How lifestyle medicine certification opens doors to new career opportunities
Five physicians share how earning American Board of Lifestyle Medicine certification propelled them into leadership positions, new career opportunities and even entrepreneurship. The deadline to register for the 2024 exam is Sept. 30.
By Alex Branch
ACLM Director of Communications
September 3, 2024
Certification in lifestyle medicine is increasingly opening doors for physicians to new and innovative career opportunities as health organizations nationwide accelerate the systematic adoption and implementation of the fast-growing medical specialty.
Physicians who earn certification from the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine (ABLM) have ascended to leadership positions in prominent national health insurance companies and large health systems, sometimes even being empowered to essentially create their own positions. Certification has positioned physicians to be recruited into healthcare startup companies or to even become entrepreneurs themselves.
Since certification began in 2017, almost 6,700 physicians and other health professionals worldwide have become certified in lifestyle medicine. As the Sept. 30 deadline to register for the 2024 ABLM certification exam approaches, ACLM asked five physicians to share how certification and being recognized as an expert in lifestyle medicine led to exciting career opportunities that may have otherwise remained out of reach.
This story is the first in a two-part series about lifestyle medicine certification. The second story will feature health professionals certified in lifestyle medicine by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) sharing how certification has changed the trajectory of their careers.
Michelle McMacken, MD, FACP, DipABLM
Executive Director, Nutrition & Lifestyle Medicine, NYC Health + Hospitals
Nearly 10 years into my career as a primary care internal medicine physician, I found myself searching online for “lifestyle in medicine” because I sensed something was missing from my practice. Much of my time was spent renewing prescriptions, writing notes, and completing forms. I needed to feel more reward in my work.
That random internet search led me to ACLM’s annual conference. I had never heard of ACLM but I went, and what I learned at that conference was nothing short of transformative. I was impressed with the science showing the impact of lifestyle change on the chronic conditions I treated day in and day out–science that hadn’t been emphasized in my medical training–and I returned to work inspired to incorporate lifestyle medicine into my practice. As I did, I quickly realized how it deepened my connection with my patients. I learned so much more about their lives, while also empowering them to take steps to improve their health. I felt a renewed sense of purpose in my work as a physician.
After several years, I became board certified in lifestyle medicine to demonstrate my commitment to scientific rigor, evidence-based practice, and optimal outcomes for my patients. I now lead seven lifestyle medicine programs in our healthcare system. All of our clinical providers undergo training with the Foundations of Lifestyle Medicine Board Review Course and receive support to become board certified in lifestyle medicine. Nearly 20 of them became board certified last year alone, distinguishing themselves within their fields and undoubtedly inspiring others around them. It is an honor to be a part of the growing ranks of board-certified lifestyle medicine providers who will help change the way we practice healthcare.
Jennifer Singh MD, DipABLM
Chief Mission Officer, Performance Kitchen
I was excited to sit for the first ABLM certification in 2017 and proud to be the first physician in Louisiana to achieve certification. Equipped with this education and training, and utilizing the advice and friendship of experienced lifestyle medicine physicians that I met through ACLM, I founded a lifestyle medicine cancer survivorship clinic at Oschner-LSU Health System Cancer Center in Shreveport, La. Over the next years, our growing clinic taught and supported hundreds of cancer survivors in improving their physical and emotional health. This was the most fun I had ever had practicing medicine!
Furthermore, my unique knowledge resulted in countless other professional opportunities: adding lifestyle medicine topics to medical student curriculum; founding a Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group (LMIG); developing a lifestyle medicine student elective; providing lifestyle medicine talks to residents in multiple programs; presenting on the clinical practice of lifestyle medicine to physicians and researchers through grand rounds; and speaking at local, regional and national medical events on the power of lifestyle medicine.
When my family moved to Texas in 2021, I utilized my lifestyle medicine training to try my hand at entrepreneurship. I formed a private virtual lifestyle medicine coaching and consulting company where I had the pleasure of helping professional women over 40 optimize their health and aging. Soon after, yet another amazing opportunity presented itself. I accepted a corporate executive position with Performance Kitchen, a mission-driven company that is passionate about disrupting the medical industry through medically tailored meals.
None of these amazing phases of my career would have been possible without the education, inspiration and contacts I made in ACLM, and the professional leverage that certification provided me.
Angela Persaud-Reddy, MD, MBA, DipABLM
Market Medical Executive and Senior Medical Director, Cigna Healthcare
After practicing medicine for well over 15 years, I found myself questioning the clinical practice model, where all my time was focused on managing diseases that are mostly preventable. I felt unsettled seeing my patients relying on polypharmacy and procedures as the only treatment modality for their disease burden. I wanted to do something different and bring about a sustainable change in healthcare.
My entire career trajectory changed after attending my first ACLM conference during 2017 in Tucson, Arizona. Learning that others had found purpose and passion practicing medicine focused on lifestyle intervention was incredibly reassuring. After becoming certified in 2018, I wanted to understand how this type of practice could be transformative in the workplace, change behavior and improve health outcomes, while also supporting a financially sustainable business model.
In 2019, I entered an MBA program to understand how to create change, be an effective leader, and promote value proposition strategies circling around lifestyle medicine. I brainstormed ideas bringing lifestyle medicine to organizations where all stakeholders could buy in to the concept. In my current role as a medical executive, it brings me immense joy providing education on lifestyle medicine in the workplace and working alongside our ACO partners. This opportunity motivated me to help facilitate the launch of a “Food as Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine” series to select clients in Florida that gained White House recognition earlier this year. Lifestyle medicine has changed my life and has enabled me to become a purpose-driven physician.
Elisabeth Fontaine, MD, ABOG, DipABLM, FACLM, ACC
CEO, Let’s Lead LLC
I worked as an OB-GYN for over 27 years, caring for women of all ages. With a master’s degree in obesity and exercise physiology, I always stressed the importance of physical activity to patients. However, I was never educated on things such as the significant impact of the western diet on our health.
Only when I became involved with ACLM in 2013 did I realize how much I could impact my patient’s health with a focus on a whole food, plant-based eating pattern and the other pillars of lifestyle medicine. I was in the inaugural 2017 class to earn certification in lifestyle medicine. Certification positioned me to start a lifestyle medicine clinic within the organization where I worked at the time, and eventually earn the title of medical director of lifestyle medicine. Understanding the evidence-based research that supports lifestyle medicine helped me become recognized as an expert in chronic disease treatment, reversal and prevention.
Certification prepared me in 2015 to become a founding member of RiseVT, a community collaborative in Vermont that embraces healthy lifestyles and partners with local hospitals and healthcare centers to lead health initiatives across the state. I am committed to help people achieve lifestyle changes to improve the health of the collective community, which I call “coaching a village to health.” Today, I am CEO of Let’s Lead LLC where I coach healthcare providers and healthcare executives in leadership and well-being.
Lifestyle medicine provided me the support to step away from the sick care model that is failing both patients and physicians. Certification, becoming an ACLM Fellow, and the resources and networking opportunities provided by ACLM to allow me to persist in lifestyle medicine and embrace new and exciting professional opportunities.
Aruna Nathan, MD, DipABLM
Lead Physician for Lifestyle Medicine, Absolute Care LLC
What intrigued and inspired me to enter the field of medicine was the use of evidence and data to formulate treatment plans and deliver the best health outcomes. However, when it came to taking care of myself or my family in my 30’s, I often resorted to my grandmother’s familial remedies and the healing power of herbs and fresh, healthy food.
When I realized this dichotomy, I started to dive deeper to understand how to apply this knowledge to the practice of medicine. I quickly realized that the crux of it is to educate and coach patients to practice a healthy lifestyle.
Then I heard of ACLM and attended my first conference in 2016. There was no turning back, as lifestyle medicine gave me the tools that I needed to practice medicine with a practical and integrated approach. The certification I earned in 2017 prepared me to incorporate the pillars of lifestyle medicine into my internal medicine practice, create a 14-week program in which I coached patients through simple, effective lifestyle techniques for improving their overall health and later launch my own concierge practice.
Seeing patients come off medications they expected to take their entire life is very motivating and rewarding. Even better, almost all the behavior changes that lifestyle medicine recommends are affordable to most patients.
The next phase of my journey is to deliver lifestyle medicine to the people who are burdened with the challenges of severe health ailments and socioeconomic conditions. In my current role at Absolute Care, I am building a lifestyle medicine workforce to address the magnitude of chronic diseases. Lifestyle medicine changes lives for the better, including the lives of caregivers and health care professionals. ACLM and lifestyle medicine certification have given me the tools and resources to assist me in my endeavors.
