Riverside/NSU Health Equity: Eating Our Way to a Healthy Heart  

February 16, 2023 | Dorothy B. Brothers Auditorium, NSU Student Center 

In honor of Heart Health Month, the Center for Public Health Initiatives at NSU co-hosted “Eating Our Way to Healthy Hearts: Closing the Gap in Black Health Disparities” — a dynamic dinner discussion bringing together campus and community for an evening of education, conversation, and culinary inspiration. 

The event featured a live cooking demonstration by Emmy Award–winning celebrity chef and Top Chef alumna Carla Hall, who showed audiences how soul food can be reimagined in heart-healthy ways without sacrificing flavor or tradition. Guests were treated to samples of the dishes Hall prepared and each received a signed copy of her cookbook, Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration. 

Emmy-nominated journalist and NSU professor April Woodard served as moderator, leading expert panelists in a conversation about the alarming rates of hypertension and cardiovascular disease in Black communities, the systemic barriers driving health disparities in Hampton Roads, and actionable steps toward health equity. The event drew a capacity crowd, with overflow seating in adjacent conference rooms, and was live-streamed on NSU’s Facebook page. 

Presented by Riverside Health System, Truist, and Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), and hosted by the Center for Public Health Initiatives at NSU and the NSU Center of Excellence in Minority Health Disparities.