Healthy for a Lifetime
October 19, 2019
Featured the Speakers Shown Below:
Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., MD
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., received his A.B. from Yale University in 1956 and his M.D. from Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1961. In 1956, he received a gold medal in rowing at the Olympic Games. In 1968, as an Army surgeon in Vietnam, he was awarded the Bronze Star. He was trained as a surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic and has been associated with the Cleveland Clinic since 1961. He was President of the Staff and a member of the board of governors. He was chairman of the Breast Cancer Task Force and Head of the Section of Thyroid and Parathyroid Disease. In 2005 he became the first recipient of the Benjamin Spock Award for Compassion in Medicine. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association in 2009. In 2013 he received Yale University’s George Herbert Walker Bush Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2016 he received the Case Western Reserve Medical School Distinguished Alumni Award. Dr. Esselstyn has also received the 2015 Plantrician Project Luminary Award, the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award, and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award.
His scientific publications number over 150. His pioneering research is summarized in his best selling Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. In July 2014 his study of 200 patients confirmed an even larger group can be adherent to plant-based nutrition and achieve the same significant arrest and reversal of disease. Currently he directs the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Reversal Program at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. Dr. Esselstyn was featured in the 2011 documentary film, Forks Over Knives.
His scientific publications number over 150. His pioneering research is summarized in his best selling Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. In July 2014 his study of 200 patients confirmed an even larger group can be adherent to plant-based nutrition and achieve the same significant arrest and reversal of disease. Currently he directs the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Reversal Program at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. Dr. Esselstyn was featured in the 2011 documentary film, Forks Over Knives.
Thomas M. Campbell II, MD
Thomas Campbell is a graduate of Cornell University and received his medical degree from the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and completed residency training in Family Medicine at the University of Rochester, Highland Hospital. He is a board-certified family physician and a certified diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine. He is the medical director of the Highland Weight Management & Lifestyle Center at the University of Rochester, where he has worked with many hundreds of individuals as well as groups to prevent and treat chronic conditions by changing their diet and lifestyle. He also maintains an active primary care practice.
He helps direct a research program investigating the effect of plant-based nutrition on various chronic diseases. In this effort, he is principal investigator for a pilot study on the feasibility of making comprehensive dietary changes in patients with advanced breast cancer, and is co-investigator on clinical trials investigating the effects of whole-food, plant-based nutrition on patients with advanced diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
He is co-author of The China Study, a worldwide bestseller, with his father T. Colin Campbell, PhD, and author of The China Study Solution. He has presented widely on the topic of nutrition for optimal health.
He helps direct a research program investigating the effect of plant-based nutrition on various chronic diseases. In this effort, he is principal investigator for a pilot study on the feasibility of making comprehensive dietary changes in patients with advanced breast cancer, and is co-investigator on clinical trials investigating the effects of whole-food, plant-based nutrition on patients with advanced diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
He is co-author of The China Study, a worldwide bestseller, with his father T. Colin Campbell, PhD, and author of The China Study Solution. He has presented widely on the topic of nutrition for optimal health.
Saray Stancic, MD, FACN
Saray Stancic received her MD degree from New Jersey Medical School and completed an Internal Medicine residency and served an additional year as Chief Medical resident at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. From 1999 to 2006, she served as Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Hudson Valley Veterans Administration Hospital in New York. She also directed the MOVE program, a federal VA initiative to encourage healthy lifestyles in veterans. She later joined the viral hepatology team at Roche and conducted clinical studies for new, more efficacious treatments for hepatitis infections. During these research years, she continued to see patients at the Bronx Veterans Administration Hospital in New York City. She has authored several research papers in peer-reviewed medical journals.
Dr. Stancic is a board certified physician and founder of Stancic Health and Wellness in Ramsey, New Jersey. The mission of this innovative medical practice is to educate and empower patients for achieving optimal health via lifestyle modification, while shedding light on the large and mounting body of scientific data supporting the importance of optimal nutrition in disease prevention.
In 1995, Dr. Stancic, a third-year medical resident working long hospital hours, was abruptly stricken with a severe and disabling case of multiple sclerosis. After 8 years of impaired and disrupted work and daily life, complicated by side effects of intensive pharmaceutical therapies, she stumbled upon a medical journal study reporting some beneficial reduction in MS symptom severity associated with one particular food: blueberries. This triggered an exhaustive exploration of the medical literature, revealing plentiful evidence in respectable peer-reviewed journals that dietary choices do play a key role in the development of chronic illness—a topic that had eluded the medical school curriculum she knew so well.
Dr. Stancic concluded that the power of prevention/healing offered by a whole food, plant-based diet for many chronic conditions is enormous and unquestionable. Inspired, she saw it as imperative to adopt this lifestyle personally, and she discontinued all medications and focused upon optimizing diet. Remarkably, after years of difficulty walking unassisted, she found her neurological deficits gradually improving, and felt renewed and infused with a great sense of hope. She decided to take up jogging, which evolved to running, and in the spring of 2010 ran a marathon. She followed through on a pledge to walk 2,015 miles in 2015, 20 years after being struck down by multiple sclerosis. These experiences laid the foundation for a personal crusade to prevent chronic illness by helping patients modify their lifestyles. She is Executive Producer of a documentary film, Code Blue: Redefining the Practice of Medicine, featuring her own personal story as well as the practice of lifestyle medicine to prevent, manage, and reverse disease.
Dr. Stancic is a board certified physician and founder of Stancic Health and Wellness in Ramsey, New Jersey. The mission of this innovative medical practice is to educate and empower patients for achieving optimal health via lifestyle modification, while shedding light on the large and mounting body of scientific data supporting the importance of optimal nutrition in disease prevention.
In 1995, Dr. Stancic, a third-year medical resident working long hospital hours, was abruptly stricken with a severe and disabling case of multiple sclerosis. After 8 years of impaired and disrupted work and daily life, complicated by side effects of intensive pharmaceutical therapies, she stumbled upon a medical journal study reporting some beneficial reduction in MS symptom severity associated with one particular food: blueberries. This triggered an exhaustive exploration of the medical literature, revealing plentiful evidence in respectable peer-reviewed journals that dietary choices do play a key role in the development of chronic illness—a topic that had eluded the medical school curriculum she knew so well.
Dr. Stancic concluded that the power of prevention/healing offered by a whole food, plant-based diet for many chronic conditions is enormous and unquestionable. Inspired, she saw it as imperative to adopt this lifestyle personally, and she discontinued all medications and focused upon optimizing diet. Remarkably, after years of difficulty walking unassisted, she found her neurological deficits gradually improving, and felt renewed and infused with a great sense of hope. She decided to take up jogging, which evolved to running, and in the spring of 2010 ran a marathon. She followed through on a pledge to walk 2,015 miles in 2015, 20 years after being struck down by multiple sclerosis. These experiences laid the foundation for a personal crusade to prevent chronic illness by helping patients modify their lifestyles. She is Executive Producer of a documentary film, Code Blue: Redefining the Practice of Medicine, featuring her own personal story as well as the practice of lifestyle medicine to prevent, manage, and reverse disease.
Amanda McKinney, MD
Amanda McKinney received her MD degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and completed her residency at the University of California Irvine. She is a physician with a passion for Lifestyle Medicine and environmental issues who recognizes the intimate relationship between our food and the health of both humans and the planet. She is both a Fellow and a member of the Board of Directors of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and is a Certified Physician Executive. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Doane University's Institute for Human and Planetary Health (IHPH) located in Crete, Nebraska. The IHPH seeks to promote a dietary pattern focused on whole plant foods, less focused on animal and highly processed foods, in order to, among other things, prevent and treat chronic diseases and help shift the health care delivery focus away from pills and procedures to disease prevention and reversal through lifestyle changes. Dr. McKinney was featured in the 2016 documentary film, Eating You Alive.
Cyrus Khambatta, PhD
Cyrus Khambatta, PhD, is a co-founder 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 a whole food plant-based diet and exercise.
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, presenting his doctorate thesis on causes and effects of insulin resistance. He is the co-host of the annual Mastering Diabetes Online Summit, a featured speaker at the International Plant-Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference, has been featured on Forks Over Knives, NPR, PBS, KQED, Fast Company, at the annual conference of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and is the author of the upcoming book, Mastering Diabetes.
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, presenting his doctorate thesis on causes and effects of insulin resistance. He is the co-host of the annual Mastering Diabetes Online Summit, a featured speaker at the International Plant-Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference, has been featured on Forks Over Knives, NPR, PBS, KQED, Fast Company, at the annual conference of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and is the author of the upcoming book, Mastering Diabetes.
Adam Woods, MD
Dr. Adam Woods is a physician who became a nutritional educator and competitive bodybuilder and power lifter after realizing his own lack of knowledge about diet and exercise had led him to a poor quality of life, including obesity and sickness. Following a plant-based diet and workout regimen, he lost over 100 pounds in about 10 months and has seen massive improvements in his overall health and athletic performance.
An Iowa native, Dr. Woods attended Drake University, Princeton University, and the Duke University School of Medicine after serving in the United States Air Force, being stationed at Offutt Air Force base for a time. He completed his residency at the University of Iowa beginning in Primary Care and then specializing in Psychiatry. In addition, he has earned a certification in plant-based nutrition from Cornell University. Dr. Woods has a private practice clinic in North Liberty, Iowa where he sees both adults and children. Dr. Woods' goal is to spread the message of hope about the power of plant-based diets to transform anyone's life and health.
An Iowa native, Dr. Woods attended Drake University, Princeton University, and the Duke University School of Medicine after serving in the United States Air Force, being stationed at Offutt Air Force base for a time. He completed his residency at the University of Iowa beginning in Primary Care and then specializing in Psychiatry. In addition, he has earned a certification in plant-based nutrition from Cornell University. Dr. Woods has a private practice clinic in North Liberty, Iowa where he sees both adults and children. Dr. Woods' goal is to spread the message of hope about the power of plant-based diets to transform anyone's life and health.
Elizabeth Denman, MD
Dr. Elizabeth Denman is an Internal Medicine physician who completed medical school and residency at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She is affiliated with Nebraska Methodist Hospital Physicians Clinic in Omaha. Dr. Denman is passionate about the benefits of a whole food plant-based diet. She has experienced first hand the positive impact this dietary approach has on the health and wellness of her patients. Dr. Denman serves as a Clinical Instructor for medical students at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Along with her sister, Dr. Amy Cannella, she oversees and lectures in the Lifestyle Medicine Series at UNMC.
Amy Cannella, MD
Amy Cannella received her MD degree from and completed her residency at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and completed a Fellowship in Rheumatology at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center. Dr. Cannella’s main interests are in clinical rheumatology, involving disorders of the joints, muscles and bones. She sees patients in clinic at UNMC and the VA, and runs the rheumatology fellowship program. She is also involved in medical school education, directing the Medical Student and Internal Medicine Resident Rheumatology curricula. She was instrumental in developing a Lifestyle Medicine Lecture Series for medical students. She works nationally with the American College of Rheumatology, and participates in Divisional research and in clinical trials in rheumatoid arthritis and gout.
Melissa Sherlock
Melissa Sherlock is certified in plant-based nutrition by the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies through eCornell, has a graduate certificate in Lifestyle Medicine from Creighton University in Omaha, and is a certified Food for Life Instructor by Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in Washington, D.C.
Having lost both her parents too young to sudden cardiovascular events, Melissa began seeking heart health for herself, and learned that eating for heart health is eating for the health of all systems in the body. She has enjoyed a whole food plant-based diet for ten years. She is a self-professed plant-based foodie, and enjoys cooking, sharing food, poring through cookbooks, exploring the exploding number of fabulous plant-based recipes online, and seeking healthy plant-based options while traveling. She especially enjoys showing people how easy, inexpensive, health-promoting, and delicious plant-based meals can be.
Having lost both her parents too young to sudden cardiovascular events, Melissa began seeking heart health for herself, and learned that eating for heart health is eating for the health of all systems in the body. She has enjoyed a whole food plant-based diet for ten years. She is a self-professed plant-based foodie, and enjoys cooking, sharing food, poring through cookbooks, exploring the exploding number of fabulous plant-based recipes online, and seeking healthy plant-based options while traveling. She especially enjoys showing people how easy, inexpensive, health-promoting, and delicious plant-based meals can be.
Gabriel Miller
Gabriel Miller is a plant-based influencer and avid gardener from Richmond, Virginia. Gabriel was a starting football player for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers until he suffered a career-ending back injury. At the time, he was also pursuing a degree in livestock production, but after his injury he began to do his own research on diet and health. Unable to maintain his previous active lifestyle, Gabriel began searching for ways to lose weight and become healthy through his diet. In the process, Gabriel found that what he was learning in his classes not only contradicted what he was learning about health, but also contradicted his own beliefs about animal welfare and preserving the environment. Still, Gabriel chose to finish his degree while also pursuing his own research into sustainable and ethical agricultural practices that promote health. Now 100 pounds lighter than his playing weight, Gabriel runs his blog, Plant Based Gabriel, which is focused on helping people transition to a plant-based diet. In addition to producing simple recipe videos, Gabriel also maintains his one acre vegan vegetable farm just outside of Richmond, Virginia.
The biographies on this page were current as of October 2019. No updates have been made since that time.