Oregon Health & Sciences University, the largest medical institution in Oregon, has partnered with the Rouxbe Cooking School to power an online education program to support patient outcomes through lifestyle health initiatives that focus on cooking.
The partnership with the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic at OHSU marks the first step toward developing programs that will help patients transition successfully to healthier cooking through culinary education and at-home, online training.
While many programs focus more on nutrition information and “what to eat”, this pilot program focuses on the “how and why” of cooking so that patients can actually apply their knowledge and begin to practice prevention and self care through cooking.
The pilot is underway through the OHSU Multiple Sclerosis Center. It includes an online instruction component, powered through the Rouxbe Cooking School as well as regular visits with the patients’ healthcare providers to help monitor and track outcomes.
The pilot was initiated with support from Dr. Dennis Bourdette, Chief of Neurology at OHSU and Dr. Vijayshree Yadav, the Clinical Director at OHSU MS Center. Their interest in the impact of cooking was driven in part by preliminary research, which suggested that a plant-based and whole-foods focused diet can help alleviate primary symptoms of MS.
“Our experience has shown that learning plant-based cooking skills has been helpful to patients as they look to alleviate some common MS symptoms, such as fatigue. In this pilot, we expect to show how these skills can also be taught in Rouxbe’s online format, thereby reaching an audience much larger than if taught in an in-person training course.” said Dr. Dennis Bourdette.
About Rouxbe’s Wellness Programs
Rouxbe provides wellness and health programming for individuals, health care providers and organizations. Rouxbe’s revolutionary online platform delivers cutting edge e-learning solutions that drive and measure learning outcomes and engagement while providing effective, lower-cost alternatives for teaching people the fundamentals of cooking as part of larger lifestyle and preventative health efforts. For more information on culinary wellness or to learn more about Rouxbe, please contact Joe Girard, CEO & Co-Founder at jgirard@rouxbe.com.
About OHSU
Oregon Health & Science University is the state’s only academic health center. It provides an uncommon array of services from providing the state’s most comprehensive health care, to educating the next generation of clinicians and biomedical researchers, to achieving breakthroughs and innovations. Its hospitals and clinics serve more than a quarter of a million patients every year with innovative care and treatment models based on the latest knowledge available.
