For much of the past 100 years, Western thinking regarding disease prevention and treatment revolved around pharmaceutical intervention, as a rapidly expanding array of drugs made it possible to target specific conditions with little or no change to personal habits. From arteries clogged with plaque buildup to the mental and emotional challenges of high anxiety to the agony of migraine headaches, we pop a pill and carry on.

An important trend has evolved in recent years that is creating adjuncts and alternatives to some disease treatment: food as medicine. This is not a new idea, of course – humans have been using plants, fruits and vegetables to treat illnesses for thousands of years. What’s different now is the growing volume of scientific findings validating the medicinal benefits of certain foods and plants and the deeper understanding of how those foods affect complex disease processes without many of the side effects that accompany drugs.

At North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, faculty are looking in numerous disciplines at the medicinal effects of food and plant products.

Some of the most significant work is led by Shengmin Sang, Ph.D., a distinguished professor of Functional Foods and Human Health and a widely published expert in the exploration of food as medicine. At the North Carolina A&T Center of Excellence in Post-Harvest Technologies, his research team works to identify and purify bioactive components from functional foods and herbal medicine and to study their bioavailability, biotransformation and preventive effects on cancer, asthma, and metabolic syndrome. His goal: To use “precision nutrition” to combat and prevent chronic diseases.

 "Food as medicine is not a new idea. What's different now is the growing volume of scientific findings validating the medicinal benefits of certain foods and plants and how they affect complex disease processes."

Currently, his incredibly productive lab is studying the bioactive compounds in whole grains, including wheat, oat, and barley, green tea and black tea, apples, soy, sorghum and blueberries. But it is his research on ginger that has drawn the most attention. He has identified ginger properties that have potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects. Formulated into novel compounds and prodrugs, the ginger components have a wide range of applications, from making aspirin less harsh on the human stomach to preventing colon cancer.

Sang’s work has produced two U.S. patents, one of which was licensed to a company developing new therapies for cancer treatments. It has also earned numerous awards from the American Chemical Society, the American Society of Pharmacognosy and the Journal and Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Sang is hardly alone. Other investigators at North Carolina A&T and around the world are digging into food sources for responses to obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, chronic pain and much more.

Greater understanding of the human genome, advanced computer modeling, development of synthetic pharmacological compounds and more have radically changed how and how effectively we tackle diseases and health risks over the past 70 years, from introduction of the polio vaccine in 1955 to lightning-fast development of MRNA vaccines for COVID-19. No one can seriously doubt their enormous benefit.

Natural remedies derived from food and plants hold significant promise, too. As universities like North Carolina A&T focus new investigative energy on unlocking the mysteries of food as medicine and precision nutrition, a revolution in how we think about disease treatment and prevention may lie in our near future.

James R. Martin II, Ph.D., M. ASCE, is chancellor of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

A new policy brief looking at how recent changes to criteria for the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (CCIHE) affect HBCUs identifies North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University as the campus most likely to earn coveted R1 status next .

“Top-Tier Research Status for HBCUs? The Impact of Changes to the Carnegie Classification Criteria in 2025” was published this month by Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. The 32-page brief takes an in-depth look at institutional data and trends around doctoral degree production and research expenditures – the most important criteria for R1 – and performance of 11 HBCUs in 2015, 2018 and 2021.

“The data also showed NC A&T SU with 2021 R&D expenditures and PhD production near the 2025 thresholds,” the brief reads. “It is foreseeable that NC A&T SU could be the next HBCU R1 institution.”

The Center for Security and Emerging Technology is interested in part because the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act authorizes the Dept. of Defense to use a portion of the billions in higher ed R&D it expends annually to expand defense research capacity at HBCUs and other minority serving institutions and to encourage them to strive for R1 status.

Howard University recently earned the R1 designation, becoming the only HBCU currently with that classification. If A&T’s data trends continue (and they have), “this university has the potential to reach R1 status [in the next review period],” the authors wrote. 

A&T has surpassed the R1 research expenditure entry requirement for the past two consecutive fiscal years, and is on a path to do so again in FY2025. It surpassed the requirement for doctoral degree production of 70 graduates for the first time in the 2023-24 school year, and is on pace to continue doing so this academic year.

Read the complete Center for Security and Emerging Technology policy brief here.

A trio of highly visible North Carolina A&T construction projects quickly moving to fruition will deliver expanded capacity for the university in student housing, service to the community and key administrative offices.

The most anticipated of the three is Bluford Residence Hall, a $64-million, 405-bed dormitory on the historic west side of A&T’s main campus, that is expected to be complete by next spring and open for student residents in fall 2026.

Located on Bluford Street, it’s one block east of A&T’s iconic February One monument, which commemorates the historic 1960 sit-ins led by the A&T Four, and across the street from Harrison Auditorium - both frequent stops for campus visitors. It is also adjacent to A&T’s Historic District – a 10.1-acre area included in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places featuring five Colonial Revival and Classical Revival A&T buildings.

Amenity-rich Bluford Hall will bring new life to the area, with three upper floors of student living and a ground floor of dining, laundry and retail operations. It’s a short walk to key academic areas as well, including Henry and Shirley Frye Hall and the F.D. Bluford Library, which like the residence hall and street, is named for Ferdinand D. Bluford, the university’s third president, who served for 30 years.

On the south side of campus, the $32-million, four-story project titled The Resurgent is rising on East Market Street, next to the main entrance to campus. It will house the A&T Division of Human Resources and the A&T Real Estate Foundation.

Just as importantly for the university and the East Greensboro community, the bottom two floors will be dedicated to the Cone Health healthcare delivery system and feature urgent care and primary care medical offices. That promises to be a boon to East Greensboro residents, who historically have had few health care options nearby.

Further south, the $12.2-million Urban Food Complex is nearly complete at A&T’s 500-acre University Farm, just 2.5 miles from campus. A research and business incubation facility, the eye-catching complex will feature a commercial kitchen, creamery and food safety lab, a sensory lab for consumer research and a post-harvest physiology lab, all housed under a sharply-angled concave roof and framed by glass exterior walls.

Progress on all three facilities is welcome news for the growing university, the largest HBCU in America, as it works diligently to keep pace with expanding numbers of applicants – nearly 50,000 in the current academic year.