Hope Barkoukis, chair of Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Nutrition, knew she would be presenting about food as medicine for the School of Medicine’s State of the School on Nov. 6. What she didn’t know was that she would also be receiving the Case Medal for Excellence in Health Science Innovation—a moment made even more special with her family and friends in attendance.
“It is an incredible honor to receive this award and to be among such renowned past recipients,” said Barkoukis. “What is most significant is the recognition of innovation in applied nutrition research and education to move the needle forward for better health for all of us. This award reflects the collective effort and innovation of the whole nutrition department that is unique across the country and is making such an impact.”
An experience visiting depressed socioeconomic areas in the City of Cleveland during one of Barkoukis’ first jobs at MetroHealth inspired her career in nutrition. She visited targeted neighborhoods with a social worker to try to determine if the children in those communities were socially—and nutritionally—stable.
“The struggles I saw people dealing with, their challenges in their housing, lack of basic necessities and resources, left a lasting impression,” she said. “For example, we found homes without a working oven or means to feed their children. I was determined to be creative and try my best to help them, including finding inexpensive or free access to nutritious food. We saw it profoundly again during the pandemic.”
After earning her master’s degree and PhD in nutrition from Case Western Reserve, Barkoukis dedicated her career to improving health through nutrition and wellness as a critical tool alongside medicine.
Barkoukis is passionate about the food-as-medicine movement, which emphasizes using medically-tailored meals to manage different chronic conditions. Her research ranges from design of nutrition, food and culinary intervention studies; nutrition counseling of culturally diverse populations, competency in body composition techniques, protein analyses and use of mass spec and stable isotopes for metabolic research.
She has also studied clinical lifestyle intervention in pregnancy, diabetes, pulmonary arterial hypertension and most recently collaborated with the University Hospitals Department of Dermatology to compare standards of care for people with psoriasis with the goal of educating them on the Mediterranean diet and then assessing improvements in symptoms quality of life.
Her National Institute of Health-funded research on nutrition design and interventions includes manipulating types of dietary carbohydrates and glycemic index to achieve greater control of glucose response, resulting in tremendous advances for patients.
“Hope is recognized nationally for her remarkable efforts in educating all of us around the importance of food as medicine and the scientific emotional geographic, ethnic, and climate change issues associated with nutrition and health,” said School of Medicine Dean Stan Gerson. “The impact of her innovative nutrition design and intervention research and programs have helped patients, students and colleagues, making her so deserving of this award.”
With a goal to not only teach students about nutrition and food, but also lifestyle medicine, Barkoukis created the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Wellness and Preventive Care Pathway for medical students in 2016. Through the experience, students are learning skills for themselves and their well-being, but also for their future patients.
“When they take care of patients, we want them to be thinking beyond medications they can prescribe, to recommendations for physical activity, emotional well-being, stress reduction and nutrition,” said Barkoukis.
With 250 students, it is now the largest of the pathway programs—extracurricular opportunities for individualized enrichment experiences—in the School of Medicine.
In addition, almost 900 undergraduate, graduate and medical students have benefited from the new state-of-the-art test kitchen that opened in the summer of 2023. Beyond degree programs, the nutrition department also offers popular undergraduate nutrition courses that can be used to meet university requirements.
The Case Medal is the latest in a long list of honors Bourkakis has received throughout her career. She also was awarded the School of Medicine’s Faculty STAR Award (supportive, team oriented, authentic, respectful), the Ohio Outstanding Dietetic Educator Award from Ohio Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics and the university’s John S. Diekhoff Award for Distinguished Graduate Teaching.