Gina Drobena, MD, DipABLM
Associate Professor of Pathology
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Gina Drobena, MD, DipABLM is an Associate Professor of Pathology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) where she obtained her MD degree. She subsequently completed a residency in clinical pathology, fellowship in transfusion medicine and joined the faculty. Dr. Drobena is currently the Division Director for Transfusion Services, co-chairs the College of Medicine curriculum subcommittee for the culinary medicine initiative and is the course director for the culinary medicine elective at UAMS.

Presenting at the Nexus Summit:

Lifestyle Medicine (LM) infuses interventions within six pillars (whole-food/plant-predominant diet, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances, positive social connection) to prevent, treat and reverse chronic disease. LM recognizes influence of social determinants of health and other socioecological factors on patient habits and health. LM requires interprofessional collaboration (IPC) to be effective and provides a foundation for IPE.85 upper-level students (medical, pharmacy, health professions, public health, nursing) completed a 2.5-hr…
Culinary medicine (CM) considers the missing implementation link between dietary choices and health outcomes. Principles address gaps in care by changing conversations regarding weight, diet, and exercise to help people understand and incorporate realistic changes into daily life. Medical providers demonstrate weight bias, negatively impacting quality of care and patient outcomes, to varying degrees. Bias contributes to underutilization of education for healthy eating concepts by defaulting to weight-based conversations. CM principles emphasize quality food choices, their preparation, and…