President

Dexter Shurney, MD, MBA, MPH, FACLM, DipABLM

Dexter Shurney, MD, MBA, MPH, FACLM  is the Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Clinical Affairs for Zipongo, a San Francisco-based based digital health and wellness company. Dr. Shurney is the former Chief Medical Director / Executive Director for Global Health Benefits and Corporate Wellness for Cummins, Inc. Prior to Cummins, he was the Chief Medical Director of the Employee Health Plan for Vanderbilt University and Medical Center. During his tenure at Vanderbilt he also held joint faculty appointments as Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Internal Medicine and Public Health, and Adjunct Faculty, Owens Graduate School of Management.

Other positions that Dr. Shurney has held include Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Healthways, Senior Health Policy Strategist in the Division of Government Affairs for the biotechnology company Amgen Inc., Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of medical affairs for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, and Editor of the Journal of Managed Care Physicians.

Dr. Shurney serves on numerous boards including: the Global Business Group on Health, and the National Association of Managed Care Physicians. He was also the most recent Chair of the Business Strategies Committee for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP). Shurney is co-author of the book “Integrating Wellness into Your Disease Management Programs.” 

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President Elect

Catherine Collings, MD, FACC, MS, DipABLM

Dr. Cate Collings is a board-certified practicing cardiologist in Silicon Valley. She received her BS at the University of California and her MS in Exercise Physiology followed by an MD degree at the University of Wisconsin. Returning to California, her residency and cardiology fellowship training were completed at Stanford University Medical Center.

Dr. Collings established and provides ongoing medical directorship to the El Camino Hospital Cardiopulmonary Wellness Center targeting lifestyle measures to improve the health of cardiac patients. In addition to her clinical work, she is developing a Women’s Heart Center to focus on women specific cardiovascular disease management and on the unique application of lifestyle competencies to women and their family’s heart health.

Dr. Collings joined the ACLM Board in 2015 to bridge to the cardiology community and promote lifestyle intervention on equal footing with other cardiovascular interventions. She is passionate about the importance of physician-patient partnerships to co-navigate the abundance of health information and mobile health technologies so that patients achieve meaningful health outcomes. She loves spare time-particularly active travel vacations, culinary explorations, and family time.

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Past President

George E. Guthrie MD, MPH, CDE, FACLM, FAAFP, DipABLM

Dr. George Guthrie received his MD degree from Loma Linda University in 1981. After completing his Family Practice Residency at Hinsdale Hospital near Chicago he joined a multi-specialty medical group on the island of Guam. The high incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in his patients led to a growing interest in the effective lifestyle treatment of the disease.

A return to clinical practice took Dr. Guthrie to the foothills of the California Sierra Nevada Mountains where he continued to apply his community lifestyle medicine focus from a traditional allopathic medical clinic. He and his wife, Dena, successfully piloted and ran annual seven, week-long, community based programs designed to lower the risk of heart disease using lifestyle principles.

In the last few years Dr. Guthrie has had the privilege of being involved in the development several lifestyle change programs including the Coronary Health Improvement Project (CHIP), The Wellspring Diabetes Program, and the CREATION Health program. This has led to the opportunity to speak on lifestyle medicine around the United States and other English speaking countries for a variety of audiences. In 2008 he had the opportunity to be host on a healthy living series for TV entitled, Your Life and Health.

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Secretary

Michelle Tollefson, MD

As an Ob-Gyn, I have focused on advancing lifestyle medicine in my clinical practice through patient education. I am a founding co-chair of the Women’s Health Member Interest Group which unites practitioners from diverse backgrounds in order to advance women’s health through healthy lifestyle practices. As one of the first ob-gyn physician wellness coaches when I joined the ACLM over a decade ago, it was inconceivable that I would eventually help lead a burgeoning group of clinicians dedicated to lifestyle medicine in women’s health. 

Additionally, I have dedicated the last eight years to the creation and instruction of a lifestyle medicine and wellness coaching curriculum for pre-professional students at MSU Denver. This experience has allowed for the acquisition of a broad and unique skill-set; including expertise in curriculum development, authentic learning, instructional design, online learning management platforms, and faculty coordination. Our university now offers a Bachelor of Science Major and Minor in Lifestyle Medicine that I designed and administrate. As founding co-chair of the Pre-Professional Lifestyle Medicine Education Member Interest Group, along with others, I have advocated for lifestyle medicine as the foundation of all health education. My demonstrated experience with project development, management, attention to detail, and organization are assets that I would offer while serving on the Board of Directors.

As a product of my ever-increasing involvement in ACLM initiatives, co-chairing two member interest groups, and as a member of the education and conference planning committees, I understand that the lifestyle medicine movement requires all hands on deck. If elected, I will work to broaden our reach to pre-professional trainees in addition to seasoned clinicians across the spectrum of health care professions. Through efforts that increase our numbers while uniting and engaging existing and future members with meaningful opportunities which utilize their strengths and expertise, we will continue to transform healthcare through ACLM. 

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Treasurer

Koushik R. Reddy, MD

I am a Director of Interventional Cardiology. After being involved with cardiovascular care and advanced cardiac interventions for years, I realized that we have neglected the most important tool in medicine – Healthy Lifestyle. Once I realized the value and importance of healthy lifestyle, I have been on a mission to learn and share information related to Lifestyle Medicine. As a part of that mission, I joined the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, got certified by the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine. The training and certification enabled me to formally expand my scope of practice. At the Tampa VA hospital, I established a cardiology-based lifestyle clinic called Cardiology HEAL – Healthy Eating And Living. In addition, I established a lifestyle medicine and whole foods plant-based nutrition related discussions into the core curriculum of our cardiology fellowship. I worked with ACLM and established a working group for the Veteran Health Administration and Armed Forces. I currently Co-Chair this working group. I am also an active member of the American College of Cardiology’s working group on Lifestyle and Nutrition. Recently, I founded the Tampa Bay Chapter of PBNM – Plant Based Nutrition Movement. This is community based nonprofit organization that is working on taking the power of plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine to the grassroots level.

I am passionate and deeply committed to the idea of health promotion and disease prevention, using lifestyle and nutrition related tools. Majority of our current healthcare expenditure is geared towards chronic diseases that are lifestyle related. The onus is on all of us to change the current paradigm. The status quo is not sustainable at a personal, societal and planetary scales. This is an issue that can no longer wait. Given my current work, involvement the College, and the degree of commitment, I see myself as someone who is qualified to bring value, new ideas and new partnerships to ACLM. This opportunity will enable me to be closely involved with policy, and reach a larger audience, on behalf of all of us.  

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Young Director 

Paiyuam (Pi) Asnaashari, DO, DipABLM

Paiyuam (Pi) Asnaashari, received his medical degree from Western University of Health Sciences and is currently a resident physician at UC Davis Family Medicine Program. He will be pursuing a sports medicine fellowship after his residency. He has been volunteering for the ACLM’s Professionals in Training (PiT) committee since medical school and has helped grow Lifestyle Medicine Interest Groups (LMIG’s) across various medical school campuses and create various online Lifestyle Medicine content to stimulate student / trainee interest. As the Young Director, Paiyuam is immensely interested in continuing to garner student / trainee interest in Lifestyle Medicine across many medical schools, grow LMIG’s and create educational content to display importance of Lifestyle Medicine. He is keen on developing and improving behavioral change skills to help his future patients use diet and physical activity as a primary form treatment for preventing and treating chronic disease.  

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Director 

Melissa Mondala, MD, MHA, MS

I am a board certified Family Medicine physician and completed my medical school training at Chicago Medical School. Over the past year, I have served as Preventive Medicine Junior Faculty at Loma Linda University Health and will be completing my Lifestyle Medicine fellowship.  I have experience in lifestyle medicine group visits on a variety of topics and been heavily involved in the development of lifestyle medicine residency and fellowship curricula. In addition, I have participated in Intensive lifestyle change programs, such as Weimar Institute’s NEWSTART, TrueNorth, and St. Helena’s TakeTEN and can attest to the power of these intensive programs.  In the Loma Linda University Health Lifestyle Medicine Consultation Service Line that includes both inpatient and outpatient settings, I empower patients to make positive lifestyle changes and develop disease-specific lifestyle recommendations and prescriptions. Consequently, there has been sustainable reversal of type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, rhinosinusitis, mood disorders, functional abdominal pain, polysubstance abuse, polyarthritis of various autoimmune diseases, and chronic kidney disease. I have seen dramatic improvements in chronic pain, atrial fibrillation, and lupus through stepwise lifestyle modifications. In addition, I have implemented therapeutic lifestyle medicine recommendations in various specialty settings such as adolescent psychiatry, student health, sickle cell anemia, and a federally qualified health center. 

I served as President 2018-2019 and Secretary 2017-2018 for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine Professionals in Training (PiT) Division. I carried out PiT’s mission to expand PiT nationally and globally through Lifestyle Medicine Interest Groups (LMIGs), social media campaigns, and personally inspiring a neighboring medical school, Western University to create a LMIG. I have accelerated the lifestyle medicine movement within academic institutions, social media, community fairs, and podcasts. I am committed to the American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s collective efforts to elevate lifestyle medicine in the medical, political, and social spheres. If selected to judiciously serve on the Board of Directors, I plan to impart my passions, creativity, and experience to contribute to lifestyle medicine solutions for our current healthcare system and health education reform. As healthy doctors transcend into healthy patients, I plan to emphasize personal healthy behaviors and professional resilience. My health and healing comes from plant based culinary experimentation, gym time, hiking, and making memories with loved ones. 

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Director

Theresa Stone, MD, FACP

My journey to Lifestyle Medicine began early during my Internal Medicine career as a National Health Service Corps Scholar assigned in Philadelphia, PA. While serving communities with limited access to medical care and economic resources, I became acutely aware of the strong health impact of lifestyle and environmental factors. I learned the importance of empowering patients with skills to promote well-being and sought to integrate evidence-based lifestyle interventions (nutritious cooking plant predominant meals, exercise, stress reduction, sleep, and community – building.) in my clinical practice. 

After fulfilling my service obligation in the NHSC , I joined Washington Internal Medicine Group P.C. ,a small District of Columbia based private practice where I thoroughly enjoyed working for many years until 2006 when I joined Medstar Health. Invited by Medstar Health Leadership, I joined a taskforce to bring wellness initiatives to our large 10 hospital system in 2014, I attended ACLM Annual Lifestyle Medicine Conference to learn how other hospital systems were implementing Lifestyle Medicine Programs. I became enlightened and found my tribe. As a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine I have had the pleasure of serving on the Annual Conference Corporate Sponsor Committee, Lifestyle Medicine in Health Systems Working Group, and participate in several LM annual conferences and special meetings such as LM Summit on Happiness and Wellbeing in Healthcare. Valuable training obtained from these LM meetings, Certification in Culinary Chef Coaching, Mind Body Medicine Education at Harvard Univ. and Georgetown Univ involvement in Harvard Institute of Lifestyle Medicine, and Healthy Kitchens Healthy Lives CME provided the opportunity to work with colleagues on multiple wellness initiatives for the health system. These initiatives include; Georgetown School of Medicine Mind Body Medicine Elective Facilitator, “Mindfulness Mondays “ relaxation technique introduction for several Georgetown University Hospital Nursing Units , Physician Wellbeing Taskforce, “Wellness Wagon” designed to promote healthy lifestyle interventions and build connectedness for Medstar Health Associates in several of multi-specialty outpatient ambulatory outpatient centers. I look forward to sharing my experience with many of the dynamic energetic compassionate members of ACLM who are interested in designing work place wellness initiatives at their institutions. 

I am the cofounder and Medical Director of Fresh & Savory Culinary and Lifestyle Shared Medical Appointment Program a Medstar Institute of Innovation initiative. This pop-up Teaching Kitchen is designed to catalyze transformative health behaviors in patients, employees, and students via culinary and lifestyle skill building. Since starting the program in 2017, our team has published our work in JACM, presented posters at Teaching Kitchen Collaborative Research Day, Medstar Health Research Institute Research Symposium, Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health, participated in panels presentations , led breakout sessions at Harvard Institute of Lifestyle Medicine CME Conference, and joined ACLM leadership to discuss the nuts and bolts of Lifestyle Medicine practices with Health Care Senior Policy Advisors in D.C. Sharing our work with health professionals, educators, administrators, and policy advisors dedicated to promoting Lifestyle Medicine has been incredible. The passion, creativity, and brilliance of the ACLM membership is contagious. With exponential growth, increased awareness , and recent expansion Culinary and Lifestyle Medicine programs across the country, this is a wonderful time for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. It would be a great honor to serve and support the wonderful momentum of this dynamic organization.

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Director of Allied Health

Kelly Freeman, RN

Lifestyle Medicine 2013 event was life changing for me.  I was introduced to so many wonderfully kind, talented, and passionate ACLM members including not only Dean Ornish, but also David Katz, Michael Greger, John McDougall, Wes Youngberg, Hans Diehl, Caldwell Esselstyn, Colin Campbell, Liana Lianov, and Wayne Dysinger.  I was quite easily convinced by the overwhelming evidence that true health comes not from a pill or procedure, but from how we live our lives.
While at the 2013 conference, I searched for another nurse attendee.  It seemed logical and necessary that nurses would share this same interest in health promotion through therapeutic lifestyle techniques as physicians.  Knowing the importance of getting nurses involved, I founded the ACLM RN/APRN Interest Group. I am currently still serving as the chairperson for this group.  We have monthly Zoom meetings. Our membership has grown dramatically. There are five regional RN/APRN interest groups and many talented nurses and advanced practice nurses working towards incorporating lifestyle medicine content into nursing curriculum and published in nursing journals. 

I ask for your consideration for the ACLM Board of Directors as the allied health professional representative.  Allied health professionals such as nurses, PA’s, dieticians, and exercise physiologists offer a strong foundation for the continued growth and momentum of this organization and its endeavors.  I would be honored to serve representing all of these allied specialties in this capacity.

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Director

Craig McDougall, MD

We are entering an exciting and daunting time within healthcare in our country, expenses are skyrocketing and quality is decreasing.  Healthcare organizations around the country are trying to find innovative ways to lower costs while improving the health of our population.  What is clear to me, the principles of lifestyle medicine need to be at the core of this solution.  Over the last 2 years I have been working at Oregon Health and Science University as the medical director of a primary care clinic.  Besides the responsibilities of managing a local primary care practice, I have been involved with strategic planning for the organization as we grow.  This involves planning innovative practice models, expansion of primary care clinics, and primary care integration across a large health care system.  

Besides my work at Oregon Health and Science University, I have also worked at The McDougall Program, Kaiser Permanente, and Zoom+Care.  At each of these organizations, I had the experience of working in different models of care, and had the opportunity to help design and deliver a lifestyle first approach to patient care.  My hope for joining the ACLM board of directors is to bring viewpoints from my previous experiences with lifestyle medicine and working within large healthcare organizations to help advance the ACLM goals of growth and expansion.  Also, I hope to learn from the ACLM leadership ideas to bring back to OHSU to help the development of a lifestyle medicine clinic within primary care and a lifestyle medicine curriculum for the medical students, internal medicine and family medicine residents of OHSU.  Thank you for your consideration. 

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Director

Amanda McKinney, MD, FACLM, FACOG, CPE, DipABLM

Dr. Amanda McKinney is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, and Lifestyle Medicine. She is also a Certified Physician Executive through the American Association of Physician Leadership and serves as the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Human and Planetary Health at Doane University. Through the Institute she develops and delivers Continuing Medical Education in Lifestyle Medicine as well as Planetary Health on edX, Harvard and MIT’s massive open online course provider. The mission of Institute for Human and Planetary Health is to present the evidence that the dietary pattern that best preserves both human and planetary health is based on minimally processed, whole plant foods grown using sustainable and restorative agricultural practices and seeks to provide educational opportunities for those who want to restore human and planetary health, create resilient, healthy communities and help transform current policy that favors high cost medical care, industrial agricultural and food production systems over people and the environment.

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Director

Salvatore Lacagnina, DO, DipABLM

Dr. Salvatore Lacagnina is the System Medical Director of Wellness and Employee Health for Lee Health. In this role, his mission is to motivate, educate and empower people to improve their health and wellness. Dr. Sal, as he likes to be called, is one of Lee Health’s champions responsible for developing a comprehensive health, wellness and preventive care program for more than 13,000 employees and family members. He is the Medical Director for the LH Employee Health clinics and the Medical Director for the Wellness Centers in Cape Coral and Ft. Myers. From 1994-2010 he practiced Internal Medicine with the Lee Physician Group and served as its Medical Director until 2010 before taking on his role as System Medical Director of Wellness and Employee Health. His emphasis is on the prevention and reversal of cardio metabolic diseases, diabetes, weight management, cancer risk factor reduction and overall lifestyle medicine. Dr. Sal earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and he is Board Certified in Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine and in the process of completing the ACLM certification program.. Dr. Sal 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. He also speaks publically throughout the community.

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Director

Pankaj Vij , MD, FACP

I have a passion for nutrition and fitness and am interested in slowing down the aging process and optimizing human performance. I believe in improving health span, not just life span by promoting a nutrient dense plant rich diet, regular physical activity, meditation and sleep. I have a strong interest in Mind-Body medicine, stress management and mindfulness and wrote the book Turbo Metabolism: 8 Weeks to a New You: Preventing and Reversing Diabetes, Obesity, Heart Disease, and Other Metabolic Diseases by Treating the Causes.

I am Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Obesity Medicine. I have been practicing in the San Francisco Bay area since 2002. I have helped hundreds of people achieve and maintain their goal weight, reduce stress and improve their overall health. I know that the keys to improved health, vitality and longevity are within our reach and I have helped lots of my patients with these goals without taking more prescription drugs.

I attended medical school at the elite All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. I completed a residency in Internal Medicine at William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI.

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Director

Ted Barnett, MD, FACLM, DipABLM

Having practiced in the Rochester, NY area since 2006, Dr. Barnett is the founder, executive medical director and CEO of Rochester Lifestyle Medicine (RLM). With a BS in Intensive Biology from Yale University, he earned his MD from Tufts University School of Medicine, followed by a Flexible Internship with Framingham Union Hospital and a Diagnostic Radiology Residency at Tufts. Board Certified in Diagnostic Imaging, as well as Vascular and Interventional Radiology, he refers to himself as the high-tech doctor with low tech solutions. Dr. Barnett teaches a 6-week plant-based nutrition course which is accredited for 12 professional CMEs, in addition to patient education training offered by he and his RLM team.

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Director

MIchelle McMacken, MD

Michelle McMacken, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at NYU School of Medicine. An honors graduate of Yale University and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. McMacken practices internal medicine in the Adult Primary Care Center at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, where she also directs the hospital's Weight Management Program and the Plant-Based Lifestyle Medicine Program. Through a 2014 NYU Merrin Fellowship grant, Dr. McMacken studied evidence-based nutrition and developed a nutrition curriculum for her internal medicine faculty colleagues. She has received the faculty ‘Teacher of the Year’ award three times for her work with physician trainees and has presented on nutrition at the American College of Physicians, the American Diabetes Association, and other national academic conferences. She has also been featured in several documentary films and popular nutrition-related websites and podcasts. Dr. McMacken is a council member for the True Health Initiative, a coalition of health experts from around the world committed to educating on evidence-based, proven principles of lifestyle as medicine. She is proud to serve on the board of ACLM, the organization that catalyzed her passion for lifestyle medicine.

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