“You pick up what you can afford,” says Deanwood resident William Lawson, describing the groceries he’s bought most of his adult life. That has often meant that the only produce he’d buy would be a few oranges a month, maybe some applesauce if fresh apples weren’t available. But in November, the 72-year-old—who has a number of chronic diseases, including hypertension—became part of the Medically Tailored Groceries Program at Capital Area Food Bank. Lawson’s diet now includes a large variety of fruits or vegetables. Before the program, he says, “I couldn’t afford them. I overlooked them.”
The Capital Area Food Bank initiative is an example of Food Is Medicine (FIM), a medical movement endorsed by major health organizations such as the American Heart Association. It draws a direct connection between better nutrition and health for those with diet-related diseases. There are an array of FIM approaches, including medically tailored groceries (MTGs), produce prescription programs (PPPs), and medically tailored meals (MTMs).
It’s a movement that’s gaining momentum. The Rockefeller Foundation is investing in a large-scale Department of Veterans Affairs FIM pilot program with 2,000 veterans across five states, including Maryland. “Food is medicine, but it’s not a pill, it’s not an injection,” says Noah Cohen-Cline, director of food initiatives at the Rockefeller Foundation. He expects the pilots to help researchers better understand how to design programs that support sustained nutritional behavior change.
The Maryland pilot, which was scheduled to launch in late January, will include rural and homebound veterans who suffer from chronic diet-related illnesses such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, as well as food and nutritional insecurity. Produce will be delivered to homes twice a month, and Warrenton-based 4P Foods is helping organize the farmers from its Mid-Atlantic network. If successful, the pilot has the potential to move FIM toward wide-scale adoption.
Cost of Living
Chronic diet-related diseases such as stroke, hypertension, coronary-artery disease, diabetes, and obesity affect nearly half of the US population and cost $1.1 trillion a year, according to the American Hospital Association. FIM has been shown to help with prevention and treatment while saving $23.7 billion in a single year, according to a national study. From a public-health policy perspective, the connection between nutritional intake and health-cost savings has changed the trajectory and speed of FIM acceptance, says Carrie Stoltzfus, the CEO of Food & Friends, a DC nonprofit that offers free MTMs and MTGs, plus nutrition counseling.
While Food & Friends provides free, healthy food to 6,200 clients in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, it also studies the impact. Last year, Stoltzfus says, the organization’s FIM program, with more than 1,350 people enrolled, “saw an average hospital cost savings of $9,020 [per person] over a six-month period.” For the 250 clients with the highest hospital bills, each saw, on average, $52,000 cost savings over six months. Other studies have shown that MTM, a form of FIM in which people are provided dietitian-designed meals, is associated with 70 percent fewer emergency-room visits and 50 percent fewer hospitalizations.
FIM programs work in a variety of ways. Often, a doctor will write a prescription for foods that an individual should be eating. William Lawson, for example, takes his prescription to the Capital Area Food Bank food pharmacy in his neighborhood, run by Unity Health Care. A staff nutritionist walks around the food pharmacy with him. Capital Area Food Bank CEO Radha Muthiah breaks down the interaction: “They’ll say, ‘Oh, the doctor has prescribed dark greens or protein or low-sugar cereal.’ ‘Well, today we’ve got kale and collards. What do you prefer for your dark-green veggies?’ Or ‘We’ve got chicken and we’ve got ground turkey. What do you prefer for your protein?’ ” The food bank also has nutrition classes, recipe cards, and a “Call the Nutritionist” hotline.
Balancing Act
Research suggests that what we eat is the number-one driver of poor health in the US—and that more nutritious food can help individuals achieve economic security. “There’s been a lot of unfortunate blame for people who have chronic illnesses,” says Stoltzfus. “It’s not an individual’s fault. There are systems in place that need to change to get people to be in better health. It’s the affordability piece, the access piece, the education piece.”
For 76-year-old John Campbell, putting those parts together has yielded results. “By me being poor, raised up poor, we ate old bread, put raisins in it, a lot of sugar—that’s how I ate,” says Campbell. “In retrospect, that’s why I have a lot of my medical problems.” He suffers from congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation, COPD, asthma, and diabetes. Like Lawson, Campbell is involved in a program that provides fresh produce. “I didn’t want to die,” he says.
After two years in the Mobile Health and Wellness Program offered through the School of Nursing at Virginia Commonwealth University, Campbell has lost 40 pounds. “I started seeing the difference in my walk, in my talk, in my appearance. I could tell that I was eating right because it showed that I could think better, more clearly,” he says. “Food is medicine, and you live longer.”
Top Cardiologists
These physicians, who diagnose and treat heart problems, were named by their peers as the area’s top cardiologists in our November 2025 Top Doctors list. Physicians with a “pediatrics” designation were voted onto the list specifically as pediatric specialists.
Amr Abdelbaky
Northwest DC, Bethesda
Samir Ahuja
Frederick
David L. Ain
Gaithersburg, Northeast DC
Marjaneh Akbari
Fairfax
Ather Anis
Leesburg
Annette K. Ansong
Northwest DC, Reston, Charlotte Hall, Fredericksburg; pediatrics
Anita Banerjee
Fredericksburg, Annandale
Michael Banihashemi
Reston, Leesburg
Subash B. Bazaz
Reston, Leesburg
Alan Benheim
Fairfax, Alexandria, Gainesville, Leesburg; pediatrics
Catherine S. Bennet
Chevy Chase, Northwest DC
Casey R. Benton
Fairfax
Kambeez Berenji
Woodbridge
Rachel L. Berger
Arlington
Jeremy Seth Bock
Leesburg (through June 12), Arlington (starting June 15)
Edward N. Bodurian
Northwest DC
Oluwaseyi (Seyi) Bolorunduro
Woodbridge, Stafford
William Borden
Northwest DC
Andrew Bradley
Northwest DC
Patrick F. Callahan
Fairfax, Gainesville, Rockville, Silver Spring; pediatrics
Carol Cardinale
Gaithersburg
Asad E. Chaudhry
Dulles
Yaser Cheema
Leesburg
Michael S. Chen
Rockville, Germantown
Brian G. Choi
Northwest DC
Mariano D. Chutuape
Woodbridge
Brian C. Clark
Tysons, Alexandria, Arlington
Sarah B. Clauss
Northwest DC, Rockville, Lanham, Hagerstown; pediatrics
Virginia C. Colliver
Bethesda, Rockville, Northwest DC
Tung (Tony) Ngoc Dao
Bethesda
Karan Desai
Leesburg
Yuri A. Deychak
Bethesda, Rockville
Niti Dham
Annapolis, Rockville, Northwest DC; pediatrics
Zayd A. Eldadah
Northwest DC
Timothy P. Farrell
Arlington
Adam S. Fein
Falls Church, Reston
Daniel J. Fernicola
Rockville, Bethesda
Miriam L. Fishman
Chevy Chase
Jack L. Flyer
Chevy Chase, Northwest DC
Dennis C. Friedman
Rockville, Germantown, Silver Spring
Benjamin Z. Galper
McLean
D. Leonard Griffen III
Rockville
Tariq Haddad
Falls Church
Carla Hanash
Northeast DC; pediatrics
Eva Hausnerova
Chevy Chase
Edward Healy
Bethesda, Rockville
Brian A. Hemann
Chevy Chase, Germantown, Rockville
Stephen T. Iuliano
McLean, Alexandria, Arlington
Ahsan Q. Jafir
Sterling, Fairfax
Joseph S. Joson
Gaithersburg
Christy L. Kaiser
Northwest DC
Arjun S. Kanwal
Fairfax, Vienna, Leesburg
Charanjit S. Khurana
Arlington, McLean, Alexandria
Joseph M. Kiernan
Falls Church
Andrew Kim
Northeast DC
Joseph Krepp
Falls Church
Amey Kulkarni
McLean
Gregory Kumkumian
Bethesda, Rockville
Robert A. Lager
Northwest DC, Chevy Chase
Kenneth M. Lee
Northwest DC, Bethesda, Olney
Michael B. Lee
Northwest DC, Bethesda
Eric B. Lieberman
Rockville
Jennifer H. Lindsey
Fairfax, Gainesville, Frederick, Rockville, Silver Spring; pediatrics
Yaning Liu
McLean
Joseph A. Lodato
Largo, Northeast DC
Shahryar Mafi
Woodbridge, Stafford
Alireza Maghsoudi
Falls Church, Fairfax
Ara M. Maranian
Manassas, Haymarket, Warrenton
Mark Robert Milner
Bethesda
Jason L. Mitchell
Northeast DC; pediatrics
Azita Moalemi
Springfield, Arlington, Alexandria
Jason M. Morda
Alexandria,Woodbridge
Pradeep R. Nayak
Fairfax
Michael P. Notarianni
Arlington
Paul J. O’Brien
Annandale
Antonio R. Parente
Arlington
David Park
Alexandria, Lorton, Woodbridge
Young D. Park
Leesburg, Lansdowne, Reston
Richard Preston Perrin II
Arlington, Alexandria, McLean
Joseph A. Quash Jr.
Glenn Dale, Northeast DC, Northwest DC
Narian Rajan
Alexandria, Lorton
Gautam Ramakrishna
Fairfax, Dulles
Archana Reddy
Alexandria
Manisha S. Reddy
Fairfax
Richard E. Rubin
Chevy Chase
Harish S. Rudra
Fairfax, Gainesville, Rockville, Frederick, Silver Spring; pediatrics
Peter J. Sabia
Silver Spring
Sudip Saha
McLean
Daniel Judah Schwartz
Bethesda
Jonathan I. Segal
Alexandria
Sadia J. Shafi
Laurel
Ankit B. Shah
Chevy Chase
Manish H. Shah
Northwest DC, Frederick, Waldorf, Reston
Scott D. Shapiro
Chevy Chase
Garima Sharma
Fairfax
Fayaz A. Shawl
Silver Spring
Stuart E. Sheifer
Vienna, Fairfax
Farooq Sheikh
Northwest DC
Preya Simlote
Arlington, McLean, Alexandria
Sameer Sofat
Rockville
Shubir Sofat
Rockville
Allen J. Solomon
Northwest DC
Hassan Tabandeh
Arlington
Hamid Taheri
Manassas, Vienna
Barry S. Talesnick
Chevy Chase
Naghmeh Tebyanian
Springfield, Arlington
Behnam N. Tehrani
Fairfax, Ashburn
Ketan K. Trivedi
Fairfax
Joseph A. Vassallo
Chevy Chase
Mark C. Vives
Falls Church
Raymond Vlacancich
Alexandria, Arlington
Erich Francis Wedam
Bethesda, Northwest DC
Shani Weerakoon
Chevy Chase, Northwest DC
Gaby Weissman
Northwest DC
Georgia S. Willie-Carnegie
Glenn Dale, Northeast DC, Northwest DC, Silver Spring
Jonathan E. Yager
Fairfax, Reston
This article appears in the February 2026 issue of Washingtonian.
