receive a $100 card each month for 3 months to purchase healthy food items at any Kroger store.
Twice per month for 3 months, Food City will be providing participants with meal kits that include recipes and ingredients to cook 4 delicious and healthy meals delivered by Door Dash.
In this program, participants will receive $100 per month for 3 months to purchase Fresh Funds foods like lean protein, fruits and vegetables, and low-fat dairy on Instacart.
Student Opportunities
We are pleased to offer several opportunities for students from the College of Medicine, College of Public Health,College of Nursing, and College of Agriculture, Food and Environment to get involved in the Food as Health Alliance research program. Our current research is reviewing the impact of grocery prescription, meal kits, medically tailored meals, and text based motivational prompts on both food security and nutrition related diet outcomes in communities across Kentucky. If you are interested in becoming part of this research, please note the following criteria
- Approximately 5 hours per week (more on a case-by-case basis)
- Remote work only
- Opportunities to submit abstracts and give presentations at local research symposiums and other related events
If this is something you are interested in being involved with, please complete the volunteer interest form.
Funding Opportunities for Researchers
National Institutes of Health
The NIH has released a Notice of Special Interest for: Stimulating Research to Understand and Address Hunger, Food and Nutrition Insecurity, which includes the relationship between food insecurity and chronic disease. There is a call for proposals open until November, 2024.
Elevance Health Foundation
Over the next three years, the Elevance Health Foundation will invest up to $90 million in partnerships and programs that address health inequities by demonstrating measurable and positive change with funds allocated for Food as Medicine programs.
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation has committed $4.6 million in grants for equitable and community-directed approaches to prevent, manage, and treat diet-related illnesses in the United States. The funding will support grantees advancing Food is Medicine interventions focused on building partnerships with key stakeholders and bridging the gaps between food and health care.
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
The Foundation accepts applications for research grant funding on an annual basis within the Foundation’s external, online application platform, linked below. The Foundation is currently accepting applications for most Foundation research grants. Applications for Foundation research grants are available within the Foundation’s application platform.
Kroger Foundation
The Kroger Co. Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation, established in 2018, is a public charity that aims to transform our food system through collective action and innovation. Last year, the Foundation directed $18 million in grants to organizations who share this mission.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Pioneering Ideas: Exploring the Future to Build a Culture of Health seeks proposals that are primed to influence health equity in the future. We are interested in ideas that address any of these four areas of focus: Future of Evidence; Future of Social Interaction; Future of Food; Future of Work.
Cigna Foundation
Healthier Kids for Our Future: A five-year, $25 million global initiative that addresses the challenges affecting children’s health today. Their program has two focus areas: reducing food insecurity, and addressing the mental health and emotional well-being of children throughout the world.
Walmart Foundation
Healthier Food for All - Walmart.org strives to improve access and availability to healthier food, and support programs that provide nutrition education to increase people’s confidence in selecting, preparing and serving healthier foods.
Humana Foundation
The Humana Foundation’s research seeks to advance health by understanding and addressing social determinants of health (SDOH), the economic and social conditions under which people are born, grow, live, work and age.
William T. Grant Foundation
This program supports research to build, test, or increase understanding of programs, policies, or practices to reduce inequality in the academic, social, behavioral, or economic outcomes of young people ages 5-25 in the United States.
Wholesome Wave
Wholesome Wave is fighting nutrition insecurity across the US by developing and deploying programs, platforms, and seed funding to help a network of community-based organizations address the lack of affordability and access to healthy food.
Russell Sage Foundation
The Russell Sage Foundation’s (RSF) program on Social, Political, and Economic Inequality supports innovative research on the factors that contribute to social, political, and economic inequalities in the U.S.
