Webinar Description

Supporting childhood nutrition is a job for everyone – not just pediatricians and dieticians. In this webinar, hear from Dr. Nimali Fernando, creator of the Doctor Yum Project, about how anyone can nurture healthy communities and help youth enjoy nutritious diets.  

Learn how nutrition impacts all parts of a child’s holistic health, and why childhood nutrition programs must incorporate goals that have nothing to do with the scale. We’ll explore evidence-based strategies for encouraging nutritious eating, and learn why strong interpersonal relationships are vital to growing healthy communities.

Key Learning Objectives:

• Learn evidence-based and scientifically supported methods to encourage children to eat a nutritious and diverse diet – without shame or weight stigma 
• Explore the unexpected and impactful ways that public health and child-serving professionals from a variety of backgrounds can support childhood nutrition in their communities
• Understand the importance of interpersonal relationships to help youth grow up to be happy and healthy 

Webinar Keynote Speaker

Nimali Fernando, MD, MPH has been a board-certified pediatrician for over 24 years and founder of The Dr. Yum Project, a non-profit dedicated to helping families and communities overcome barriers to eating well. Throughout her years in pediatrics, she consistently saw a need to help families understand how to raise children who enjoy a healthy diet and was inspired to co-author the award-winning parenting book ”Raising a Healthy, Happy Eater” and “Dr. Yum’s Food Adventure,” a research-backed nutrition curriculum that teaches preschool-aged children to enjoy whole foods in early childhood education centers in 40 states nationwide. Through her clinical and nonprofit work with communities, she also saw a huge need for programming that could teach children and families health behaviors in a variety of settings, leading to the creation of “Touchpoints,” a family-centered health behavior program. Her “Food as Medicine” approach has been featured in the New York Times and NBC Nightly News. 

Free Registration

Moderated by

C.J. Stermer, MBA is a longstanding host and emcee for various VFHY programs including the Empower Series and the Champions for Youth Summit. His experience within public health spans across various topics and audiences, such as Tobacco and Vaping prevention, Substance use education and prevention, Nutrition and Physical Activity, Maternal Health, ACEs, and other topics. C.J. also serves as a Board Member for the Dr. Yum Project.