NASEM Case Competition 

Presented at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), 2025.

Mike Lindow, Needhi Sharma, Sabrina Torres, Yoland Victor, Rayomand Kapadia

Uniformed Services University, School of Medicine

Ward 8’s historical context brings higher poverty, less walkability, and more food insecurity, leading to the highest rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension in DC.

We reduce Environmental Health Disparities

by leveraging health and geospatial data 

to eliminate food deserts,

sell local produce to residents, 

achieve environmental health resilience, 

and prevent obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. 

We proposed a partner platform using predictive learning to employ Mobile Markets to connect local wholesale produce and target metabolic stability.

Our solution is affordable, accessible, and community-centered. 

Our wholesale produce is 50% cheaper than Ward 8's grocery store prices. 

Our mobile markets employ a hub and spoke design with roving e-bikes. 

And we partner in collaboration with local farmers and grassroots collaborations. 

We have a four-point technological solution to mobile market produce distribution in Ward 8

The route algorithm creates GIS food insecurity hot spots and suggests optimized daily collection and distribution routes. 

Our FreshLink App connects routes to customer patterns, collecting data for food insecurity maps, and supporting outreach and access. 

Our machine learning model uses feedback to continuously improve the daily routes. 

And our Implementation is led and run by trusted community employees. 

We plan to reach break-even revenue by year 3,

leading us to grow into all of DC,

and eventually becoming a partnership platform that can address food insecurity in new vulnerable areas across the US. 

We envision a data-driven solution that can

Target areas of densest need,

Empower communities, public health experts, policy makers & other stakeholders,

Drive long-lasting, data-driven infrastructure investments,

and Improve health outcomes for the communities we serve