Meet the Expert: Pediatrician and Medical Toxicologist Dr. Kevin Osterhoudt

Introducing our O’Farm Experts: professional advisors to provide support and education as you navigate all the stages of parenthood. Dr. Kevin Osterhoudt is a pediatrician, medical toxicologist, and dad of 3. Meet the rest of our experts here.

As parents and caregivers, two things tend to matter most when it comes to feeding our kids: 1) is it nutritious? and 2) is it safe? A hot topic in food safety lately has been heavy metals and toxins in food. As part of our commitment to being transparent and an ally to parents and caregivers, we've brought in an expert in this area. Dr. Kevin Osterhoudt ("Dr. O") is here to help us tackle tough topics like heavy metals in food and how we can all make informed choices to support our families' health.

About Dr. O

Dr. O is a pediatrician and medical toxicologist with special interest and training in the effect that chemicals in our environment can have on our children's health. After graduating with highest honors from the University at Buffalo School of Medicine, Dr. O's thirty-year academic career has made him an internationally recognized expert in the environmental health of children. He has been given many awards for excellence in teaching and for his caring relationship with his patients and their families. Dr. O shares a guiding principle with Once Upon a Farm—that our children's exposure to metals, pesticides, and other chemicals should be kept as low as reasonably achievable.

Kevin grew up in a farming community along the shore of Lake Erie. He, his wife, their three children, and their adventurous dog have fun exploring creeks, lakes, forests, and mountains. Now, working in Philadelphia not far from the historical presence of Independence Hall, Dr. O declares that our children should have certain unalienable rights including clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, clean food to eat, and clean earth on which to live and grow. Like the Lorax he tries to "speak for the trees", and he shares the environmental nutrition idea that: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."