One might infer from the title that the content of this article is about a feminized Village People rendition, or even the female counterpart of the infamous WWF superstar from the 1980s. But this is not the case. This clever acronym stands for Movement Against Childhood Obesity—a noble program initiated, in part, by Weill Cornell’s own Nakesha King. On top of taking one year off from medical school to pursue a research project at the Rockefeller University Clinical and Translational Science Center in the laboratory of Jan Breslow, this rising third year student spends every Saturday teaching healthy lifestyle habits at the Settlement Health Center to the children of East Harlem (just because there isn’t enough on her plate).

Photograph by Nakesha King

MAChO is a pilot program designed to meet head-on the growing childhood obesity epidemic, with the rationale that small steps at the local level will yield huge results. The basic blueprint of the MAChO curriculum centers around three essential elements: nutritional education, exercise, and lunch. When the children, who range from 10-14 years old, come in for their weekly lesson, they are met by Nakesha who, alongside her fellow MAChO volunteers and Weill Cornell peers Nii Kooney and Jermaine Myers, begins the session focusing on choice—food choice to be exact. The nutritional education component of this program is geared towards teaching children about different food groups, how to read nutrition labels, the concept of a proper serving size, as well as how to prepare the food itself. In addition, they have assigned each child what they call a “scholarly project” where they choose a topic on how they can implement change for a better life. Nakesha and her co-volunteers try very hard to educate the kids without actually putting them in the traditional teacher-student setting. For instance, they have taken the participants on a field trip to the grocery store where they were able to choose ingredients (not to exceed their $5 per person budget) to be taken back to their facility and used for making lunch. Another effort to teach proper nutrition outside of the classroom has been to invite a parent or caregiver to share their traditional family recipes for a healthy revamping.

In addition to learning healthy nutritional practices, these children are given the opportunity to participate in both structured and free-form physical activity. Although most of the structured classes are led by MAChO volunteers and involve the use of workout videos or creative strength training exercises, a yoga instructor has been hired to come in two times over the duration of the program (a volunteer-based program geared towards inner-city kids doesn’t exactly allow for personal trainers). As for the free play portion, picture recess: tag (including freeze or T.V. variations), basketball, and jump rope—just to name a few. After working up an appetite, the kids quickly settle back down and are provided with a healthy and nutritious meal (either made together or pre-made, depending on the day’s curriculum) that exemplifies all they have learned.

The evolutionary timeline of the MAChO program begins with a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, via the Institute of Multicultural and Minority Medicine (IAMMM). Specifically, the IAMMM has allotted funds to be used towards the design of a project that directly addresses tackling childhood obesity at the local level, both within schools and in the neighboring communities. Under the auspices of IAMMM, the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) chapter at Weill Cornell decided to design and test the MAChO program so that it could one day be implemented in local communities throughout the United States. After months of planning, the program was launched in December 2009 and ran to the end of February 2010. The results of this program will be presented at the national SNMA meeting in the spring of 2010 where it will be decided if MAChO will see another run.

When I asked Nakesha what drives her to participate in such a program, she answered simply, “I am owning up to what I initially set out to do—help people.” As one can imagine, the course load and study obligations for the typical medical student are immense. When under such pressures, the once idealistic undergraduate student studying for the MCAT so that they can “save the world” can easily transform into a machine and eventually lose sight of their original vision. Nakesha is resisting this, and doing so very successfully. She is trying to show that you do not need to forfeit your studies and academic standing to get involved in your community. The example being set by Nakesha is one of honor and dedication and, although it can be hard to juggle these enormous responsibilities, the outcome is nothing short of fulfilling. She has gained my utmost respect and I truly hope that there will be others to follow in her footsteps. Nakesha King certainly is a Macho Woman.