The Plantrician Project Board of Advisors
Bharat B. Aggarwal, PhD
Board of Advisors
Monica Aggarwal, MD, FACC
Board of Advisors
Columbus Batiste, MD, FACC, FSCAI
Board of Advisors
Andy Bellatti, MS, RD
Board of Advisors
T. Colin Campbell PhD
Board of Advisors
Shushana Castle
Board of Advisors
Jimmy H. Conway, MD
Board of Advisors
Brenda Davis, RD
Board of Advisors
Garth Davis, MD
Board of Advisors
Richard Essigs
Board of Advisors
Alan Goldhamer, DC
Board of Advisors
Michael Greger, MD
Board of Advisors
Julieanna Hever, MS, RD, CPT
Board of Advisors
David Jenkins MD, PhD, DSc
Board of Advisors
Joel Kahn, MD
Board of Advisors
Cyrus Khambatta, PhD
Board of Advisors
Michael Klaper, MD
Board of Advisors
Michelle Joy Kramer, CHHC, AADP
Board of Advisors
Salvatore Lacagnina, DO
Board of Advisors
Andy Lim, MD, JD
Board of Advisors
Doug Lisle, PhD
Board of Advisors
James Loomis, Jr., MD, MBA
Board of Advisors
Laurie Marbas, MD MBA
Board of Advisors
Michelle McMacken, MD
Board of Advisors
Rajiv Misquitta, MD, FACP
Board of Advisors
Jeff Moyer
Board of Advisors
Dean Ornish, MD
Board of Advisors
Robert Ostfeld, MD, MSc, FACC
Board of Advisors
William Roberts, MD
Board of Advisors
Thomas D. Rosenberg, MD
Board of Advisors
Ken Rubin
Board of Advisors
Dustin Rudolph, PharmD, BCPS
Board of Advisors
Gretchen Schisla
Board of Advisors
Ayesha Sherzai, MD
Board of Advisors
Dean Sherzai, MD, PhD
Board of Advisors
Kumara Sidhartha, MD, MPH
Board of Advisors
Saray Stancic, MD
Board of Advisors
Brie Turner-McGrievy, PhD, MS, RD
Board of Advisors
James Wilks
Board of Advisors
Kim Allan Williams, MD, FACC, FASNC, FAHA
Board of Advisors
Bharat B. Aggarwal, PhD
Dr. Aggarwal is currently a Founding Director of an Inflammation Research Center in San Diego, California. He is also currently serving on the Advisory Board of several Nutraceutical companies. Until December 31st, 2015, Dr. Aggarwal was a Ransom Horne (Jr) Distinguished Professor of Experimental Therapeutics, Cancer Research, Cancer Medicine, Biochemistry and Immunology; and Chief of Cytokine Research Section, in the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. He also served as member of the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, and as an Adjunct Professor at Albert B. Alkek Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M University, Houston, Texas.
Dr. Aggarwal arrived in United States as Government of India National Scholar and earned his Ph. D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. He then joined as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Hormone Research Laboratory at the University of California Medical Center, San Francisco while being supported by Rockfeller Foundation Fellowship. Thereafter, Dr. Aggarwal started his career with a start-up Biotechonolgy company, Genentech Inc where he worked for almost ten years and his work lead to the discovery of TNF-alpha and TNF-beta, an essential component of the immune system; and identification of their receptors.
In 1989, Dr. Aggarwal was recruited as a Professor of Medicine and of Clinical Immunology & Biological Therapy, Chief of the Cytokine Research section at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Since then Dr Aggarwal has been investigating the “Role of Inflammatory Pathways Mediated through TNF, NF-kappaB, STAT3, and CXCR4 for the Prevention and Therapy of Cancer, Osteoporosis and other Chronic Diseases”. While searching for novel and safe anti-inflammatory agents, his group identified more than fifty novel compounds from mother nature incluing spices, dietary agents and from Traditional Medicine that interrupt these cell-signaling pathways. These agents have been tested in various animal models and some of them in Clinical Trials. He has published almost 700 papers in peer-reviewed international journals (including Science, Nature, Cancer Cell, PNAS, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Blood, Journal of Bioogical Chenistry, Cancer Research, Journal of Immunology), invited reviews and book chapters.
Dr. Aggarwal is inventor/co-inventor on over 33 patents. He has been listed as one of the most highly cited scientist by the Institute of Scientific Information in the World. His publications exhibit high-citation index with over TEN exceed 1000. His overall citation till now is 99,099 with an H-index of 164 (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Ie7BLFUAAAAJ&hl=en); and the most highly cited for 2016 in Pharmacology & Toxicology (http://hcr.stateofinnovation.thomsonreuters.com). Dr. Aggarwal has been listed among top 100 most highly influential biomedical researchers in the world.
Dr. Aggarwal is currently a member of the editorial boards of 24 international journals and served as a reviewer for more than 160 journals, grant proposals and of Ph.D. theses. Dr. Aggarwal has edited 15 books (including The Molecular Targets and Therapeutic Uses of Curcumin in Health and Disease; Molecular targets and therapeutic uses of spices: Modern uses for ancient medicine ) and served as Guest Editor for Biotherapy, Cancer Letters, Current Opinion in Pharmacology, Immunopathologic Diseases and Therapeutics; and Molecules. He has trained over 80 Post-Doctoral Fellows and Visiting Professors from around the world. He has co-organized and served as member in many International and National Conferences/ Symposia; has started International Society of Translational Cancer Research and has delivered over 400 lectures/seminars/ keynote talks in more than 50 countries.
He has authored a book “Healing Spices” published by Sterling Inc, which is already a Best-Seller.
Dr. Aggarwal has received numerous awards including ARTOI Award from Association for Research Integrated Oncology Therapies, Rome, Italy, 2012; 2011 James A. Duke Award Excellence in Botanical Literature Award, American Botanical Council, Anaheim, California, 2012; World Congress Science Prize from Oxygen Club of California 2010; Excellence in Research Award of McCormick Research Institute from the American Association of Nutrition, 2008, Outstanding Scientist Award from the American Association of Indian Scientists in Cancer Research, 2006, Ranbaxy Award for Outstanding Scientist of the year, 2004.
Monica Aggarwal, MD, FACC
Monica Aggarwal, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine in the University of Florida Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. She received her medical degree from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and subsequently went on to complete a residency in internal medicine at Tufts-New England Medical Center. She then completed a cardiology fellowship at the University of Maryland and later continued her training at the University of Arizona where she completed an integrative medicine fellowship.
Dr. Aggarwal’s own path to understanding the impact of nutrition in illness started soon after the birth of her third child, when she developed an advanced form of rheumatoid arthritis. She was placed on medications that gave her severe side effects. It was only through learning about the microbiome (gut), its impact on the immune system and the role of nutrition in affecting the gut, was she able to truly heal. Determined to change the face of medicine, Monica left private practice and returned to academics in order to pursue research on the role of diet and to create an integrative cardiology practice focused on nutrition and lifestyle.
Serving as the Director of Integrative Cardiology and Prevention at the University of Florida, Dr. Aggarwal focuses on promoting food as the foundation of healing and for its medicinal value. In her clinic, she emphasizes plant based nutrition and often performs multiple mind-body techniques with her patients, including yoga and meditation. She is also the Director of Medical Education for Cardiology, where she directs education for medical residents and cardiology fellows, with a focus on prevention, nutrition and lifestyle. In the hospital, she has multiple initiatives including developing a 100% plant based menu for cardiac and vascular patients.
Dr. Aggarwal gives talks around the community and the country. She was named a “Next Generation Innovator” by Cardiology Today. She is often featured in Veg News, Naked Magazine and has been featured in forksoverknives.com. She conducts research on nutrition education in medical institutions and on how a plant based diet impacts cardiovascular disease.
Board certified in cardiology, echocardiography and nuclear cardiology, she is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), where she is a member of the nutrition council working on nutrition policies for the nation. Monica specializes in preventative management of heart disease with lifestyle techniques in conjunction with medicines. She is the author of the book “Finding Balance: Empower Yourself with Tools to Combat Stress and Illness,” which outlines 10 prescriptions to help guide people to better health.
Columbus Batiste, MD, FACC, FSCAI
Dr. Columbus D. Batiste is board certified in Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology. Since 2008, Dr. Batiste has served as Chief of Cardiology at the Kaiser Permanente Riverside and Moreno Valley Medical Centers. He also has shaped the careers of future physicians as an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University Of California Riverside School Of Medicine.
Over the years Dr. Batiste has been recognized for his work by multiple organizations ranging from Oakwood University as Alumnus of the Year 2009, Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center as Internal Medicine Physician of the Year (2010), the Inland Empire Magazine Heart Hero (2010), the Kaiser Permanente Promise Award (2011), the Eagle Award for Excellence in Medicine (2013), and the Derrell Thomas Foundation Community Service Award recipient (2013).
During the course of his practice, Dr. Batiste has performed over 2000 coronary interventions and hundreds of pacemaker implantations. Despite his procedural success, he noticed that he was doing nothing more than facilitating the mundane process of moving patients through a revolving turnstile that leads to increased medication and recurrent procedures. Hence; he sought to break this cycle and promote a long-term solution for his patients through nutrition, stress reduction, and exercise.
Dr. Batiste has reviewed the medical literature that has revealed the undeniable benefits of a predominant plant-based nutrition. Patients adhering to a whole food plant-based diet coupled with exercise and stress reduction have advanced toward a path of developing a healthy heart. As a result of this and other influences, in 2011, Dr. Batiste led out in establishing the Integrative Cardiovascular Disease Program (based at Kaiser Permanente). The objective of this program is to prevent the re-occurrence of major adverse cardiac events in patients who have been diagnosed with a cardiovascular disease by focusing on lifestyle modification and providing education regarding pharmacologic and procedural therapies. It is through this vehicle that Dr. Batiste performs monthly lectures educating patients and families on the benefits of nutrition.
Dr. Batiste’s mission is to share information so that “each one can teach one” about the benefits of plant based nutrition, daily exercise, and stress reduction and therefore; provide everyone with the opportunity to take control of their health. This mission has led to the formation of his alias, Healthy Heart Doc, which he uses when lecturing in the community and to blog on social media platforms. As a result of his passion, Dr. Batiste has lectured in multiple local and abroad venues including the Inland Empire Go Red For Women American Heart Association Conference, the Inaugural Jamaican Health Summit in Kingston Jamaica, as well as in multiple community settings encouraging people to Change the Game through nutrition.
Andy Bellatti, MS, RD
Andy Bellatti, MS, RD is a Las Vegas-based dietitian and a health coach with wellPORTAL. His plant-centric and whole-food approach to nutrition has helped hundreds of individuals improve their health. His writing on nutrition, food politics, deceptive food marketing, and food justice has been published in Grist, The Huffington Post, Today’s Dietitian, Food Safety News, Healthline.com, Berkeley Wellness, and Civil Eats, among others. He is frequently quoted in national media, providing commentary on current nutrition issues and headlines.
Andy is also a co-founder and the Strategic Director of Dietitians for Professional Integrity, a group that advocates for sponsorship reform within the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, calling for more ethical and socially responsible sponsors.
T. Colin Campbell, PhD
For decades T. Colin Campbell, PhD has been at the forefront of nutrition education and research. Dr. Campbell’s expertise and scientific interests encompass relationships between diet and diseases, particularly the causation of cancer. His legacy, the China Project, is one of the most comprehensive studies of health and nutrition ever conducted. The New York Times has recognized the study as the “Grand Prix of epidemiology”.
Dr. Campbell is the coauthor of the bestselling book The China Study: Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health, and author of the New York Times bestseller Whole, and The Low-Carb Fraud. He is the founder of the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and the online Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate in partnership with eCornell.
Dr. Campbell has conducted original research both in laboratory experiments and in large-scale human studies; received over 70 grant-years of peer-reviewed research funding (mostly with NIH), served on grant review panels of multiple funding agencies, actively participated in the development of national and international nutrition policy, authored over 300 research papers and given hundreds of lectures around the world.
He was trained at Cornell University (M.S., Ph.D.) and MIT (Research Associate) in nutrition, biochemistry and toxicology. Dr. Campbell spent 10 years on the faculty of Virginia Tech’s Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition before returning to Cornell in 1975 where he presently holds his Endowed Chair as the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry in the Division of Nutritional Sciences.
Shushana Castle
Shushana grew up with a dietary lifestyle that was predominantly whole food, plant-based, with little meat or dairy. Always interested in nutrition, after reading dozens of books on plant-based nutrition, she became impassioned to spread this knowledge about the all too often overlooked connection between diet and disease.
She is the founder and co-author of the book, Rethink Food: 100+ Doctors Can’t be Wrong featuring doctors, nutritionists and athletes from around the world who substantiate why our food choices hold the most profound but overlooked influence on our health. Rethink Food empowers the reader with a simple solution for a healthier, stronger and smarter you.
She has produced and appeared on dozens of local TV and radio shows interviewing leading doctors and scientists in their respective fields about how our food choices are intimately connected to our health and the environmental crisis.
Before delving into our healthcare world, Shushana was a globally renowned fixed income securities specialist for over 20 years and an equities specialist for 5 years. She spent over 10 years frequently traveling to Europe and the Middle East meeting with heads of tier 1 financial firms and heads of state, structuring securities for their portfolio needs. Former President Bill Clinton personally invited Shushana to serve as a member of his Clinton’s Global Initiative. Shushana has been included in quarterly think tank discussions with Bill Gates, Larry Page of Google, Economist Robert Reich, Queen Rania of Jordon, Al Gore, Sir Richard Branson, among other celebrities and citizens who display passion and care for the planet. In 2011, 2010 and 2009 Shushana moderated the water sector at the international CleanTech Conference which brings together leading world scientists in the water and CleanTech spheres. Shushana contributed to the documentary, Running the Sahara with Matt Damon.
She currently sits on the board of Living Water International and is a Houston Women’s Business Chamber of Commerce member. Shushana also brings one of the most distinguished film festivals in the world to Houston each year: the Telluride Mountain Film festival—part ideas summit, part social gathering, showing films about cultures worth exploring, environments worth preserving and issues that matter. Shushana holds a Masters in Environmental Management and Water and a degree in Finance.
Jimmy H. Conway, MD
Jimmy H. Conway, MD graduated from the University of Oklahoma Medical School in 1983. In 1984 he moved to San Antonio, Texas where he began his residency in orthopedic surgery. Upon completion he returned to Oklahoma in 1989 to pursue his career in orthopedics.
Dr. Conway joined Oklahoma Sports Science and Orthopedics in September of 1996 where he specializes in the surgical management of patients with shoulder and athletic injuries. Dr. Conway is a board certified orthopedic surgeon and is a member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. He has served as an orthopedic surgeon for numerous high school and college teams. Dr. Conway has a passion for treating athletes, particularly those with throwing injuries.
In the early 1990’s Dr. Conway was 1 of 30 clinical investigators worldwide for the DePuy Global Total Shoulder System. He currently serves as a paid consultant for the Lima Corporation teaching other physicians total shoulder replacement techniques.
For personal reasons in 2009 Dr. Conway developed an interest in plant-based nutrition. He subsequently took an online course from eCornell University on Plant Based Nutrition. Currently he and his wife hold free twice monthly seminars as well has host a monthly radio show speaking about plant-based nutrition.
Brenda Davis, RD
Brenda Davis, registered dietitian, is a leader in her field and an internationally acclaimed speaker. She has worked as a public health nutritionist, clinical nutrition specialist, nutrition consultant and academic nutrition instructor. Brenda is the lead dietitian in a diabetes research project in Majuro, Marshall Islands. She is a featured speaker at nutrition, medical and health conferences throughout the world.
Brenda is co-author of nine award-winning, best-selling books – Becoming Vegan: Comprehensive Edition (2014), Becoming Vegan: Express Edition (2013), Becoming Vegan (2000), The New Becoming Vegetarian (2003), Becoming Vegetarian (1994, 1995), Becoming Raw (2010), the Raw Food Revolution Diet (2008), Defeating Diabetes (2003) and Dairy-free and Delicious (2001). She is also a contributing author to a tenth book, The Complete Vegetarian (2009). Her books are vegetarian/vegan nutrition classics, with over 750,000 copies in print in 8 languages. Brenda has authored and co-authored several articles for peer-reviewed medical and nutrition journals and magazines.
Brenda is a past chair of the Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group of the American Dietetic Association. In 2007, she was inducted into the Vegetarian Hall of Fame. Brenda lives in Kelowna British Columbia.
Garth Davis, MD
As a leader in the field of bariatric medicine, Dr. Garth Davis was again recently recognized as a Texas Monthly Super Doc and stars with his father, Dr. Robert Davis, on the hit show docu-reality medical series, BIG MEDICINE. His recently published bestseller, The Expert’s Guide to Weight Loss Surgery is available in bookstores nationwide.
Dr. Davis graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas in Austin where he was the Student Government President. He was also recognized as the most outstanding student at UT. Dr. Davis went on to attend medical school at Baylor College of Medicine and graduated in the top 10 percent of his class. In addition, he was inducted to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. Dr. Davis completed his surgical residency at the prestigious University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he was elected to the position of Chief Administrative Resident. While in Michigan, Dr. Davis underwent extensive training in general surgical disciplines, specializing in laparoscopic procedures.
He is certified by the American Board of Surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a Fellow of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Dr. Davis is a recognized expert in initial bariatric procedures as well as revisional bariatric surgery, and is frequently asked to give lectures to both patient and physician audiences alike.
Richard Essigs
Richard Essigs is an accomplished Consumer Products industry leader with twenty-five years of experience in various industry, as well as business and IT services roles—-Procter & Gamble, IBM, Infosys, Genpact and EY. Richard helps clients translate performance forces into actionable strategic plans which lead to improved shopper and consumer experiences.
Recognized as an industry thought leader, Richard has held assignments within industry associations including Consumer Brands Association, FMI: Food Industry Association, The Consumer Goods Forum and served on the Consumer Goods Technology Magazine Editorial Advisory Board, where he was an original member of the Consumer Goods League of Leaders. Richard was also founding member of the Pat Tillman Foundation Advisory Board and currently serves as Chair, Nominating and Volunteer Engagement Committee on the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation Board of Trustees.
Richard earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Management and Strategic Planning from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
Alan Goldhamer, DC
For the past 30 years, Dr. Goldhamer has been the director of the TrueNorth Health Center in Santa Rosa, CA. TrueNorth Health is a multi-discipline in-patient facility staffed by doctors of medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy and psychology.
TrueNorth is the largest facility in the world specializing in medically supervised water-only fasting and treats over 1,000 patients per year in their residential health education program. The affiliated non-profit TrueNorth Health Foundation trains over 30 doctors a year in their internship and residency programs.
Dr. Goldhamer is the author of The Health Promoting Cookbook and co-author of The Pleasure Trap, and was the principal investigator in two studies involving the use of water-fasting in the treatment of high blood pressure.
Michael Greger, MD
A founding member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Dr. Greger is a physician, author, and internationally recognized speaker on nutrition, food safety, and public health issues. He has lectured at the Conference on World Affairs, testified before Congress, and was invited as an expert witness in the defense of Oprah Winfrey in the infamous “meat defamation” trial.
He is a graduate of Cornell University School of Agriculture and Tufts University School of Medicine. Currently Dr. Greger serves as the director of public health and animal agriculture at The Humane Society of the United States. Hundreds of his nutrition videos are freely available at NutritionFacts.org.
NutritionFacts.org is a non-commercial, nonprofit, science-based public service provided by Dr. Greger, providing free daily updates on the latest in nutrition research via bite-sized videos. He has hundreds of videos on more than a thousand topics, and new videos and articles are uploaded every day.
Julieanna Hever, MS, RD, CPT
Julieanna Hever, MS, RD, CPT is a Registered Dietitian who has been in private practice in Los Angeles since 2005, specializing in weight management, disease prevention and management, and sports nutrition. Julieanna is the host of the wellness talk show series What Would Julieanna Do? on Z Living Network, author of the brand new The Vegiterranean Diet and the best-selling book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition, and the nutrition columnist for VegNews Magazine. She is the co-author of the cookbook, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Gluten-Free Vegan Cooking, and a recipe contributor to both New York Time Best-Selling Forks Over Knives books. Julieanna counsels a variety of clients throughout the world from her Los Angeles, California-based private practice including elite athletes, adults, and children with various nutritional and/or medical concerns. Julieanna was recently featured on The Dr. Oz Show, The Steve Harvey Show, Reluctantly Healthy, The Marie Osmond Show, The Jane Velez-Mitchell Show, and E! News, co-stars on The Chef and The Dietitian, on numerous radio shows, and lectures extensively throughout the United States.
She is published in prominent journals, magazines, blogs, and newsletters. As co-producer and star of the “infotainment” documentary, To Your Health, Julieanna interviewed a host of the plant-based world’s most respected doctors and researchers to bring this important information to film and television audiences. Julieanna has served as a Special Consultant for the best-selling documentary, Forks Over Knives and as the Executive Director of EarthSave, International, which has also provided an opportunity for Julieanna to bring whole food, plant-based nutrition to the forefront of efforts to improve the current global health crisis.
Julieanna received her Bachelors degree from UCLA and Masters of Science in Nutrition at California State University, Northridge, where she also completed her Dietetic Internship. She has taught as part of Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s eCornell Plant-Based Nutrition Certification Program, worked as a clinical dietitian at Century City Doctors Hospital, and has consulted for numerous businesses.
David Jenkins, OC, MD, FSRC, FRCP, FRCPC, PhD, DSc
Dr. Jenkins is currently a professor in both the Departments of Medicine and Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, a staff physician in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism and the Director of the Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Center, St. Michael’s Hospital. He was educated at Oxford University, where he obtained his DM, DPhil and DSc. After further research at the British Medical Research Council’s Clinical Gastroenterology Unit, he returned to Oxford to a joint appointment in the Department of the Regius Professor of Medicine (Richard Doll) at the Radcliffe Infirmary and as a faculty member of the University Laboratory of Physiology. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London) and of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada.
He has served on committees in Canada and the United States that have formulated nutritional guidelines for the treatment of diabetes and recommendations for fibre and macronutrient intake for the general population under the new joint United States-Canada DRI system (RDAs) of the National Academy of Sciences (Washington, DC).
His research area is the use of diet in the prevention and treatment of hyperlipidemia and diabetes. He has over 300 original publications on these and related topics. His team was the first to define and explore the concept of the glycemic index of foods and demonstrate the breadth of metabolic effects of viscous soluble fiber, including blood glucose and cholesterol lowering. His studies on combining cholesterol lowering food components (dietary portfolio) have been recognized as creating an effective dietary alternative to drug therapy (statins) for many people and was the only dietary approach referenced in the last Guidelines of the US National Cholesterol Education Program (ATP III) and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Guidelines.
To make therapeutic diets more accessible, he has devoted much time to working with the food industry to develop products for the supermarket with specific health attributes and, for example, helped to initiate Loblaw’s ‘too good to be true’ and ‘Blue Menu’ line of products.
He was awarded the W.O. Atwater Award of the USDA and the American Society of Nutrition for his studies on functional foods for the treatment of disease (2013) and the Order of Canada (OC) in 2013.
He believes in the value of plant based diets, and that a major effort is required to mount large studies to determine the extent of their health benefits. He also believes that diets have to be environmentally sustainable.
Joel Kahn, MD
Dr. Joel Kahn is a Clinical Professor of Medicine/Cardiology at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit and visiting faculty at the University of South Florida School of Medicine. He is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of Michigan School of Medicine. He practices interventional, preventive and integrative cardiology. He has written over 150 medical articles and book chapters and contributes to the Huffington Post and MindBodyGreen. His book, The Whole Heart Solution, was published in 2014. Dr Kahn can be found at www.drjoelkahn.com.
Cyrus Khambatta, PdD
Dr. Khambatta is a cofounder of Mastering Diabetes and is an internationally recognized nutrition and fitness coach who has been living with type 1 diabetes since 2002. Using an evidence-based approach to nutrition and fitness, he first reduced his own insulin usage by more than 40%, and has educated thousands of people with all forms of diabetes how to reverse insulin resistance using food as medicine.
Cyrus earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 2003, then earned a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 2012. He is the co-host of the annual Mastering Diabetes Online Summit, a featured speaker at the Plant-Based Nutrition and Healthcare Conference (PBNHC), the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) Conference, and has been featured on Forks Over Knives, NPR, PBS, KQED, Fast Company, and is the author of the upcoming book Mastering Diabetes.
Michael Klaper, MD
Dr. Klaper, is a gifted clinician, internationally recognized teacher, and sought-after speaker on diet and health. He has practiced medicine for more than 40 years and is a leading educator in applied plant-based nutrition and integrative medicine.
Dr. Klaper graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago (1972), served a medical internship at Vancouver General Hospital in British Columbia, Canada with additional training in internal medicine, surgery, anesthesiology, and orthopedics at the University of British Columbia Hospitals in Vancouver and in obstetrics at the University of California Hospitals in San Francisco. He practiced acute care medicine in New Zealand for three years and served for eight years on the staff of the TrueNorth Health Center in Santa Rosa, California, a nutrition-based medical clinic specializing in therapeutic fasting and health improvement through a whole-food, plant-based diet.
Dr. Michael Klaper teaches that, “Health comes from healthy living” and over his medical career, Dr. Klaper has seen a whole-food, plant-based diet and lifestyle improvement reverse clogged arteries (atherosclerosis), high blood pressure (hypertension), obesity, adult onset diabetes, and even some forms of arthritis, asthma, and autoimmune disease.
He is also the author of a successful book on cholesterol-free nutrition, as well as numerous DVDs and Videos on Demand and a series of “Healthy YOU Webinars,” available through his website.
Dr. Klaper served as an advisor to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) project on nutrition for long-term space colonists on the moon and Mars. He was also a member of the Nutrition Task Force of the American Medical Student Association and served as the Director of the non-profit Institute of Nutrition Education and Research.
A source of inspiration advocating plant-based diets and the end of animal cruelty worldwide, Dr. Klaper contributed to the making of two PBS television programs Food for Thought and the award-winning Diet for a New America movie based on the book of the same name. He feels the most important work of his career is unfolding now in the Moving Medicine Forward Initiative wherein he travels to the nation’s medical schools and educates the students on using plant-predominant nutrition and positive lifestyle changes to truly heal their patients. www.DoctorKlaper.com/Moving-Medicine-Forward
He currently lives with his wife, Alese, in south Florida.
Michelle Kramer, CHHC, AADP
Michelle Joy Kramer is a Board-Certified Holistic Health Practitioner and Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. She assists individuals and corporate teams in achieving their optimal health through healthy lifestyle choices regarding nutrition, exercise, spirituality, relationships, and careers.
Michelle is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and holds a Certificate from the Cornell University Plant-Based Nutrition Program. She has also completed CEU and Certification Programs for Health Counseling through Purchase College. She holds accreditation from The American Association of Drugless Practitioners and is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
Michelle has a global private concierge health coaching practice and is the organizer of a whole foods plant-based community group in Naples, Florida, called the Naples Green Scene. She is an accomplished top competing Triathlete and considers her best achievement to be qualifying and completing the IRONMAN World Championship Triathlon in Hawaii.
Salvatore Lacagnina, DO
Dr. Salvatore Lacagnina is the vice president of Health and Wellness for Lee Memorial Health System. In this role, his mission is to motivate, educate and empower people to improve their health and wellness. He currently is responsible for developing a comprehensive employee health and wellness program for more than 10,500 employees in the system. He is also medical director for Lee Memorial Health System Wellness Centers and medical director of Employee Health Services.
Previously, he was in an internal medicine practice with Lee Physician Group and was the medical director for Lee Physician Group until 2010. His emphasis was on prevention and wellness, disease management, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and risk factor reduction.
Dr. Lacagnina earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, and he is board certified in internal medicine.
Dr. Sal appears regularly on television’s FOX4 Rising, and he writes a weekly column about health and wellness in The News-Press and a monthly column for the Cape Coral Chamber of Commerce Trends publication.
Andy Lim, MD, JD
Dr. Lim is the Medical Director of the McDougall Program and a Staff Physician at TrueNorth Health Center. He also co-leads Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center’s Plant Based Diet Support Group, which meets monthly and is the Center’s most highly attended group class. Dr. Lim is passionate about educating his patients, health care providers, and the public about the benefits of a plant-based diet in preventing, treating, and reversing chronic illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. He has given numerous local, national, and international lectures on lifestyle medicine, behavioral change, and plant-based nutrition.
Dr. Lim is a graduate of Stanford University, Harvard Law School, and Boston University School of Medicine. He is board certified in family medicine and completed his residency training at Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency, a UCSF affiliate. He is also a bar-certified attorney in the state of California.
Dr. Lim lives in Santa Rosa, California with his wife, Jean, and their two children, Joshua (10) and Julia (6), who bring them endless joy and laughter. His outside interests include Crossfit, playing tennis, scuba diving, RVing, anything involving the outdoors, and serving as an active member of his local church.
Doug Lisle, PhD
Dr. Lisle is the Director of Research for TrueNorth Health Center and has published numerous articles in the scientific literature. He is the co-author of The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force that Undermines Health and Happiness and is in private practice, conducting psychotherapy at the TrueNorth Health Center.
Delightfully candid and warm, Doug is one of psychology’s most innovative and curious minds. Deeply dedicated to exploring the mysteries of human behavior from fresh, uncharted waters, his research in evolutionary psychology and its impact on health, happiness and the pursuit of pleasure is generating critical acclaim.
Dr. Lisle is a graduate of the University of California at San Diego (Summa Cum Laude). He received the President’s Fellowship and was a Dupont Scholar at the University of Virginia where he completed his PhD in Clinical Psychology. He was then appointed Lecturer in Psychology at Stanford University and was on the staff at the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Palo Alto, California.
Dr. Lisle worked as a forensic psychologist for the criminal justice system in Dallas, Texas and as a consultant for the National Institute of Health Clinical Trial on Cognitive Therapy for Recurrent Depression at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He lectures nationally to health professionals on topics including evolutionary psychology, cognitive therapy, lifestyle modification, relaxation and stress management, and weight loss.
James Loomis, MD, MBA
James F. Loomis Jr., M.D., M.B.A. received his medical degree from the University of Arkansas, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and graduated with honors. He subsequently completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital/Washington University in St. Louis, MO. In addition, Dr. Loomis received an M.B.A. from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. He is board certified in internal medicine and has also completed the certification program in Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University.
Dr. Loomis is currently the medical director at the Barnard Medical Center in Washington DC. He has served as team internist for the St. Louis Rams football team and the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, as well as tour physician for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Before coming to the Barnard Medical Center, he practiced internal medicine at St. Luke’s Hospital in St. Louis, where he was also the director of prevention and wellness.
He is on the clinical faculty of the department of internal medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, DC and the department of preventive medicine and biostatistics at the Uniformed Services University for Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Loomis also serves on the board of directors of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. He speaks internationally on the health benefits of a whole-food plant-based diet and is featured in the upcoming documentary “The Game Changers” , which dispels the myth that meat is necessary for protein, strength and optimal health.
When not practicing medicine, Dr. Loomis enjoys reading, cooking, and teaching plant-based cooking classes. He also enjoys running, biking, and swimming, and has completed numerous half marathons, marathons, and triathlons.
Laurie Marbas, MD, MBA
Laurie Marbas, MD, MBA is double board certified family medicine and lifestyle medicine physician utilizing a whole-foods, plant-based diet for the past 5 years in rural Colorado. She worked with Dr. Joel Fuhrman creating a new medical model combining the power of nutrient-dense foods and intensive clinical psychological therapy to treat not only food addiction but chronic disease. She currently is the Managing Editor for the Plantrician Project’s International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention and works closely with the journal’s Editor in Chief, Dr. Kim Williams. The journal is focused on plant-based research and bringing this important work to the forefront of modern medicine and the general public.
In Colorado, she convinced a large hospital to create a lifestyle medicine program centered around a whole-foods, plant-based diet and showed resounding success. At another hospital, she conducted a one-month study of 26 employees on a plant-based diet. All employees were fed from the hospital’s kitchen and each individual had improvement in their health. She has spoken at the Golden VegFest in Colorado, the International Plant-based Nutrition Healthcare Conference, and other venues teaching about the value of the WFPB diet.
She wrote seven books while in medical school, six of which were in a series called “Visual Mnemonics”. These books used cartoons to help memorize vast amounts of information, which helped her when she was a mom attending medical school. She is a USAF veteran having served in the Middle East and South America. She is a wife, mom of three grown children, and an avid runner.
Michelle McMacken, MD
Michelle McMacken, MD, is a board-certified internal medicine physician and Assistant Professor of Medicine at NYU School of Medicine. An honors graduate of Yale University and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, she has more than ten years’ experience practicing primary care, directing an obesity clinic, and teaching doctors-in-training at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City. She has received the “Faculty Teacher of the Year” award three times from NYU’s internal medicine residency program.
Dr. McMacken is an enthusiastic supporter of plant-based nutrition and is committed to educating patients and doctors about the power of healthy eating and lifestyle modification. In 2014 she received a grant to develop an evidence-based nutrition curriculum for her NYU physician colleagues, and she leads nutrition education for the internal medicine residency program. She has been featured on the Rich Roll Podcast, ForksOverKnives.com, Sirius Doctor Radio, and MindBodyGreen.com, among others. She has a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University.
Rajiv Misquitta, MD, FACP
Dr, Rajiv Misquitta is the Medical Director of the innovative Lifestyle Medicine Department at Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center. He is also the principal investigator of a research trial called Health Achieved through Lifestyle Transformation (HALT). This is an intensive lifestyle program with a focus on plant-based eating and its effects on patients with diabetes and heart disease. Along with his team of psychologists and health educators, he is studying the dynamics of behavior change in relation to lifestyle. He attended medical school at State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California, Davis Medical Center where he later served as a chief resident. He was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha honors medical society. He is board certified in Lifestyle Medicine by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM). He was listed in Sacramento Magazine’s 2017 top doctors list which is generated from a peer survey.
After an epiphany ten years ago, Dr. Misquitta switched to a plant-based diet. He is a plant-based chef and has created a culinary program for patients at his Medical Center as well as enhanced the plant-based offerings in the 21 hospitals in his system. He has promoted plant-based eating at numerous venues in Northern California, which have included community events, medical centers, television, and magazine articles. He encourages his patients to shop at farmers markets and try out new recipes.
After finding existing vegetarian and vegan cookbooks less than satisfying, Dr. Misquitta along with his wife authored a book on plant-based eating called Healthy Heart, Healthy Planet – Delicious Plant-Based recipes to reduce heart disease, lose weight and preserve the environment. It also provides an inspirational personal story and practical advice on transitioning to a plant-based diet. He is one of the authors of a recent landmark special report in the Permanente Journal on Lifestyle Medicine and its dramatic impact on health and survival.
Read the full article here:
Dr. Misquitta has an interest in exercise science and is certified as a personal trainer through the National Academy of Sports medicine (NASM) and is a yoga instructor (RYT 200). Dr. Misquitta believes that health is created by all the little things that we do at home, work, at the dining table and when we connect with each other. He firmly believes that you can prevent and reverse disease and lead a long and healthy life by following a few simple guidelines. The master levers of your health are factors that are under your control: Not smoking, exercise, eating a whole food plant-based diet, getting adequate sleep, controlling your stress and interacting with your community.
Dr. Misquitta serves as the current president of the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society (SSVMS) and has emphasized Lifestyle Medicine and nutrition as a priority.
Jeff Moyer
Jeff Moyer is a world-renowned authority in organic agriculture. His expertise includes organic crop production systems with a focus on weed management, cover crops, crop rotations, equipment modification and use, and facilities design. Jeff is perhaps most well-known for conceptualizing and popularizing the No Till Roller Crimper for use in organic agriculture. In 2011, he wrote Organic No-Till Farming, a publication that has become a resource for farmers throughout the world.
Jeff brings a farmer’s perspective and approach to issues in organic agriculture. He is a past chair of the National Organic Standards Board, a founding board member of Pennsylvania Certified Organic, the Chairman of the Board of Director of The Seed Farm, part of the Green America Non-GMO Working Group, a Project Member of The Noble Foundation’s Soil Renaissance project, and a Board Member of PA Farm Link.
In September 2015 Jeff was appointed as Executive Director of Rodale Institute after spending the last four decades at the Institute, helping countless farmers make the transition from conventional, chemical-based farming to organic methods.
Dean Ornish, MD
The founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute, Dr. Ornish is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his MD from the Baylor College of Medicine, was a clinical fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School, and completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dean earned a BA in Humanities summa cum laude from the University of Texas in Austin, where he gave the baccalaureate address.
For over 36 years, Dr. Ornish has directed clinical research demonstrating, for the first time, that comprehensive lifestyle changes may begin to reverse even severe coronary heart disease, without drugs or surgery. Recently, Medicare agreed to provide coverage for this program, the first time that Medicare has covered a program of comprehensive lifestyle changes. He directed the first randomized controlled trial demonstrating that comprehensive lifestyle changes may stop or reverse the progression of early-stage prostate cancer. His current research showed that comprehensive lifestyle changes affect gene expression, “turning on” disease-preventing genes and “turning off” genes that promote cancer and heart disease, as well as the first study showing that these lifestyle changes reverse aging by lengthening telomeres, the ends of our chromosomes which control aging (in collaboration with Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2009).
He is the author of six books, all national bestsellers, including: Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease; Eat More, Weigh Less; Love & Survival; The Spectrum and co-author of his most recent book, UnDo It!
Robert Ostfeld, MD, MSc, FACC
Robert Ostfeld, MD, MSc, FACC a cardiologist, is the founder and director of the Cardiac Wellness Program at Montefiore, an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Associate Director of the Cardiology Fellowship at Montefiore-Einstein.
Dr. Ostfeld earned his BA from the University of Pennsylvania, graduating Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa; his MD from Yale University School of Medicine; and his Masters of Science in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Ostfeld completed his medical internship and residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and his cardiology fellowship and research fellowship in Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital — both teaching hospitals of Harvard Medical School.
His professional interests include cardiovascular disease prevention, medical education and clinical research. He earned the Outstanding Full Time Attending of the Year award at Montefiore for excellence in teaching medical residents; the Program Director’s Award for dedicated service on behalf of the Montefiore-Einstein Cardiology Fellowship; and was elected to the Leo M. Davidoff Society at Einstein for outstanding achievement in the teaching of medical students.
William Roberts, MD
William C. Roberts, MD has been the Editor in Chief of BUMC Proceedings and Dean of the A. Webb Roberts Center for Continuing Medical Education at Baylor Health Care System since 1994. Dr. Roberts has been Editor In Chief of The American Journal of Cardiology since June 1982 (25 years). He has been Executive Director of the Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute of Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) in Dallas, Texas since March 1993.
Dr. Roberts serves as Member of Medical Advisory Board at Organ Transport Systems Inc. He serves as Member of Board of Advisors at Novation Holdings, Inc. Dr. Roberts Headed the Pathology Section or Branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute from July 1964 to March 1993. For 33 years, Dr. Roberts has been Program Director of the Williamsburg Conference on Heart Disease, held every December in Williamsburg, Virginia. He has contributed information on many cardiovascular conditions.
Dr. Roberts graduated from Southern Methodist University (SMU) and in 1958, from Emory University School of Medicine. His internship was in internal medicine at the Boston City Hospital. After a 3-year residency in anatomic pathology at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, he was an assistant resident on the Osler Medical Service at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for a year and then a fellow in cardiology at the National Heart Institute in Bethesda for a year.
Dr. Roberts has received several honors: the Gifted Teacher Award of the American College of Cardiology in 1978; the College Medalist Award of the American College of Chest Physicians in 1983; the Richard and Hilda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the Council of Cardiology of the American Heart Association in 1984; the Public Health Service Commendation Medal in 1979; the Distinguished Achievement Award of the Society of Cardiovascular Pathology in 1994; an honorary doctor of science degree from Far Eastern University, Manila, Philippines, in 1995; the Emory Medical Alumni Association’s Distinguished Medical Achievement Award in 1984; the Distinguished Alumni Award from Southern Methodist University in 1996; and the designation of master of the American College of Cardiology in 2004.
He has published just over 1400 articles, authored or edited 24 books, and lectured in over 2000 cities (some several times) throughout the world. Dr. Roberts is the most prolific oral historian of cardiology in history. Over the past 11 years he has recorded and published more than 125 oral histories of clinicians, surgeons, and medical scientists.
Thomas D. Rosenberg, MD
Thomas Rosenberg grew up in Northern Utah and attended the University of Utah Medical School. His orthopedic training occurred at the Universities of Utah and of Wisconsin in 1973 to 1978. Rosenberg co-founded the Fitness Institute at LDS Hospital in 1980, The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital (TOSH) in Salt Lake City in 1991, the RCM Clinic in Park City, Utah (with Dr. Vernon Cooley) in 1998, and the non-profit nutrient supplementation company, Nutriex in 1999.
Viewed as an innovator, Dr. Rosenberg invented new arthroscopic menisci repair techniques and developed new tools and methods for ACL reconstruction. Specifically, he is best known for the endo-button and quadrupled semi-tendonosis reconstruction (single and double tunnel methods) techniques for ACL reconstruction. He has developed widely utilized tools for chondroplasty of the knee, including the Full-radius Resector, curved chondroplasty devices, and micro-fracture instruments. He has designed bony-integration patellar implants and techniques for athletic knee replacements. His x-ray method, the 45° flexion P-A weight-bearing view (Rosenberg View), is widely used internationally.
Ken Rubin
Ken Rubin is a chef, culinary educator and food anthropologist with over 20 years of broad culinary industry experience and life-long interest in nutrition and wellness. He is the Chief Culinary Officer at the Rouxbe Culinary School. Rouxbe is the world’s leading online cooking school that delivers technique focused culinary instruction and training to home cooks, culinary students, professional cooks and healthcare professionals in over 180 countries.
Ken has been recognized for his expertise in education and training, food-culture research, wellness, product development, behavior change, and technology. Ken has held top-level teaching and executive leadership positions at well-respected culinary academies including Le Cordon Bleu Schools North America, Chefs.com, the Art Institute of Portland, and the Natural Epicurean Academy. A former Board Director for the International Association Culinary Professionals and The Culinary Trust, he currently serves the James Beard Foundation as a member of the National Media Committee. A lifelong advocate for a more just and equitable food system, he also serves on the Oregon Food Bank’s Advocacy Committee. Ken is a regular presenter and speaker at conferences and public events. He received his BA from Colorado College and an MA in anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. He lives with his wife and two boys in Portland, Oregon.
Dustin Rudolph, PharmD, BCPS
With over fifteen years of experience in the field of pharmacy, Dustin Rudolph, PharmD, BCPS is a board certified clinical pharmacist currently practicing in an acute care community hospital setting. He graduated with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2002 from North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND. His professional experience covers a multitude of patient populations including neonatal, pediatric, cardiac, orthopedic, oncology, diabetic, intensive care, and geriatric patients, just to name a few.
In 2009, Dr. Rudolph adopted a vegetarian diet, and then a whole foods, plant-based (vegan) diet a year later. He continued his education in the field of healthcare in 2010 by earning a certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition through the T. Colin Campbell Foundation and eCornell University.
In 2016, Dr. Rudolph successfully passed the pharmacotherapy certification exam administered by the Board of Pharmacy Specialties®. He is now a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist who works alongside physicians in a hospital setting to optimize patient’s medication therapy regimens.
Dr. Rudolph has become an expert in nutrition and lifestyle medicine. He is the author of the book, The Empty Medicine Cabinet: The Pharmacist’s Guide to the Hidden Danger of Drugs and the Healing Powers of Food. He uses his expertise as an educator, speaker, and writer to help others learn how to prevent and reverse chronic disease by adopting a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle. You can learn more about Dr. Rudolph by visiting www.PlantBasedPharmacist.com.
Gretchen Schisla
Gretchen Schisla is the founder and principal of Enrich, a branding and marketing team dedicated to serving organizations and individuals who help others improve their health with plant-based food and lifestyle.
Gretchen fosters strong relationships with clients and identifies the key solutions that will build their practice or business and increase connection with their audience. As a brand strategist, writer and advisor, she brings over 35 years of insight, expertise and industry perspective to help clients make the best decisions for their product or service.
With the rise of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, Gretchen appreciates having the opportunity to collaborate with clients who are making a difference. She believes: “Design matters. It’s a critical tool to communicate a purpose, to educate, to bring awareness to a problem, to inspire individuals and unite communities – and to act as an agent for change.”
Gretchen is the recipient of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Design Fellow and the AIGA Local Legend awards. Enrich has been recognized as a Top 20 Small Business Company by St. Louis Small Business Monthly. Her work has been recognized by AIGA, New York Art Director’s Club, PRINT Annual, CLIO, International Association of Business Communicators, American Alliance of Museums and HOW Magazine.
Ayesha Sherzai, MD
Ayesha Sherzai, MD is the Co-Director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University Medical Center. She is a vascular neurologist, who completed a preventive medicine and neurology residency at Loma Linda University Medical Center. She then went on to complete a in vascular neurology and epidemiology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. Dr. Sherzai is currently working on her PhD in Epidemiology at Loma Linda University. She has been actively involved in extensive research in lifestyle, particularly diet and nutrition and its effect on brain health. In 2015, Dr. Sherzai was the recipient of the Trudy Bush Fellowship Award for Cardiovascular Disease Research in Women’s Health, for her research on diet and stroke prevention in women. She is also a culinary artist, with a focus on healthy plant-based cooking. At Loma Linda, she is currently in charge of the Lifestyle Intervention Program for patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment, where together with her husband, Dr. Dean Sherzai, work with their patients to modify their lifestyle, in areas such as nutrition, exercise, meditation, restful sleep, and cognitive activity.
Dean Sherzai, MD, PhD
Dean Sherzai, MD is the Co-Director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University Medical Center. His research focuses on early diagnosis and intervention in Alzheimer’s disease. As such, he is introducing novel imaging and biomarker tools into the realm of diagnosis at earlier stages of the disease. He is also introducing novel interventions both with regard to pharmaceuticals and comprehensive lifestyle changes that appear to be very effective in altering the course of the disease. Dr. Sherzai received his PhD from Eastern Virginia Medical School, completed his Residency at Georgetown University Hospital, Fellowships at National Institutes of Health and University of California, San Diego Medical Center, and Doctorate at Loma Linda University.
Dr. Ayesha Sherzai and Dr. Dean Sherzai are a dynamic husband and wife duo, co-running the research program focusing on brain health and dementia prevention using innovative techniques, comprehensive imaging and neuropsychological testing, and most importantly, passion and a drive to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.
Kumara Sidhartha, MD, MPH
Kumara Sidhartha MD, MPH completed medical school training at the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College in Salem, India. After moving to the U.S., he completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center — affiliated with Cornell University, New York. He is a graduate of the Master of Public Health (MPH) in Nutrition program at the School of Public Health and Department of Nutrition at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (USA). He is certified in Plant-Based Nutrition by eCornell University and Colin Campbell Foundation in New York.
In order to seek the most effective and least toxic treatment for challenging conditions such as cancer and autoimmune disease, he pursued biological medical training to become a diplomat of European Biological Medicine, a nutrition-centered natural therapeutic philosophy practiced at Paracelsus Klinik in Switzerland. He is board-certified in the American Board of Internal Medicine. His patients benefit from his guidance in nutritional treatments to prevent and treat chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and arthritis. His interest in sustainable and ethical food production led him to study permaculture design under the Permaculture Institute of USA (New Mexico). He is the founder and president of the Institute of Inter-connected Communities of India (IICC India), a not-for-profit organization with the mission to create role model communities that are healthy, sustainable, self-reliant and resilient.
He regularly speaks among the public and professional community on the subjects of nutrition, health, and environmental sustainability – both in the Northeast US and in India. His interviews on plant-based nutrition and sustainable food production has been featured in the National Public Radio and the Cape Cod Times. In 2009, he received the Fragile Earth Award given by Housing-for-All Corporation of Cape Cod, awarded in recognition of his ongoing efforts to educate the public about plant-based food and its inter-connectedness to human and planetary health. Dr. Sidhartha also teaches Plant-based Nutrition, and Anatomy at the Kind Yoga Teacher Training School, a yoga-alliance certified institute in Cape Cod, MA.
Saray Stancic, MD
Dr. Saray Stancic is the founder and owner of Stancic Health and Wellness, LLC where she is a board-certified Lifestyle Medicine physician. She received her M.D. degree from New Jersey Medical School in 1993 and is also board-certified in Infectious Diseases. She began her career by serving as Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Hudson Valley Veterans Administration Hospital in New York. Her clinical and research interests in viral hepatitis and HIV led to her recruitment by Roche Pharmaceuticals to conduct clinical studies for new treatments for hepatitis infections before going into private practice. She has authored several research papers in peer-reviewed journals in the field of Infectious diseases.
Dr. Stancic’s interest in Lifestyle Medicine evolved from her ongoing personal battle with multiple sclerosis and her 20 plus years of practicing medicine and witnessing the deleterious consequences of chronic diseases. She has been an invited author for Forks Over Knives, and has been interviewed on several podcasts, radio and television shows. She was the subject of a cover story in the August 20, 2015 issue of Dirt Magazine, and was named one of the “17 People to Watch in Health in 2015” in the January 2015 issue of 201 Magazine. She has spoken to diverse audiences across the country on the impact of Lifestyle Medicine and the importance of plant-based nutrition. Her major initiative beyond clinical care is working toward catalyzing change in medical education curricula where, regrettably, nutrition and lifestyle are minimally taught or emphasized. She enjoys teaching, and serves as adviser/mentor to the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group.
Dr. Stancic is currently producing a documentary film, code blue: redefining American medicine (release October 2018), which will spotlight the practice of Lifestyle Medicine to prevent, treat, and manage chronic illnesses. She believes the future of a successful healthcare system is largely dependent on training a new generation of physicians who are skilled in effectively prescribing lifestyle medicine to halt and reverse the ongoing chronic disease and obesity epidemics.
Brie Turner-McGrievy, PhD, MS, RD
Brie Turner-McGrievy received her Master of Science degree in Nutrition and Registered Dietitian credentials from the University of Alabama in 2000. She went on to work in the area of clinical research for four years before pursuing her doctoral degree. Brie completed her doctoral degree in nutrition and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health. Currently, she is an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior.
Brie’s research focuses on behavioral interventions for weight loss and the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. Brie has published research on the use of emerging technologies for weight loss and health promotion. In particular, her research has focused on the use of podcasting and social media to deliver behavioral weight loss interventions. Her research has combined this audio delivery method with other mobile enhancements including prompting and social support delivered via Twitter and use of diet monitoring apps for internet-capable mobile devices. Brie’s work has also focused on plant-based dietary approaches for chronic disease prevention and treatment among adults. She recently completed two randomized trials examining various plant-based eating styles, one among women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and the other among overweight and obese adults.
She has received several awards during her nutrition career including the Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year award in 2004, the 2005 Lydia J. Roberts Memorial Scholarship in Public Health Nutrition from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Excellence in Research Award for 2007, and the Pat Simons Award from The Obesity Society in 2012.
James Wilkes
James Wilks is a mixed martial artist best known for winning Season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter. He also serves as a combatives trainer for the US Marshals, US Marines, US Army Rangers and US Navy SEALs.
James produced The Game Changers, a documentary about the dramatic rise of plant-based eating in professional sports. Featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and executive produced by James Cameron, The Game Changers premiered at Sundance, Berlinale and HotDocs and was released in September 2019.
Kim Allen Williams, MD, FACC, FASNC, FAHA
Dr. Kim Allan Williams was born and raised in inner-city Chicago, and attended the College of The University of Chicago, followed by the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine, internal medicine residency at Emory University, and overlapping fellowships in Cardiology at the University of Chicago, Clinical Pharmacology, and Nuclear Medicine. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases, Nuclear Medicine, Nuclear Cardiology and Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.
Dr. Williams joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in 1986, specializing in clinical cardiology, nuclear medicine and nuclear cardiology. He served as Professor of Medicine and Radiology and Director of Nuclear Cardiology at The University of Chicago School of Medicine until 2010. Among numerous awards and honors for his teaching in the medical school, residencies and fellowships, he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha in 2008.
In 2010, he became the Dorothy Susan Timmis Endowed Professor of Medicine and Radiology and Chairman of the Division of Cardiology at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, MI. At Wayne State, he has started the Urban Cardiology Initiative — a program of education of physicians on disparities in healthcare, primary school education on cardiovascular health and community health screening in inner city Detroit. In November, 2013 he returned to Chicago as the James B. Herrick Endowed Professor of Medicine and Cardiology at Rush University Medical Center.
Dr. Williams has published numerous peer reviewed articles, monographs, book chapters, editorials, and review articles in the field of nuclear cardiology and minority health issues, with emphasis on education and innovations in perfusion imaging and quantitation of ventricular function. His research interests include selective adenosine receptor agonists, fluorinated perfusion PET imaging, health care disparities and payment policy, and appropriate use of cardiac imaging.
Dr. Williams has served on numerous committees and boards at the national level, including the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC), the American Heart Association (AHA), the American Medical Association (AMA), the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the Certifying Board of Nuclear Cardiology, the Certifying Board of Cardiac Computed Tomography, the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography and the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC). He served as President of ASNC from 2004 to 2005. He served as Chairman of the Board of ABC from 2008 to 2010. He also served on the Cardiovascular Disease Examination Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM-CV) until 2012. He currently serves as the ACC President-Elect and is slated to serve as ACC President in 2015.
Wes Youngberg, DrPH, MPH, CNS, FACLM
Dr. Wes Youngberg is a practicing clinical nutritionist and lifestyle medicine specialist in Temecula, CA. He was trained at Loma Linda University where he earned a doctorate in clinical preventive care and a master’s degree in nutrition. He is on the clinical faculty of Loma Linda University and serves as assistant clinical professor for both the Department of Preventive Medicine at the School of Medicine and the Department of Health Promotion at the School of Public Health. Dr. Youngberg is a board Certified Nutrition Specialist, and is a founding director and fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
Dr. Youngberg is the lead presenter in the Diabetes Undone Program – an interactive, video based series designed to support the doctor and the patient in achieving diabetes reversal. He has trained with Dr. Dale Bredesen (the director of the Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research at UCLA) and is certified in the Bredesen Protocol – a comprehensive, lifestyle medicine based, assessment and intervention model, documented to reverse up to 88% of MCI and early Alzheimer’s.
Prior to opening his lifestyle and nutritional medicine clinic in Temecula, Dr. Youngberg spent 14 years on the island of Guam, researching the diabetes epidemic on the Micronesian islands of the Western Pacific region and directing the Wellness Center at the Guam Seventh-day Adventist Clinic. He traveled throughout the islands, providing public health education, screenings, and professional training for diabetes prevention and care. Dr. Youngberg was honored twice with the Heroes of the Pacific award by the Guam chapter of the American Diabetes Association. In 2007, he was awarded the Ancient Order of the Chamorri—the highest honor given by the governor of Guam for extraordinary contributions to the island community. Returning to California in 2008, he spent three years as medical nutritionist and Director of the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Wellness Center for Rancho Family Medical Group in Temecula.
He has lectured to medical conferences throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas. His passion is the full integration of physical and emotional risk factors in the assessment and intervention of health concerns. Dr. Youngberg has done post doctoral studies with the Institute for Functional Medicine and the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine.
He is the co-host of the Hope Channel’s “Naturally Gourmet” with Karen Houghton, and has produced various DVD video series, including: “Transforming Sickness into Health” and “Controlling Cravings with Contentment”. He has published several books including, The Path to Health & Healing, Goodbye Diabetes – preventing and reversing diabetes the natural way, and most recently, Hello Healthy.
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