Gaples Institute

What Gaples Institute does

Gaples Institute is a 501c3 physician-led educational nonprofit founded in 2012 to address the documented gap in nutrition training within medical education. It operates from Deerfield, Illinois, with a small team (1-10 employees) under Executive Director and Founder Stephen Devries, MD, a cardiologist and university educator with more than 25 years of clinical practice. The organization does not accept corporate funding, a structural choice that underpins its positioning as a source of unbiased, evidence-based nutrition information.

The institute's core technology is an online e-learning platform delivering interactive nutrition education modules for two primary audiences. For clinicians, it offers CME/CEU courses including a general Nutrition CME, role-specific modules for nurses/nurse practitioners and physician associates/assistants, a medical-school curriculum, and a guide on sustainable eating for patient counseling. For the general public, it offers the flagship Nutrition and Health course in both English (Nutrition and Health) and Spanish (Nutrición y Salud), a course for teens and young adults, and a short sustainable-eating guide. The medical school course is required at 12 U.S. and Canadian institutions including Harvard Medical School, and its effectiveness was validated in a study published in The American Journal of Medicine showing 80%+ knowledge-quiz pass rates and increased counseling confidence among Harvard students. Supplementary content is delivered through a Lifestyle Library of articles and the Medicine With a Fork clinician podcast.

The business model combines direct-to-consumer course sales (self-serve through gaplesinstitute.org) with institutional adoption by medical schools and continuing-education purchases by individual clinicians. As a nonprofit, the organization also solicits donations through its website. The organization does not disclose pricing, revenue, or financial figures. Marketing is executed through content marketing (Lifestyle Library), email newsletters, organic social media (Facebook, LinkedIn), the clinician podcast, and earned media. The organization received White House recognition in 2024 for its contributions to nutrition education.

Name

Gaples Institute

Legal name

Gaples Institute

Website

https://gaplesinstitute.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Gaples Institute is a 501c3 nonprofit that develops interactive online nutrition education courses for clinicians and consumers. Its curriculum is required at 12 U.S. and Canadian medical schools including Harvard, and it does not accept corporate funding to preserve content independence.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nutrition Education / Continuing Medical Education

NAICS

Educational Services (611), Educational Support Services (611710), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare Clinical Professions (CME/CE for Nurses, Allied Health, Pharmacy) (EDAAALAC)

Keywords

• Continuing medical education
• Online nutrition courses
• Medical school curriculum
• Lifestyle medicine education
• CME and CEU training

Headquarters

HQ city

Deerfield

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Online Course Sales: Direct-to-consumer and professional sales of online nutrition education courses through the website. Courses available for health professionals (CME/CEU credits) and general public.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Gaples Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that develops and delivers online interactive nutrition education courses for both healthcare professionals (offering CME/CEU credits) and the general public. Its curriculum covers clinical nutrition, dietary patterns, and social factors affecting eating, and is currently required at 12 U.S. and Canadian medical schools including Harvard Medical School. The organization also distributes bilingual content (English and Spanish), a clinician-focused podcast, and a free Lifestyle Library of articles.

Product overview

Gaples Institute is an educational nonprofit offering online nutrition courses and resources for both healthcare professionals and the general public. Their product portfolio includes CME/CEU courses for clinicians (Nutrition CME, Medical School Nutrition Education required at 12 institutions including Harvard, Nurse/NP Nutrition CEU, Physician Associate Nutrition CME, and Teach Patients Sustainable Eating), general public courses (Nutrition and Health in English and Spanish, Nutrition for Teens, Learn to Eat Sustainably), and supplementary content through the Lifestyle Library and Medicine With a Fork podcast. All offerings emphasize evidence-based, unbiased nutrition information presented in interactive formats.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Nutrition CME Course Award-winning 4-hour CME/CEU online nutrition course for physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, and dietitians covering evidence-based clinical nutrition, dietary patterns, and patient counseling.
• Nutrition Education for Medical Schools Medical school curriculum module required at 12 U.S. and Canadian medical schools including Harvard, covering clinical nutrition, dietary patterns, and social factors affecting eating.
• Nurse & Nurse Practitioner Nutrition CEU Continuing education (CEU) online nutrition course designed specifically for nurses and nurse practitioners to build competency in evidence-based nutrition counseling.
• Physician Associate Nutrition CME Course CME online nutrition course tailored for physician associates/assistants to develop competency in evidence-based nutrition counseling for patients.
• Nutrition and Health (English) Interactive online nutrition learning course for the general public covering clinical nutrition, dietary patterns, and healthy eating strategies, with most users completing it in under three hours.
• Nutrición y Salud (Spanish) Spanish-language version of the Nutrition and Health course, providing equivalent interactive nutrition education content for Spanish-speaking audiences.
• Nutrition for Teens and Young Adults Interactive online nutrition education course designed specifically for teens and young adults using a user-friendly format to drive healthy eating behavior.
• Learn to Eat Sustainably 10-minute interactive online guide teaching sustainable eating practices to the general public.
• Teach Patients Sustainable Eating Online course for clinicians providing guidance and tools to teach patients sustainable eating practices as part of nutrition counseling.

Quantifiable outcome

• All Harvard Medical School students achieved 80% or greater on knowledge quizzes after completing the course
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• UpToDate: Subscription clinical decision support resource widely used by physicians and taught in many medical schools — competes with Gaples for medical-school curriculum time and clinician learning budgets.
• American Heart Association: Large nonprofit producing cardiovascular health education, CME content, and lifestyle guidance — overlaps with Gaples on cardiovascular-focused nutrition and lifestyle messaging for both clinicians and consumers.
• Medscape Education: Largest free online CME/CEU provider for U.S. clinicians with broad medical coverage including nutrition — competes for the same clinician CME wallet and attention as Gaples' courses.
• Pri-Med: Established multi-channel CME provider serving primary-care clinicians via online and live programming — directly competes for the same clinician CME spend with a much larger product catalog.

Emerging players

• NutritionFacts.org: Video-based nutrition education platform founded by a physician, delivering evidence-based content to both consumers and clinicians — comparable in mission and direct-to-consumer delivery, though more content-and-media oriented than Gaples' CME model.
• Lifestyle Medicine Institute: Organization promoting lifestyle medicine principles through clinician education and curriculum — partially overlapping focus on lifestyle/nutrition CME in medical training settings.

Direct peers

• True Health Initiative: Nonprofit coalition of health professionals producing evidence-based nutrition and lifestyle education content for both clinicians and the public — overlapping mission and audience with Gaples.
• American College of Lifestyle Medicine: Professional membership organization offering CME/CEU in lifestyle and nutrition medicine for clinicians — directly comparable to Gaples' clinician-facing CME courses and shared focus on nutrition as a clinical lever.
• Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine: 501c3 nonprofit offering nutrition education and clinical resources for physicians and the public, with similar mission-driven positioning around evidence-based, plant-forward nutrition education.

Regional players

• Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy: Academic institution producing nutrition research, policy, and continuing education for professionals — adjacent peer in the production of authoritative nutrition education for clinicians, though delivered via a traditional academic model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/GaplesInstitute
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gaples-institute
• Xx.com/gaplesinstitute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Gaples Institute