Lucia Leone’s interest in nutrition began in childhood, as she watched her mother—without a car and on a limited income—still manage to put healthy meals on the table. Now an associate professor of community health and health behavior at UB, Leone studies how to make nutritious eating achievable for families facing similar barriers. In this episode, she joins host David Hill to explain why simply expanding access to food is not enough to ensure nutrition security. She discusses community-based interventions like mobile produce vans and food prescription programs, and what her research reveals about why some efforts succeed while others fall short. She also challenges misconceptions about SNAP and the people it serves, and examines what it will take at the societal level to close the food gap for good.
