International Conference on Nutrition in Medicine, Aug. 15 -17, 2024

Adjunct Professor, George Washington University School of Medicine; President, Physicians Committee

Dr. Barnard is the president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and an adjunct professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. Dr. Barnard has led numerous research studies investigating the effects of diet on diabetes, body weight, and chronic pain, including a groundbreaking study of dietary interventions in type 2 diabetes patients funded by the National Institutes of Health. He has authored more than 80 scientific publications, as well as a number of books. Follow Dr. Barnard on Facebook and on Twitter at @DrNealBarnard.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Dr. Kahleova is director of clinical research for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. She is an endocrinologist with a doctorate in human physiology and pathophysiology. Her current research interests focus on dietary treatment of metabolic disease and type 2 diabetes. She conducted several clinical trials with a plant-based diet. The studies proved the power of plant-based nutrition to improve oxidative stress and metabolic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. One of the studies showed that a plant-based diet reduces muscle fat more than a conventional hypocaloric diet in people with type 2 diabetes. This reduction in muscle fat was also associated with improvements in glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity. Her research proved that eating a large breakfast and lunch is more beneficial than eating six smaller meals a day for patients with type 2 diabetes. She completed her postdoctoral research fellowship at Loma Linda University in California, analyzing data from more than 50,000 people, who were followed for more than seven years, on meal frequency and timing in relationship to body weight regulation.

Dr. Alan Desmond is a consultant gastroenterologist who is dedicated to educating the public on the health benefits of a whole food, plant-based diet. His bestselling book, The Plant-Based Diet Revolution: 28 Days to a Happier Gut and a Healthier You, is available wherever books are sold.

Dr. Desmond has made evidence-based dietary advice an essential part of his practice as a doctor specializing in gut health problems. He has presented at numerous international medical conferences on the benefits of this approach to food, alongside other renowned advocates including Dr. Michael Greger, Dr. Michael Klaper, dietitian Brenda Davis, Dr. Kim Williams, and Dr. Neal Barnard. He is an ambassador for Plant-Based Health Professionals UK, a not-for-profit group that educates members of the public, health professionals, and policymakers on the incredible health benefits of a plant-based diet.  

Certified in both gastroenterology and general internal medicine, Dr. Desmond completed his medical training in Ireland and Oxford. He has a specialist interest in the role of diet in the prevention and treatment of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. A fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London, he has published several influential research papers in the field of inflammatory bowel disease and is a dedicated advocate for the gut health benefits, and overall health benefits, of a whole food, plant-based approach to nutrition. He lives in South Devon with his wife and three children.

He is a sought-after podcast guest and has featured on several well-known podcasts, including Deliciously Ella, Plant-Proof, The Doctor’s Kitchen, The Melissa Ambrosini Show, and PCRM’s own The Exam Room Podcast. Dr. Desmond has also featured in The Sunday Telegraph and Virgin Radio’s Chris Evans Breakfast Show.

Dr. Desmond shares plant-based meal inspiration alongside the latest research in nutritional science and health on Instagram.com/Dr.AlanDesmond

Join Dr. Desmond’s online course at AlanDesmond.com/Revolution.

Dr. Gemma Newman is a medical doctor and senior partner at a family medical practice in West London. She studied at the University of Wales College of Medicine and has worked in many specialties as a doctor before her current specialty of general practice. She has gained additional qualifications in gynecology and family planning. She is a founding member and ambassador for Plant-Based Health Professionals UK and a member of the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine. Dr. Newman has a specialist interest in holistic health, plant-based nutrition, and lifestyle medicine.

She is regularly invited to teach other doctors and the public via training programs, podcasts, and conferences about the benefits of plant-based nutrition and has featured on many well-known podcasts, including two episodes of The Rich Roll Podcast, Feel Better Live More with Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, and our very own Exam Room Podcast with Chuck Carroll. Dr. Newman has authored The Plant Power Doctor: A Simple Prescription for a Healthier You, which was a No. 1 bestseller in popular medicine and green living. She has also authored her exciting new book, Get Well, Stay Well: The Six Healing Health Habits You Need to Know, which was released earlier this year.

In addition to her own books, she has written chapters for five other published books, including two academic textbooks for Elsevier Academic Press (Plant Based Nutrition for Clinicians and A Prescription for Healthy Living: A Guide to Lifestyle Medicine), two books on alcohol-free living (Janey Lee Grace’s Happy Healthy Sober and Millie Gooch’s The Sober Girl Society Handbook) and one cookbook entitled How to Go Plant Based: The Definitive Guide for You and Your Family by Ella Mills. Dr. Newman hosted five seasons of the award-winning podcast The Wellness Edit. She co-presents the Physicians Committee’s One Healthy World series alongside Chuck Carroll. As a broadcaster she has been featured on ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and Sky News Sunrise, as well as BBC Radio. She has featured in magazines including Glamour, Zest, Health, Nourish, and Canadian Vegan magazine, as well as The Daily Telegraph. 

After completing a residency in family medicine and a two-year Robert Wood Johnson fellowship, Dr. John Abramson practiced as a family physician for 20 years in a small town an hour north of Boston. He also served for seven years as chair of the department of family practice at Lahey Clinic. He was on the Harvard Medical School faculty from 1997-2023, most recently as a lecturer in the department of health care policy.

In 2002, after becoming aware of the uncorrected misrepresentations about the benefits and dangers of Vioxx and Celebrex in our most respected medical journals, Dr. Abramson left his practice to devote his full attention to researching the quality of the information doctors must rely on. In September 2004 he published Overdo$ed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine. Just one week later, Vioxx was withdrawn in the biggest drug recall ever, but not before it had killed between 40 and 60,000 Americans, despite providing no better relief than inexpensive OTC anti-inflammatory drugs.

From 2005 through the present, Dr. Abramson has continued his research and served as an expert in litigation involving prescription drugs and medical devices, with each case giving him access to millions of pages of confidential corporate documents and unreleased clinical trial data. He has also served as a consultant to the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice, including a case that led to what was, at the time, the largest criminal fine in U.S. history.

Dr. Abramson has published multiple articles in peer reviewed journals, made numerous national media appearances, and written many op-ed pieces, including two in The New York Times. His primary research interest is the extent to which the commercial takeover of medical knowledge, primarily by the drug companies, is compromising the quality of medical information available to even the most dedicated doctors, harming our health, and wasting enormous amounts of Americans’ wealth. In February 2022 Dr. Abramson published his second book, Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It.

Dr. Kirk Erickson is director of translational neuroscience and Mardian J. Blair Endowed Chair of Neuroscience at the AdventHealth Research Institute, Neuroscience Institute. Dr. Erickson is also a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Erickson received his PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was a postdoctoral scholar at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Engineering. Dr. Erickson’s vast research program focuses on the effects of physical activity on brain health across the life span. This research has resulted in more than 300 published articles and 15 book chapters.

Dr. Erickson’s research has been funded by numerous awards and grants from the National Institures of Health, the Alzheimer’s Association, and other organizations. He has been awarded a large multisite phase III clinical trial examining the impact of exercise on cognitive function in cognitively normal older adults, as well as a grant to follow up on all participants. His research resulted in the prestigious Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award from the University of Pittsburgh. He was named a Fellow of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research in 2016 and earned a Distinguished Scientist Award from Murdoch University in 2018. He has held visiting professor appointments at Murdoch University in Australia, the University of South Australia, the University of Granada, Spain, and the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, Germany.

Dr. Erickson was a member of the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee and chair of the Brain Health subcommittee charged with developing the second edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. His research has been featured in a long list of print, radio, and electronic media including the New York Times, CNN, BBC News, NPR, Time, and the Wall Street Journal.

Kristi Funk, MD, is board-certified breast cancer surgeon and physician, bestselling author, international keynote speaker and women’s health advocate. Dr. Funk practices as a breast cancer surgeon at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in Los Angeles, where she excels as an expert in minimally invasive diagnostic and treatment methods for all types of breast disease. She has helped thousands of women through breast cancer treatment, including well-known celebrities, like Angelina Jolie and Sheryl Crow. As an ambassador and avid contributor to the Pink Lotus Power Up community, Dr. Funk hosts the Cancer-Kicking! PowWow podcast, the Cancer-Kicking! Kitchen, and frequently authors Breast Cancer 101 blogs and provides instructional videos on breast health. Her extensive nutritional science research caused her to expand the passion for her medical practice with the life-empowering Cancer-Kicking! Summit which teaches women (and men) how to maximally reduce their chances of facing cancer or any other controllable killer disease.

Richard Horton is editor-in-chief of The Lancet. He qualified in physiology and medicine with honors from the University of Birmingham in 1986. He joined The Lancet in 1990, moving to New York as North American editor in 1993. In 2016, he chaired the Expert Group for the High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth, convened by Presidents Hollande of France and Zuma of South Africa. From 2011 to 2015, he was co-chair of the UN's independent Expert Review Group on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health. In 2011, he was elected a foreign associate of the U.S. Institute of Medicine, and in 2015, he received the Friendship Award from the government of China. In 2019, he was awarded the WHO Director-General’s Health Leaders Award for outstanding leadership in global health and the Roux Prize in recognition of innovation in the application of global health evidence. In 2021, he received the Physicians for Human Rights Award in recognition of extraordinary leadership in advancing health and human rights. He now works to develop the idea of planetary health—the health of human civilizations and the ecosystems on which they depend. In 2020, he published The COVID-19 Catastrophe: What’s Gone Wrong and How to Stop It Happening Again. A revised, updated, and expanded second edition was published in 2021. As part of the UK’s 2023 Honours, Dr. Horton was awarded the Order of the British Empire in recognition for services to health and medical journalism.

Dr. Amani Meaidi is a dedicated medical doctor and accomplished pharmacoepidemiologist with a strong commitment to women's health and medical treatment safety. Her academic journey began at Copenhagen University, Denmark, where she earned her medical degree and later pursued a doctorate in pharmacoepidemiology.

Currently, as a postdoctoral researcher at the Danish Cancer Institute, Dr. Meaidi's primary research focus is the safety of hormonal contraception and hormone therapy. Her work contributes valuable insights to inform health care decisions for women.

Dr. Meaidi is also the co-founder of the "Safe Choice" project, a national research initiative aimed at comprehensively assessing the risk profile of hormonal contraception and hormone therapy. This project is dedicated to ensuring that women have access to effective and safe treatment options.

Dr. Amani Meaidi's dedication to women's health and medical safety has made her a notable figure in the field of pharmacoepidemiology, driving important advancements in health care for women worldwide.

Dean Ornish, M.D., is the founder and president of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF. For over 44 years, Dr. Ornish has directed randomized trials demonstrating, for the first time, that comprehensive lifestyle changes may begin to reverse even severe coronary heart disease, without drugs or surgery. Medicare created a new benefit category to provide coverage for this program. He directed the first randomized controlled trial demonstrating that lifestyle changes may slow, stop, or reverse the progression of early-stage prostate cancer. In other research, he has shown that comprehensive lifestyle changes affect gene expression, “turning on” disease-preventing genes and “turning off” genes that promote cancer and heart disease. And in collaboration with Nobel Prize winner Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, he has shown that these lifestyle changes may begin to reverse aging on a cellular level by lengthening telomeres. He is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of seven national bestsellers, including his most recent book, UnDo It!  He received many awards, including the University of California, Berkeley, “National Public Health Hero” award; the inaugural “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine; was recognized as “one of the 125 most extraordinary University of Texas alumni in the past 125 years;” by TIME magazine as a “TIME 100 Innovator;” by LIFE magazine as “one of the fifty most influential members of his generation;” by People magazine as “one of the most interesting people of the year;” and by Forbes magazine as “one of the world’s seven most powerful teachers.”  

Dr. Barnett, the “High-Tech Doctor with Low-Tech Solutions,” is the president and board chair of Rochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute (RLMI), which he founded in 2015. He is an interventional radiologist, mammographer, body imager, and senior partner with Borg and Ide Imaging in Rochester, N.Y., where he has practiced since 1986.

Like any good parents, Ted and his wife, Carol, performed an experiment on their children in 1991; they became vegan (after reading the works of Drs. John McDougall and Dean Ornish). The experiment worked! All three children are now remarkably healthy and charming adult vegans (and their youngest even won a Grammy)!

As a fellow and former board member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), Dr. Barnett is dedicated to transforming the practice of medicine using the principles of plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine.

Dr. Barnett received his undergraduate degree in 1976 from Yale and his medical degree in 1980 from Tufts, where he also completed his diagnostic imaging residency and became board-certified in 1984. Eleven years later, in 1995, he became one of the first physicians board-certified in vascular and interventional radiology after passing the inaugural examination given by the American Board of Radiology. Twenty-two years later, in 2017, he became one of the first 204 physicians board-certified in lifestyle medicine after passing the inaugural examination of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine. Dr. Barnett has spoken at many national conferences and appears frequently on webinars, podcasts, and radio.

RLMI’s 15-Day Whole-Food Plant-Based Jumpstart is one of only a few programs certified by ACLM. In conjunction with the University of Rochester Department of Nephrology, the RLMI team recently completed a randomized controlled trial of chronic kidney disease patients using Jumpstart.

In March 2020, adapting to the realities of the pandemic, RLMI began delivering Jumpstart using Zoom and the Google Classroom. As of February 2024, more than 300 clinicians have referred patients to the monthly program, which has reached over 2,200 people in 44 states and nine countries.

Jonathan Nez is the former president and vice president of the Navajo Nation. He was also previously elected the vice president of the Shonto chapter of the Navajo Nation Council and served on the Navajo County Board of Supervisors.

As president from 2019 to 2023, he credited the resilience and strength of the Navajo people for the Navajo Nation’s success in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic began, the Navajo Nation had a per capita infection rate higher than New York City. Despite what the data showed, Nez and his administration refused to allow people to succumb to the disease. With the guidance of public health experts, the Navajo Nation implemented public health orders and vaccine protocols that ultimately led to the Navajo people having the highest vaccination rates in the country.

Mr. Nez holds a Bachelor of Science in political science and a Master of Public Administration, both from Northern Arizona University.

Phefelia Nez is the former first lady of the Navajo Nation and was raised on Hopi Partition Land in Big Mountain, Ariz. She has more than 15 years of volunteer experience serving in various capacities. Currently, she is serving on First Things First Navajo Nation Regional Partnership Council, Haskell Indian Nations Board of Regents, Natural History Museum of Utah Indian Advisory, Coconino Community College Foundation Board, Best Friends Animal Society Board, and John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts Board of Trustees. In addition to her education and volunteerism, she is a member of Arizona State University's Lodestar Center's Nonprofit Executive Leadership Academy Class V.

In her former role as first lady, she focused on education (early childhood development, K-12, postsecondary, cooperative extension education, adult basic education), outdoor recreation, nonprofits, volunteerism, philanthropy, faith-based initiatives, financial literacy, animal welfare, and the retention of the Navajo language and culture. The first lady's platform focused on restoring and strengthening homes and their families.

Mrs. Nez holds a Bachelor of Science in political science and criminal justice and a Master of Public Administration, both from Northern Arizona University.

In addition, Mr. and Mrs. Nez received honorary doctorates of humane letters from Northern Arizona University for their leadership during the COVID-19 public health emergency. They reflected back on the pandemic as a defining moment in Navajo history, one that symbolizes the unbreakable resilience and indomitable spirit of their people.

Currently, Mr. and Mrs. Nez own and operate Nez Consulting, LLC. The company provides consulting services including strategic planning, organizational development, facilitations, speaking engagements, and drafting of white papers on issues related to health and welfare, education, energy, and tribal governance.

Mr. Nez is running for Congress for Arizona’s second congressional district for the U.S. House of Representatives. When elected, he would be the first Native American representing Arizona.

Thomas Dayspring, who resides in the Richmond, Va., area is a Fellow of both the American College of Physicians and the National Lipid Association and is certified in internal medicine and clinical lipidology. After practicing in New Jersey for 37 years, in 2012 he moved to Virginia and served as an educational director for a nonprofit cardiovascular foundation and later as a chief academic adviser for two major cardiovascular laboratories until mid-2019. Since then he has served as a virtual cardiovascular educational research assistant and clinical lipid specialist at Early Medical, a prestigious national practice. Career-wise he has given more than 4,000 lectures in all 50 states, as well as several international lectures, including more than 600 continuing medical education programs on atherothrombosis, lipids/lipoproteins (and their treatment), vascular biology, biomarker testing, and women’s cardiovascular issues. He has authored several manuscripts and lipid textbook chapters and appeared on multiple podcasts. Until 2019 he was an associate editor of the Journal of Clinical Lipidology. He was the recipient of the 2011 National Lipid Association’s Presidents Award for services to clinical lipidology and the 2023 Foundation of NLA Clinician/Educator Award. He has more than 30,000 followers on his educational X (formerly Twitter) feed, @Drlipid. He has Gold Heart Member status as a professional member of the American Heart Association and serves as a social media ambassador for the European Atherosclerosis Society and for the National Lipid Association.

Paul Schulz, M.D., is the Rick McCord Professor of Neurology, the Umphrey Family Professor of Neurodegenerative Disorders, the Director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Center, and the Director of the Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurology Fellowship at the McGovern Medical School of UTHealth in Houston. He leads an active clinical and research group that focuses on neurodegenerative disorders, especially Alzheimer disease (AD). Each day, his group clinically evaluates patients with cognitive, mood, or behavioral changes to arrive at their diagnosis. Recognizing the challenges of diagnosis, his group is involved in many studies to improve the diagnostic accuracy of AD, even identifying those at risk before symptoms arise. His group also collaborates with many basic science laboratories to investigate the processes that underlie and contribute to the development of AD, including genetic, infectious, metabolomic, and others. Finally, his team has more than 15 active clinical trials investigating new medications and methods to treat Alzheimer’s disease and presymptomatic AD, meaning those with no symptoms but who are accumulating amyloid plaques.

Andrew Binovi currently serves as the Director of Government Affairs for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. In this role, he advances the Physicians Committee’s policy initiatives related to nutrition and research at the federal, state, and local levels. Andrew has 15 years of experience in Washington D.C. advocating for nutrition, healthcare, and animal welfare policy. He holds a Master of Public Policy degree from George Mason University and a BA in political science from the University of North Texas.

Vanita Rahman, MD, is the clinic director at the Barnard Medical Center and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, where she leads clinical research, facilitates nutrition education programs, and provides patient care with an emphasis on plant-based nutrition. She is also a clinical instructor in medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and frequently speaks at international conferences about the role of nutrition in chronic disease.

Dr. Rahman is a certified nutritionist and personal trainer and has authored several books on plant-based nutrition and published articles in peer-reviewed medical journals. Her new cookbook, Simply Plant Based, is a collection of delicious, easy, and nutritious plant-based recipes.

In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, exercising, and experimenting with new recipes.

Thomas M. Campbell II, MD, is an assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Rochester, where he is founder and co-director of the UR Medicine Nutrition in Medicine Research Center. His experience includes creating and running novel nutrition and lifestyle-focused programs in primary care and hospital settings at the University of Rochester and working with many hundreds of patients over time to prevent and treat illness using optimal diet and lifestyle. He is also co-author of The China Study and author of The China Study Solution and course co-author of the popular Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate offered by eCornell, Cornell University’s online learning arm, and the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies.

His research has included clinical trials testing the effect of nutrition on chronic disease, including cardiovascular health, insulin-treated type 2 diabetes, and breast cancer. He serves on the American College of Lifestyle Economic Research Consortium and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine Research Committee.

Dr. Campbell is a graduate of Cornell University and went on to get his medical degree from the University at Buffalo School of Medicine. He became board-certified in family medicine after completing residency training at the University of Rochester, Highland Hospital and is also certified in obesity medicine by the American Board of Obesity Medicine. He has published multiple papers in the scientific literature and has presented widely on the topic of plant-based nutrition. He has completed multiple marathons.

Dustin Harder is a vegan chef and award-winning cookbook author. Dustin’s The Simply Vegan Cookbook has been added to the Forbes list of "Best Vegan Cookbooks" and his book Epic Vegan Quick and Easy received second place in the International Vegan Film Festival Cookbook Contest. Most recently, Dustin developed recipes for Dr. Neal Barnard’s new book, The Power Foods Diet. A graduate of The Natural Gourmet Institute, Dustin has worked in plant-based recipe and brand development in addition to serving as a private chef, a cooking instructor, and the culinary director for the Atlanta health food chain Arden's Garden. He is the host and creator of the original vegan travel culinary series The Vegan Roadie and podcast Keep On Cookin’. Dustin has been featured in such publications as Eating Well, VegNews, Vegan Lifestyle Magazine, Chowhound, Vegetarian Times, and Paste Magazine. In 2020, Dustin appeared on Food Network’s Girl Scout Cookie Championship, showcasing vegan baking paired with Girl Scout Cookies. He currently serves as the culinary specialist for the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Anna Herby, DHSc, RD, CDCES, is the nutrition education specialist for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting preventive medicine, especially better nutrition, and higher standards in research. Her work focuses on educating healthcare professionals and the general public on the role of nutrition in preventing, managing, and reversing chronic disease.

Prior to joining the Physicians Committee, she worked as a clinical dietitian and Food for Life instructor at Adventist Health Howard Memorial Hospital in Willits, Calif. Dr. Herby received her Master of Science in nutrition from Bastyr University in Seattle and went on to earn a Doctor of Health Sciences from the University of Bridgeport. 

Dr. Jernigan is the director of the Center for Indigenous Health Research and Policy and a professor of medicine within the Center for Health Sciences at Oklahoma State University. Dr. Jernigan has been the principal investigator for more than a dozen research studies focusing on improving Indigenous food environments through policy and systems interventions. She also directs the Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health Equity, an academic-community partnership with American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders to restore traditional foods and food practices to promote healthy diets and reduce chronic disease. In 2011, she became the inaugural chair of the National Cancer Institute’s Intervention Research to Improve Native Health initiative, a collaboration of NIH-funded investigators conducting intervention science research. Dr. Jernigan is a member of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research College of Reviewers, the American Public Health Association, the Society for Public Health Educators, and the Society for Prevention Research. She is an editorial board member for the scientific journals Health Promotion Practice and Progress in Community Health Partnerships. Dr. Jernigan is a member of the CDC Fries Prize Award Jury, a member of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Advisory Committee, a member of the National Academy of Sciences Unequal Treatment in Healthcare Advisory Committee, and a member of the Advisory Council for the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities. Dr. Jernigan received her doctorate in public health from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular disease risk reduction at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford School of Medicine. She is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Dr. Solomon is a professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at The George Washington University. He completed his medical school training at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1984. He then completed his training in internal medicine, including a chief resident year, at the University of Maryland Hospital in 1988. Following this, he completed fellowship training in cardiovascular medicine and cardiac electrophysiology at Georgetown University Medical Center. In 1992, he joined the division of cardiology at Georgetown University where he became the director of the electrophysiology service, as well as the director of the cardiology fellowship program. In 2004, he moved to The George Washington University Hospital, where he has continued to be the director of the electrophysiology service and the fellowship program. He is currently board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, and cardiac electrophysiology. He has won multiple teaching awards, including the American College of Cardiology Teaching Award. He has authored book chapters and more than 70 manuscripts.

Janine McCarthy is a science policy program manager for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, where she works to promote the development and implementation of nonanimal research methods for biomedical science and regulatory testing. At the Physicians Committee, one of Janine’s main goals is to improve research integrity to build trust among researchers and within the scientific literature. In this role, she works with journals, reviewers, ethics committees, sponsors, and scientists to facilitate research that is conducted in an open, honest, and responsible manner and encourage stringent ethical policies to prevent research misconduct. She also launched the Early-Career Researchers Advancing 21st Century Science or ERA21 program, which engages the next generation of scientists and connects them to the benefits of human-relevant research. Janine has a master’s of public health from the University of Albany, SUNY, and a bachelor’s degree in human development and nutrition from the University of Rhode Island.

Professor Dirkjan van Schaardenburg retired in 2023 as medical manager at the division of rheumatology at Reade and as rheumatologist at the Amsterdam University Medical Centers. Dr. van Schaardenburg is a member of the Royal Dutch Medical Association, the Dutch Society of Rheumatology, the Physicians’ Association for Nutrition, and the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology study group of risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis. He has co-published more than 233 peer-reviewed articles in international journals and has a special interest in the preclinical phase of rheumatoid arthritis. Realizing that the risk for rheumatoid arthritis is mainly due to unhealthy lifestyle factors, he initiated the Plants for Joints project, a multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention for people with rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis. In view of the favorable long-term results, the project will be continued as Plants for Health.

Lily Correa is passionate about plant-based nutrition and firmly believes that the kitchen is the greatest tool from which to promote optimal health and wellness. She graduated from Loma Linda University in California, where she obtained a Master of Public Health with a concentration in nutrition. She worked as a registered dietitian/bilingual health educator at the preventive medicine department at Kaiser Permanente in Riverside, Calif., for three years before moving to New York to pursue health-supportive culinary arts studies at the Natural Gourmet Institute. After graduating from the Natural Gourmet Institute, Lily joined the team at Bellevue Hospital’s Plant-Based Lifestyle Medicine Program. She is a recent Diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

Stephanie McBurnett, RDN, is the nutrition educator for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting preventive medicine through plant-based nutrition and higher standards in research. She is a registered dietitian and has a previous career as a U.S. Naval Officer.

Stephanie graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and spent more than five years as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy. After her service, she decided to follow her passion for nutrition and wellness and become a registered dietitian nutritionist. While receiving her nutrition degree at the University of Alabama, her daughter was diagnosed with congenital heart disease (CHD), requiring open heart surgery. This event inspired Stephanie to research heart-healthy diets and what we can eat to optimize heart function. The evidence was very clear that the more whole food, plant-based foods you consume, the better your heart can function.

Stephanie is married with two young daughters and, as a family, are committed to following a plant-based diet. Her dedication and passion for promoting and spreading the benefits of preventive lifestyle medicine through nutrition led her to join the Physicians Committee team.

Roxanne Becker, MD, dipACLM, is a medical doctor from South Africa. Her mission in life is to reduce the unnecessary suffering caused by preventable diseases of lifestyle and to improve people’s quality of life through promoting a plant-based diet.

After being disappointed by the lack of nutrition lectures during her medical training, Dr. Becker chose to spend her final year medical elective at the Barnard Medical Center to learn more about plant-based nutrition. She returned four years later with a passion to provide the next generation of medical students with the education she was unable to receive. She is also involved clinical research at the Physicians Committee and assists with plant-based nutrition content creation to educate the public on the benefits of a plant-based diet.

Dr. Becker has a Diploma in Lifestyle Medicine and a Certification in Plant-Based Nutrition from the British Lifestyle Medicine Society. She received her Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, cum laude, from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She subsequently completed her internship at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, the largest hospital in Africa and third largest hospital in the world, and her community service at Ellisras District Hospital in rural South Africa.

James F. Loomis Jr., MD, MBA, 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 in St. Louis, Mo. In addition, Dr. Loomis received an MBA from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. He is board certified in internal medicine, has completed the certification program in Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University, and is a Diplomat of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine.

Dr. Loomis 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 was also on the clinical faculty of the department of internal medicine at Washington University School of Medicine.

When not practicing medicine, Dr. Loomis enjoys reading history books, cooking, and teaching plant-based cooking classes. He also enjoys running, biking, and swimming, and has completed numerous half marathons, marathons, and triathlons.

Robyn Engman, RD, recognizes the fundamental role food plays in overall well-being, which motivated her pursuit of degrees from Johnson & Wales University, Denver, including an Associate of Science in culinary arts and a Bachelor of Science in culinary nutrition. With a dedicated commitment to wellness and nutrition, she furthered her education to become a registered dietitian. Her diverse background includes serving as a dietitian at ShopRite in New York, focusing on community nutrition education. Additionally, she provided counseling for eating disorders at a private practice in Northern Virginia, prioritizing compassionate and evidence-based care. Currently, Robyn is part of the nutrition department at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, continuing her mission of promoting wellness through a plant-based diet.

Dr. Duda is a movement disorders neurologist who has spent 23 years taking care of veterans with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and related disorders in the Parkinson's Disease Research, Education and Clinical Center (PADRECC) of the Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia. He has a long-standing interest in lifestyle modifications in the management of PD and established the Brain Wellness Clinic in the PADRECC to help veterans fight back against PD. He is also a professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has helped to train 33 movement disorder fellows. His research activities have included basic science investigations into the role of Lewy pathology in the pathophysiology of PD as well as clinical research studies of deep brain stimulation therapy, the treatment of psychosis in PD, and the use of olfaction as a biomarker of disease diagnosis and progression. He has received research grants from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson Research, and the Department of Defense. He has been recognized as a VA senior clinical research scientist and authored more than 150 scientific publications including articles in JAMA, Science, Neuron, The New England Journal of Medicine and Neurology.

Dr. Gardner is an American nutrition researcher. He graduated from Colgate University with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and from University of California, Berkeley, with a Doctorate in nutrition science. He is the director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, and the Rehnborg Farquhar Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. Dr. Gardner is involved with the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association. For the past 20 years, most of his research has been focused on investigating the potential health benefits of various dietary components or food patterns, which have been explored in the context of randomized controlled trials in free-living adult populations. A second area of Dr. Gardner’s interest and inquiry is institutional food. Dr. Gardner is scientific advisory board member for the Culinary Institute of America (2012 - Present), a member of The American Society of Nutrition (2011-Present), and a member of the Obesity Society (2008 - Present).