RFK Jr. Brings Medical School Nutrition Push to Orange Park as UF, LMU and Jacksonville Programs Sign On

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. brought his push to make nutrition a core part of medical training to Clay County on Wednesday, Oct. 21, holding a closed roundtable with Northeast Florida university and hospital leaders at Lincoln Memorial University's new medical campus in Orange Park. Kennedy said 80 medical schools have now committed to the federal nutrition education effort, and three more Northeast Florida institutions signed on during the visit, according to News4JAX.

Kennedy co-hosted the event with U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean, the Fernandina Beach Republican whose Northeast Florida district includes Clay County. The roundtable focused on two federal initiatives: a pledge for medical schools to require more nutrition education, and a separate pledge for hospitals to serve healthier food.

What was signed in Orange Park

Lincoln Memorial University President Jason McConnell and James Toldi, dean of LMU's Orange Park campus, signed the medical school nutrition education commitment, News4JAX reported. The University of Florida's medical school also signed, announced by Dr. Stephen Motew, president and CEO of UF Health. So did the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine's program at Jacksonville University, through its dean, Dr. Christopher Reeder.

On the hospital side, Nemours Children's Health in North Florida, represented by Dr. Aaron Carpenter, signed the federal pledge to make hospital food healthier. Leaders from Ascension St. Vincent's, HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital, Mayo Clinic in Florida and Baptist Health also attended the roundtable.

Kennedy praised LMU as one of the first institutions in the country to adopt the 40-hour standard and asked every medical school in the United States to consider joining. He criticized hospital food as low quality and heavy in sugar and salt. Making the country healthier has to start with nutrition, he said, according to News4JAX.

Bean told the group that local community partners can help people make better food choices, argued that protein should be the foundation of any diet because it keeps people full, and said everyone has the power to make those changes themselves.

The 40-hour nutrition standard

Under the HHS initiative, known as Advancing Nutrition Education, medical schools commit to requiring at least 40 hours of nutrition education across the four years of medical school, or an equivalent competency-based program, beginning in fall 2026. Most medical students have historically received only a few hours of nutrition training, according to USF Health.

The effort launched at a March 5 event in Washington, where Kennedy, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya announced that 53 medical schools in 31 states had committed. By June, HHS said the total had reached 73 schools, and it announced that eight medical accrediting, testing and board organizations had agreed to strengthen nutrition content in training and licensing. The National Board of Medical Examiners said it plans to include nutrition science in all three steps of the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination. HHS now counts 80 institutions in 36 states, News4JAX reported.

Kennedy said in June that participating schools would keep full control over their curriculum and would not be penalized for missing the 40-hour benchmark.

Florida's medical schools on board

Florida schools were among the earliest to sign. The HHS list of committed schools from the spring included Florida State University, the University of Florida, the University of Central Florida, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and the University of South Florida. Sen. Ashley Moody's office said in July that six Florida medical schools were part of the agreement.

Florida State's College of Medicine was singled out at the March launch as a national leader. It already requires 42 hours of nutrition education integrated across all four years, and Kennedy credited FSU President Richard McCullough and medical school Dean Alma Littles as early supporters, according to FSU. Littles said the college has run its nutrition program for nearly 20 years. USF's Morsani College of Medicine said it would offer close to 80 hours of nutrition instruction.

LMU's Orange Park campus is itself new. The Tennessee-based university held a ribbon-cutting in March for the roughly 12-acre site on Crossing Boulevard, which houses a branch of its DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine and a veterinary program. The medical school's inaugural class of 100 students started this year.

Hospitals and healthier meals

The second initiative, the Make Hospital Food Healthier pledge, asks hospitals to align patient menus and food service with the federal dietary guidelines when clinically appropriate, limiting ultra-processed foods, sugary drinks and added sugar while emphasizing fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Tampa General Hospital became the first hospital in the nation to sign it in July, according to Moody's office. Nemours' signature on Wednesday brings the pledge to a major pediatric provider in Northeast Florida.

SNAP and Florida's food policy

Kennedy also said the administration is focused on healthier food in the military, Head Start and the WIC nutrition program, and he encouraged Florida to pursue SNAP waivers aimed at healthier food, News4JAX reported.

Florida already has one such waiver in effect. Since April 20, the state has barred SNAP benefits from being used for soda, energy drinks, candy and prepared desserts under a two-year federal pilot the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved in August 2025. The pilot was originally set to start Jan. 1 before the USDA approved a delay, and it runs until April 19, 2028, with Florida required to report quarterly on its effects.

Florida has not enacted broader restrictions on food dyes or ultra-processed foods in school meals. A 2025 Senate bill to bar schools from serving ultra-processed food died in committee, and a House bill targeting six artificial dyes in school meals did not advance, according to the Florida Phoenix. Rep. Byron Donalds, the Republican nominee for governor, has proposed removing ultra-processed foods and additives from school meals as part of his campaign platform.

What's next

The nutrition education commitments apply to students entering medical school this fall, so the first doctors trained under the 40-hour standard are still years from practice. HHS is continuing to sign schools and hospitals, and Kennedy urged the Florida institutions in the room to recruit others. For Florida families, the more immediate changes may come through food assistance and hospital menus, as Nemours and Tampa General rework what they serve and the state's SNAP pilot moves through its first year.