As a pediatric gastroenterology fellow at Mass General Hospital, I see firsthand everyday how the food we eat can give us a longer, healthier life. That means I have also seen the debilitating long-term effects that a lack of proper nutrition can have on our bodies.
I was born in Sudan, one of the poorest countries in the world. I know that the nutrition my parents were able to provide me as a child was a big factor in my ability to succeed in school and become a doctor, and I look back fondly at the times my family gather around the dinner table for a home cooked meal. It’s why I’ve made it my life's mission to help kids experiencing food insecurity, so they can achieve their dreams — and what's lead me to join Project Bread’s Board of Directors.
I take a food-as-medicine approach while caring for patients with various gastrointestinal problems, including illnesses like obesity, constipation, weight loss, and inflammatory bowel disease. I really believe that nutrition is the key to determining one’s health trajectory. We are continuing to expand our knowledge about how food can also act as a cure for many diseases. This is especially true in my field of gastroenterology as almost all of the conditions that we see have a nutritional therapeutic component. How we eat can have a huge effect on someone’s quality of life.”
