Environmental Career Chats are informal networking opportunities for U-M students to connect with environmental professionals about their career journeys. During these hour-long sessions, PitE alumni share about their experiences working in various environmental fields and answer questions submitted by students. February’s virtual Environmental Career Chat is focused on Sustainable Food and Public Health with Yoav Jacob.

Yoav is a recent grad from the class of 2020 with a degree in EEB and a minor in PitE. During undergrad, he had two internships at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, was a regular at the Campus Farm, peer mentored for the Sustainable Living Experience, conducted research for his thesis, worked as an undergraduate teaching assistant for Bio171, 173, and 192 and was an EMT off-campus. Since graduating, he has taken time off from formal academics and pursued a food passion by attending the Institute of Culinary Education in their Health-Supportive Culinary Arts program. It consisted of 8-months of formal culinary training, nutrition lectures, food system discussions, seminars with industry leaders, and a 2-month externship in the Los Angeles food scene. While out in LA he interned and worked for a few food and health nonprofits addressing issues on food access, education, and literacy. Since graduating, he has also been taking time to prepare his application for medical school and hopes to present a narrative connecting the food and health systems in his unfolding career.