In this series, we’re taking a closer look at the interconnections between our healthcare system and agriculture. In a world that has become increasingly specialized and siloed, we don’t often create opportunities to examine the connections between seemingly disparate systems and areas of expertise. But in uncovering these connections, we can illuminate pathways to deeper positive impact. For these three talks, we’ve assembled a stellar interdisciplinary group of physicians, farmers, activists, practice managers, research scientists, and chefs to shed light on how our health benefits from a closer connection to farms, and ways that the medical and agricultural communities can collaborate for better health, equity, and justice.

Thursday, January 6th, 5PM - Subscribing to Health: How CSAs and membership medical practices are transforming our broken food and health care systems
Jocelyn Apicello, DrPH, farmer and co-owner of Longhaul Farm and co-founder of Ecological Citizens Project, will join family practice physician Dr. Gena Wilson, and Practice Manager, Gene Wilson, of Upstate Functional Medicine to discuss the parallel challenges faced by our food and health care systems, the ways in which they are deeply interconnected, and how closer relationships with customers and clients can lead to better health outcomes.

Thursday, January 13th, 5:30PM - Deep Healing: Getting to the root causes of people and a planet on fire
Join physician, activist, writer, mother, and composer Dr. Rupa Marya, and Glynwood Director of Agriculture Laura Lengnick for a fireside chat that explores how we can truly heal from the chronic inflammation that underlies all of the leading causes of death in industrialized places and disproportionately affects people of color. Dr. Marya is the founder and executive director of the Deep Medicine Circle, and recently published her first book with political ecologist, food system activist and policy professor Raj Patel, Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice. Her work shows the need to understand inflammatory disease with a new kind of diagnosis, and to come up with radically different treatment options. Looking through the lens of resilient agriculture and climate, Laura Legnick, author of the award-winning book, Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate, sees the same cure: reimagining our cultural values with care at the heart. To get to the prescription for healing our inflamed systems, these dynamic leaders will examine layers of structural racism, trauma, and colonization, dig into the memory of soil, and guide us in reenvisioning the way we relate to agriculture and the natural world in order to heal both people and planet.

Friday, January 21st, 5PM - Health Soil for Healthy Minds: Uncovering the links between soil health, gut microbiome, immunity, and mental health
Recent research in both agriculture and medicine has shown that bacteria and fungi play a major role in protecting the natural world, the climate, and our bodies. In this deep dive into our gut microbiome, we’ll be led by family physician, science writer, clinical professor and research scientist Dr. Daphne Miller, MD, psychiatrist, author, clinical professor and organic farmer, Dr. Drew Ramsey, and his long-time collaborator, Chef, Integrative Health Coach and Coordinator of the New York Presbyterian hospital teaching kitchen, Emilie Berner. We’ll explore why we all need a close connection to healthy soil, the effect of our gut microbiomes on mood and cognitive function, and how these innovative practitioners are leading their patients on the journey to eating for better mental health.

Learn more about each presenter here.