Osher Center, Cancer Center partnership receives $2 million gift for new community learning kitchen
Cincinnati Business Courier highlights expansion of whole-person, integrative approach
The Cincinnati Business Courier highlighted a $2 million gift from John and Carrie Hayden to establish and endow a community learning kitchen that emphasizes the vital role of nutrition not only in the prevention but also the treatment of chronic disease.
The future John and Carrie Hayden Community Learning Kitchen will be a collaboration between the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center and the Osher Center for Integrative Health at the University of Cincinnati. The learning kitchen will open in early 2026 in the Blood Cancer Healing Center, adjacent to a mind-body-spirit wellness studio and rooftop healing garden.
“We respect the value and importance of conventional medicine,” said the Haydens. “That said, we believe there is immense power in the combination of conventional medicine with the evidence-based complementary therapies of integrative medicine.”
The John and Carrie Hayden Community Learning Kitchen will emphasize the benefits of nutrition and healing, combining the science of cooking and culinary medicine and serving as a hands-on laboratory for clinical research studies and implementation science.
“What the Haydens have done for the Osher Center, cancer care and this community is unparalleled,” said Sian Cotton, PhD, director, Osher Center for Integrative Health at UC and Turner Farm Foundation Chair. “Carrie is a spectacular human being. She’s a very smart businessperson who is all heart. And John, also incredible, has given so much of his time, talent and treasure by leading the center through its strategic planning process — they are simply extraordinary, and we are so grateful to both of them and their family.”
Read the Cincinnati Business Courier article.
Read more about the gift and learning kitchen.
Featured image at top: Rendering of the John and Carrie Hayden Community Learning Kitchen. Photo/Provided.
Related Stories
Sugar overload killing hearts
November 10, 2025
Two in five people will be told they have diabetes during their lifetime. And people who have diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One of the deadliest dangers? Diabetic cardiomyopathy. But groundbreaking University of Cincinnati research hopes to stop and even reverse the damage before it’s too late.
Is going nuclear the solution to Ohio’s energy costs?
November 10, 2025
The Ohio Capital Journal recently reported that as energy prices continue to climb, economists are weighing the benefits of going nuclear to curb costs. The publication dove into a Scioto Analysis survey of 18 economists to weigh the pros and cons of nuclear energy. One economist featured was Iryna Topolyan, PhD, professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
App turns smartwatch into detector of structural heart disease
November 10, 2025
An app that uses an AI model to read a single-lead ECG from a smartwatch can detect structural heart disease, researchers reported at the 2025 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. Although the technology requires further validation, researchers said it could help improve the identification of patients with heart failure, valvular conditions and left ventricular hypertrophy before they become symptomatic, which could improve the prognosis for people with these conditions.