19 more medical schools pledge nutrition training, expanding HHS campaign

Nineteen more medical schools agreed to require at least 40 hours of nutrition education, or an equivalent competency requirement, for students starting in fall 2026, expanding a Trump administration push to make nutrition a routine part of medical training. The new pledges lifted the total to 73 schools across 36 states, covering more than 52,000 medical students, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The announcement came at an HHS event in Washington, D.C., attended by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent and University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center researcher Dr. Jessica Snowden. Florida Atlantic University, the University of Maryland and the University of Massachusetts were among the schools named as new participants.

HHS has framed the effort as more than a curriculum tweak. The department says the United States spends $4.4 trillion a year on chronic disease and mental health treatment, and it estimates that about one million Americans die each year from food-related chronic illnesses. It also cites a 2022 survey showing medical students reported an average of just 1.2 hours of formal nutrition education per year, while only 14% of residency programs require a nutrition curriculum.

The central question is whether the pledge changes practice, not just paperwork. HHS says it created a voluntary competency framework and 71 core nutrition competencies to help schools build the requirement into coursework, and the administration wants the effort to reach accreditation, testing, residency training and continuing education. If that happens, future doctors could be better prepared to talk to patients about diet, prevention and risk factors tied to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. If it does not, the promise may amount to a symbolic addition to already crowded medical curricula.

The campaign began on March 5, 2026, when HHS and the Education Department announced commitments from 53 medical schools in 31 states to provide at least 40 hours of nutrition education beginning in fall 2026. HHS says the latest expansion reflects broader momentum, including voluntary commitments from eight accrediting, assessment and board organizations to strengthen nutrition training across medical education, testing and residency programs.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics welcomed the focus but said registered dietitian nutritionists should help design and deliver the training. That point goes to the core implementation issue: whether the schools that signed on will move beyond a pledge and into measurable changes in what students learn, how residents are trained and how doctors handle nutrition-related disease in the exam room.