Healthcare Sustainability Champions

Sohayla Eldeeb

B.S. in Biology and Masters Student in
Community Health and Research Prevention
Stanford Department of Biology and School of Medicine

Project

Supporting the Stanford Health Care Food System: Demonstrating the benefits of healthy food on patient outcomes

Project Description

Hospitalization can be seen as a key moment of potential intervention to educate patients around the significant impact of diet on health. This team will evaluate the carbon footprint of the food that is served to inpatients and evaluate opportunities to further reduce environmental impacts and the carbon footprint of patient meals. 

Stanford Health Care Food Services department employs climate-smart best practices such as shifting the center of the plate to focus recipes on grains and vegetables instead of meat, and by providing plant-based alternatives. In addition, Food Services sets local and sustainable food purchase targets, achieving a 12% spend on local food purchases and a 30% spend on sustainable food and beverage in 2022. This project will use LCA data to evaluate the carbon footprint of patient menus and evaluate potential opportunities for improvement such as ingredient or process changes.

 

Impact

The team will measure the carbon footprint of select recipes from the patient dining menu.

Collaborators

Dr. Christopher Gardner, Advisor
Director of Nutrition Studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and
the Rehnborg Farquhar Professor of Medicine at Stanford University

Achievements &
Affiliations

Awarded the Plant-Based Diet Initiative 2022 Seed Funding grant

Student leader for the Stanford Healthcare Consulting Group

Working with Community-Academic Partnerships for Clean Air in Stockton