January 2020
Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday. In early December, Dr. Laurie Jacobs, from the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies presented on the UCSF Healthy Beverage Initiative (HBI)  and its impact on employee SSB consumption and cardiometabolic health. If you missed the presentation, the recording and resources are available HERE . Our next webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, February 4th. More information is available in the Upcoming Events section.
 
We have also been busily planning for the upcoming Mini College on Thursday, March 26 in Sacramento. This year’s featured keynote will be Dr. Alice Chen, Deputy Secretary, Policy and Planning at the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHSA). An advocate for health equity, Dr. Chen is well-acquainted with the Champion Provider Fellowship program having co-led the Writing for Change workshop at the first onboarding in 2014. This is going to be a great Mini College, so make sure to register and book your hotel room before February 25th.

In Health,

Vanessa Thompson, MD
Fellowship Director & Associate Professor
UCSF School of Medicine
Upcoming Events
*Download the 2019 - 2020 programming calendar HERE .
Webinar
Food Security: Healthy Food Access via Farmers’ Markets and
Market Match Expansion
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
12:15 – 1:15pm  
Carle Brinkman , Food and Farming Program Director,  Ecology Center , will discuss strategies to promote healthy food access via farmers’ markets and Market Match expansion. The webinar will also explore federal, state and local policy levers to expand food assistance benefits and their usage in places like farmers’ markets.
Work-In-Progress (WIP) #5 (for Fellows)
Thursday, February 13, 2020
12:15 - 1:15PM
Moderator: Dr. Wagahta Semere
Assistant Professor, UCSF School of Medicine
2020 Spring Mini College
Thursday, March 26th, 2020
8:00AM - 4:00PM
DoubleTree | 2001 Point West Way, Sacramento, Ca 95815
This one day, in-person training is for Champion Provider Fellows and local health department representatives. The day will include skill-building workshops, presentations by Champion Provider Fellows, and opportunities for networking.

Lodging : Rooms are available at the DoubleTree for the state rate of $95++/night.( 2019 fellows will be reimbursed for travel related expenses, including one night of lodging. )  
Fellow Activities
Madhu Raghavan, MD, FAAP
(Santa Cruz County)
The City of Watsonville approved Dr. Madhu Raghavan's plan to install health promotion signage in parks as part of its urban greening project. She has already secured partial funding for this effort.   
Pedro Moreno, MD
(Monterey County)
Dr. Moreno presented at the Nutrition Fitness Collaborative of the Central Coast about the obesity epidemic in farmworker children in East Salinas and the work his clinic is doing to address the issue. The presentation garnered interest from Congressman Jimmy Panetta’s office to have him tour the clinic.
Kim Newell Green, MD
Emma Steinberg, MD
(San Francisco County)
Drs. Newell Green & Steinberg have been working on CalAim to increase Medi-Cal funding for food as medicine. They presented to the San Francisco Marin Medical Society and are working to garner support from other local medical societies to write a resolution for the California Medical Association to ensure that advocating for innovative solutions to food insecurity is part of their policy agenda.


Dr. Steinberg also co-authored this Op-Ed Special to the Sacramento Bee, California has a hunger problem, and it’s hurting our kids. We need a solution for food insecurity
*Champion Provider Listserv*
Collaborate & communicate with Champion Provider
Fellows across the state about your community change efforts.
Post a message by emailing:  champion-providers@googlegroups.com
Policy Brief
New 2020 California State Laws
Many new laws come into effect in California this year. These new laws impact education, employment, healthcare and other social determinants of health.
From the Field
Note: Materials included in this section are for reference and information purposes only and do not imply endorsement by the federal government, California Department of Public Health, or the University of California, San Francisco.
Rummo et al. Health Affairs . November 2019.
This article evaluates the effectiveness of US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) pilot program in Michigan (Fair Food Network’s Double Up Food Bucks), that provided a dollar match subsidy for SNAP participants to use on fresh produce in stores from 2015-2016. The results support the implementation of similar programs in other states.

Santa Clara County launched Double Up Food Bucks California in 2017 :
American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) . December 2019 .
The December 2019 issue of AJPH dedicates a section to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), containing numerous articles commissioned by Professor Marion Nestle, covering topics ranging from its history, politics and public health implications , to recommendations from participants.
If food is medicine, why isn’t it taught at medical schools? Fu, Jessica. The New Food Economy . October 14, 2019.
This article discusses highlights from Harvard Law School Food Law & Policy Clinic (FLPC), Doctoring our Diet: Policy Tools to Include Nutrition in US Medical Training (September 2019) , such as, “Students in medical schools across the country spend less than 1 percent of lecture time learning about diet,” and “just 14%  of doctors feel qualified to offer [that] nutrition advice.”
Erica Hellerstein. Cal Matters. December 17, 2019.
Clinicians at La Cl ínica De La Raza, in Oakland, are providing "food prescriptions" in the form of a $10 voucher for redemption at the clinic's monthly "food pharmacy," to get local produce.
Urban Institute . October 2019.
This interactive dashboard provides a breakdown of food insecurity levels from County to County, and compares and suggests appropriate interventions for "peer groups," or counties that were found to have similar risk factors and characteristics.
More Opportunities
Nutrition & Obesity Policy Research &
Evaluation Network (NOPREN)
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Join NOPREN for access to the listserv, expert-led monthly calls, and/or to join one or more of (7) working groups:
  1. Drinking Water
  2. Early Childhood
  3. Food Security
  4. Food Service Guidelines
  5. Healthy Food Retail
  6. Rural Food Access
  7. School Wellness
Visit nopren.org to learn more.
UCSF CME: Medical Care of Vulnerable & Underserved Populations
Feb 20-22, 2020 | San Francisco
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World-class experts will present contemporary approaches to optimize care for common conditions affecting vulnerable populations and to mitigate the unique challenges faced by these populations.
Topics will include:
  • HIV, diabetes, heart failure, asthma, depression, PTSD, obesity, hepatitis, SUDs, homelessness, school suspension, limited health literacy, food insecurity, trauma, incarceration
DISCOUNT: Safety-net providers (>50% of patients covered by Medi-Cal or are uninsured) are eligible for a discount on registration.
2020 California School-Based Health Conference
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May 14-15, 2020 | Sacramento
Join providers, educators, advocates, and other leaders in the school-based health care movement across the state. Workshops on school-based health are available for all levels of experience.