FAMI Alliance

The Food as Medicine Institute (FAMI) Alliance is a partnership between National University of Natural Medicine’s (NUNM) Food as Medicine Institute and other like-minded healthcare institutions. The FAMI Alliance was created to help expand community based nutrition education to reduce chronic diseases using food as medicine.

The Alliance partnership includes preliminary training and ongoing consultation on the delivery of community based nutrition and cooking education utilizing the Food as Medicine Everyday (FAME) series curriculum. In addition, FAMI will collaborate with the development of clinical and community nutrition research and support the development of individualized nutrition programming needs. Each partnering institution will utilize a FAME Educator to develop and teach the FAME series and oversee additional nutrition programming. A FAME Educator will have successfully completed the FAME Educator Training Program through the Food as Medicine Institute.

FAMI Alliance Members

Saint Luke’s Hospital

Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City is a tertiary and quaternary referral center. Under the umbrella of Saint Luke’s Health System, Saint Luke’s Mid-America Heart Institute is the nation’s first heart hospital and leader in cardiovascular disease treatment and research.

Saint Luke’s Muriel I. Kauffman Women’s Heart Center was founded in 1994 and is recognized as the first women’s heart center of its kind in the United States, taking a proactive role publicly addressing the unique aspects and challenges related to women’s heart health. The Center strives to empower women to be proactive and to take ownership of their risk factors through education and risk factor awareness. Community and workplace education, along with a family and friend focused approach to promote heart healthier families have become an encompassing strategy, as women remain the primary health care decision makers in their family domain.

Reflecting on the culture at Saint Luke’s, one which provides leadership, innovation and quality heart care while embracing ground-breaking concepts and technology, the Muriel I. Kauffman Women’s Heart Center continues to ‘lead the way’ and spearhead new eras of cardiovascular health. Such innovations include Saint Luke’s Million Hearts®, Food as Medicine Institute Alliance, Saint Luke’s Food as Medicine Everyday series, and gender specific clinical research.

Photo of FAME Alliance member Grace Hoffman standing next to a sign for Saint Luke's Food as Medicine Everyday

Grace Hoffman is the Nutritional Health Coordinator and FAME Educator for the Muriel I. Kauffman Women’s Heart Center at Saint Luke’s Mid-America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri.  

She received her Bachelor of Science in Dietetics, with double minors in Foods and Psychology from the University of Central Missouri.  Since joining the Women’s Heart Center team in 2021, Grace has been teaching the Food as Medicine Everyday series.  Her energy radiates when broadcasting live from the Women’s Heart Center’s virtual FAME kitchen where she entices participants with her cooking skills and interactive nutrition lessons.  Grace recognizes that we are all individuals, and no “diet” is right for everyone. She prides herself in teaching the science behind whole food nutrition in a way that is accessible while encouraging everyone to choose nutritious foods that energize them.  

Grace shares her skills and passion with other disciplines in the Saint Luke’s Health System, community organizations and the University of Missouri-Kansas City Medical School spearheading the national push to increase nutrition education among medical students, residents, and fellows.