Lifestyle medicine certification offers health professionals new career opportunities 

Four leaders in lifestyle medicine with backgrounds in physical therapy, nursing, dietetics, and pharmacology describe how lifestyle medicine certification enhanced their careers.

Health care professionals who become certified in lifestyle medicine may have unique opportunities to enhance their careers in ways previously not thought possible.  

Lifestyle medicine certification indicates that a clinician has mastered the science of preventing, treating, and reversing chronic disease in an evidence-based manner. Since certification began in 2017, almost 6,700 physicians and other health professionals worldwide have become certified in lifestyle medicine. It is also the first step toward earning ACLM’s new “Blue Zones-Certified Physician” or “Blue Zones-Certified Healthcare Professional” status, which will be exclusively available to lifestyle medicine-certified clinicians starting in 2025.   

To help clinicians prepare, ACLM offers the Foundations of Lifestyle Medicine Board Review Course, which fulfills the online 30-hour CME/CE perquisite and prepares candidates to take the lifestyle medicine certification exam. Certified clinicians describe the course as one of the most comprehensive evidence-based compilations of lifestyle medicine material available.  

Four health care professionals with backgrounds in physical therapy, nursing, dietetics, and pharmacology described for ACLM how lifestyle medicine certification enhanced their careers.  

Thomas Hammett, DPT, DipACLM
Director of Operations, Pinnacle Lifestyle Medicine

After I graduated from physical therapy school in 2017, I started my career in an outpatient private practice called Pinnacle Medical Wellness. The owners, Joshua and Staci Lyons, believed that physical therapists could play a significant role in health promotion and prevention, going beyond rehabilitation alone.  

At Pinnacle, physical and occupational therapists, registered dietitians, and medical exercise professionals work together under one roof to provide comprehensive lifestyle change services. I collaborated with an exercise professional to obtain health metrics and interpret the testing results with my patients, many of whom had little knowledge about their health. Right away, I recognized some personal weaknesses in delivering this care. Although I was passionate about facilitating health improvements for my patients, I felt I lacked certain skills and knowledge to be effective.  

In 2019, I attended my first ACLM conference and earned board certification in lifestyle medicine. Certification filled the knowledge gaps I knew existed—along with several I didn’t. I have since been promoted twice, now serving as the Director of Operations for Pinnacle. I have done my part to help Pinnacle become a national authority on lifestyle medicine in the rehabilitation setting. Most recently, we created a lifestyle medicine cardiac rehabilitation program with the international fitness company Technogym, called Bio-Beats, which I believe is the future of cardiac rehab.  

Through a connection I made at ACLM’s conference, I also co-host the Medical Fitness Podcast, and have contributed to the creation of a learning institute, MRFInstitute.org, where medical professionals and fitness professionals can gain expertise on incorporating evidence-based exercise into their care.  

Eileen M. Esposito, DNP, MPA, RN, AMB-BC, DipACLM, CPHQ
Educator and lecturer in health sciences

I met incoming ACLM President Padmaja Patel in 2022 while serving on the Leadership Consortium of the National Quality Forum for Nursing Alliance for Quality Care (ANA). I had not heard of lifestyle medicine but felt drawn toward Dr. Patel. As a lifelong ambulatory care nurse, I believe wholeheartedly in disease prevention and health promotion. However, as a senior healthcare executive in population health, this often put me at odds with my health system’s leadership because anything that reduced admissions was viewed as negatively impacting the bottom line. This constant push and pull were burning me out.  

I attended my first ACLM conference in October 2022, and it was life-changing. I found kindred spirits who shared my beliefs–and they had a plan!  I learned about inflammation as the root cause of chronic disease and became intrigued by the gut microbiome. Studying the gut and the role it plays in mediating health turned out to be personally serendipitous — it saved me from a bowel resection after too many episodes of acute diverticulitis. Why hadn’t my physicians suggested a whole-food, plant-based diet to me? Because most of them do not receive nutrition education in medical school.

I chose to leave my vice-president position in the summer of 2023 and focus on studying for the ACLM certification exam.  I passed and immediately enrolled in a university faculty development program with the goal of teaching students about this exciting field. I have taken every opportunity to present on lifestyle medicine and its applicability to good health. I have lectured to medical, physician associate and nursing students, and recently presented on lifestyle medicine to C-suite executives as a keynote panelist. Thanks to lifestyle medicine certification and ACLM, my work once again energizes and inspires me. 

Rohit Moghe, PharmD, MSPH, DipACLM, CDCES, RYT-200
Ambulatory Care and Population Health Clinical Pharmacist, Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic

My profession is closely tied to the use, and ultimately, the sale of prescription medications. Early in my career, I always wondered why people took so many medications. What happens to them when they take medications for months, years, and even decades? While some medications are life-sustaining, I often wondered where we could improve communication with patients about those that could be unnecessary.  

I knew how chronic conditions impact health and lifespan and that knowledge guided how I approached my personal health. However, I saw a huge disconnect between my lifestyle behavior decisions and what we communicated to patients. This led me to seek a graduate degree in public health and become a champion of medication deprescribing.  

My public health training made me a more comprehensive clinician but something was still missing until I found ACLM and became certified in lifestyle medicine. Developing the knowledge and skills to apply evidence-based lifestyle behavior interventions changed the trajectory of my career. Today, my physician and health professional colleagues refer patients to me because they know I can help them get off unnecessary medications by coaching them with the pillars of lifestyle medicine.  

My lifestyle medicine certification has empowered me to promote the responsible use of medications, aligning with approved indications and intended use, to provide patients a bridge from illness to health. I knew that I could not be the only pharmacist motivated to practice this way. I joined the leadership of ACLM’s Pharmacist Member Interest Group (MIG) and our membership grew three-fold in three years, bringing in like-minded pharmacists from across the country. My involvement in ACLM is so rewarding–where else can a pharmacist who is certified in lifestyle medicine and is a registered yoga teacher feel so at home? 

Sahra Pak, MS, RD, DipACLM, NBC-HWC
Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor

I’ve always been passionate about plant-based nutrition and its role in transforming health, both as a dietitian and in my personal life. In a previous job, I was blessed to have worked with Kayli Anderson, MS, RDN, DipACLM, FACLM, whose dedication to lifestyle medicine and patient-centered care inspired me to integrate these principles into my practice and interests.

I found the perfect environment to apply what I learned in the U.S. Air Force. Under the leadership of Lt. Col. Jennifer Harward, RD, DipACLM, and others, I helped launch the first multi-week lifestyle medicine program for active-duty military members at Travis Air Force Base. This program incorporated all six pillars of lifestyle medicine and demonstrated to service members the power of holistic, lifestyle-based interventions. I also supported a study evaluating the effect of plant-based meals on airmen’s cardiometabolic health, which further underscored the potential of plant-based nutrition to improve health outcomes.

Since earning lifestyle medicine certification in 2020, I also became a national board-certified health and wellness coach (NBC-HWC). Being trained to “wear the coach hat” has transformed my personal development and ability to help clients discover their true motivations, innate wisdom and what works best for them. As a certified intuitive eating counselor and trauma-informed practitioner, I bring empathy and inclusivity to my care, focusing on lifestyle changes that resonate with each individual. In my current role with an innovative telehealth company, I’ve developed strategies and services, including a group class centered on lifestyle medicine that emphasizes a gentle, non-weight, and non-dieting approach to health.  

 Empowering individuals to embrace their healing journey has been incredibly rewarding. Lifestyle medicine certification and my passion allow me to guide patients to discover “health that works” for them personally—from a place of safety and confidence rather than fear.