Stephen Devries
Adjunct Faculty

Stephen Devries

Adjunct Associate Professor of Nutrition

Nutrition

sdevries@hsph.harvard.edu


Overview

Stephen Devries, MD is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Nutrition in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where he teaches the course Integrating Nutrition into Clinical Practice: The Role of Health Professionals as Change Agents.

A preventive cardiologist, Dr. Devries is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Gaples Institute, an educational nonprofit with the mission of advancing the role of nutrition and lifestyle in medicine.

Dr. Devries is the co-leader, along with Dr. Walter Willett, of the Nutrition Education Working Group, which meets regularly at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health for the purpose of exploring ways to strengthen nutrition education in all levels of medical training. To date, the group has successfully impacted the nutrition content on board exams as well as the adoption of a U.S. House Resolution that highlights the urgency to remedy the current deficiency of physician nutrition education.

In his primary role as Executive Director of the nonprofit Gaples Institute, Dr. Devries is the course director for a condensed online nutrition course that is now required in the curriculum of 9 leading medical schools, including the Harvard Medical School Health Science & Technology track, in addition to numerous and programs. The course has been taken by over 7,000 students and clinicians.

In February 2024, Dr. Devries was invited to the White House where the Gaples Institute's leadership and commitment to nutrition education for health professionals were recognized as part of the White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.

Dr. Devries has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles on nutrition education in medicine and has written the chapter on integrative cardiology for the last three editions of Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. He also co-edited the Oxford University textbook Integrative Cardiology.

Dr. Devries has lectured on nutrition and lifestyle in medical care in venues from Thailand to the Royal Society of Medicine in London, and his work has been featured on PBS and NPR.

MD, 06/1981
University of Michigan , Ann Arbor

06/1984, Internal Medicine
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

06/1988, Cardiovascular Disease
Washington University, St. Louis

11/2005, Integrative Medicine
University of Arizona, Tucson


Bibliography


News

Course brings nutrition into medical education and practice

Good nutrition is an important component of fighting diseases such as cardiovascular conditions and type 2 diabetes, yet the topic is often overlooked during patients’ visits with doctors. A Harvard Chan School course addresses the issue, focusing on…