A typical day at class doesn’t usually call for teaching a cabinet secretary how to blend mango lasses and muhammara.
But that’s exactly what Heather Brown, a graduate student studying nutrition at the University of Utah, did this week. Brown made the case for spices over salt to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, during his tour of the Osher Center for Integrative Health.
“This has antioxidants, fiber, great flavor and not too much salt,” Brown said, handing the cabinet member plastic cups of pepper flakes and cumin before directing him to blitz the concoction in a food processor.
Kennedy stopped at the U on April 7 to tour Osher’s wellness bus, food pharmacy and demonstration kitchens. Osher Director Amy Locke led the tour, introducing Kennedy to one of just 10 such integrative health centers across the country.
“We are proud of the Osher Center and encouraged by the secretary’s interest in our program,” said Locke, chief wellness officer for U of U Health. “We share a common goal of preventing disease by focusing on a healthy diet. I was grateful for the opportunity to share information on our research, our programs and our approaches to integrating health food into medicine and health care.”
Kennedy is not the first cabinet secretary to visit the U. In 2023, then-U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm came to campus to visit a geothermal plant in Gardner Commons. The same year, then-U.S. President Joe Biden visited the U during a speech at the nearby Veterans Administration Hospital. Biden also visited as vice president in 2016 as part of the “National Cancer Moonshot” launch. Other presidents to visit campus include Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.
“It was an honor to help highlight the innovative scientific and outreach efforts of our faculty,” said Kelly Tappenden, dean of the College of Health.
At the food pharmacy parked outside the UU Health building, Kennedy scanned the cans of peaches, pears and green beans before ticking through the dietician-approved shopping list referred clients can fulfill in the trailer decked out like a food truck or mobile kitchen—two dairies, two proteins, three starches, fruits and veggies.
“Our goal is helping individuals who are experiencing food insecurity and also have a chronic condition,” said Ellen Maxfield, manager of the food pharmacy. “We want to prevent. We want to delay. And we want to help move them forward.”
Back inside at the demonstration kitchen, Tricia Petzold, a family medicine physician certified in functional medicine, described the interdisciplinary education students in nursing, pharmacy, medicine and health receive at Osher.
“Our medical students learn the knowledge and the skills to use food as a medicine to help their patients change their behavior and treat, prevent and reverse chronic diseases.”
While Kennedy was on campus, Utah legislative leaders hosted a press conference in the lobby of the former Myriad Genetics Building, 303 Chipeta Way, promoting their Kennedy-aligned legislation—including banning fluoride in the state’s water systems, blocking food stamp users from buying soda and eliminating food dyes and additives in public school-prepared foods. University leaders also shared a brochure about the institution’s research strengths with Kennedy.