President

Elizabeth P. Frates, MD, FACLM, DipABLM

Beth Frates, MD is a trained physiatrist and a health and wellness coach, with expertise in Lifestyle Medicine. She is an award-winning teacher at Harvard Medical School, where she is an assistant clinical professor. Dr. Frates is one of the first Fellows of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and a pioneer in lifestyle medicine. She developed and taught a college Lifestyle Medicine curriculum at the Harvard Extension School in 2014 and it is still one of the most well-received courses offered at the school. She was voted president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in August 2020.

She authored a Lifestyle Medicine syllabus, which can be downloaded through the ACLM website, to serve as a template for other instructors and professors. In addition, Dr. Frates co-authored The Lifestyle Medicine Handbook: An Introduction to the Power of Healthy Habits, which was ranked in the top 20 by Book Authority for medical books released in 2018. To accompany the syllabus and handbook, she also co-created Lifestyle Medicine 101, a full college curriculum with 12 weeks of PowerPoints and a teacher’s manual, which is free and accessible through the ACLM website. In addition, Dr. Frates co-authored The Teen Lifestyle Medicine Handbook, published in October 2020 which when paired with the Teen Curriculum consisting of a Teacher’s Manual and 12 PowerPoint decks can be used to teach and empower middle-school and high school students to adopt and sustain healthy habits.

As Director of Wellness Programming at the Stroke Institute for Research and Recovery at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, Dr. Frates has created and implemented a 12-Step wellness program, PAVING the Path to Wellness™ for patients and providers. Most recently, she co-authored the book PAVING the Path to Wellness Workbook: A Guide to Thriving with a Healthy Body, Peaceful Mind and Joyful Heart. As of the fall of 2020, Dr. Frates serves as the Director of Lifestyle Medicine and Wellness for the Department of Surgery at Mass General Hospital. In addition, Dr. Frates has her own Lifestyle Medicine consulting/coaching practice where she sees patients 1:1 and in groups.

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President-Elect

Padmaja Patel, MD, DipABLM

Padmaja Patel, MD, FACLM DipABLM, currently serves as the Medical Director of the Lifestyle Medicine Center at Midland Health and has advocated for offering various comprehensive lifestyle intervention programs under physician supervision.

Dr. Patel serves as the Vice President of the Midland Quality Alliance, a clinically integrated network of physicians. She is a member of the National Quality Forum's 2022 Leadership Consortium and a founding member of the advisory board of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine's Health Systems Council. She also serves as Chair of ACLM's Clinical Practice and Quality Committee.

Dr. Patel has been awarded the prestigious status of Fellow of ACLM for her outstanding achievement in the field of Lifestyle Medicine. She co-founded Healthy City, a non-profit organization, to raise awareness of the benefits of plant-based nutrition within her community.

Past President

Catherine Collings, MD, FACC, MS, DipABLM

Dr. Collings is Director of Lifestyle Medicine for Silicon Valley Medical Development and El Camino Health Medical Network in the San Francisco Bay Area.  She serves as current President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Dr. Collings has dual board certifications in Cardiology and Lifestyle Medicine. She holds a graduate degree in exercise physiology, as well as professional culinary and wellness certifications.

She received her education from the University of California, University of Wisconsin, and Stanford University Medical Center. She is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society. She has served in multiple capacities and leadership positions at El Camino Hospital over the past 25 years including Medical Director of the Cardiopulmonary Wellness Center, Women’s Heart Health, and the Heart and Vascular Institute and participates in the American College of Cardiology’s Nutrition and Lifestyle Task Force.

Within ACLM, she co-chaired the initiation of ACLM’s Education Committee and has participated in course reviews. She now focuses exclusively on Lifestyle Medicine consultations, culinary medicine, and developing clinical Lifestyle Medicine programs that are both tech and human connect-enabled.

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Secretary

Michelle Tollefson, MD, FACOG, DipABLM, FACLM

Michelle Tollefson, MD, FACOG, DipABLM, FACLM, is a lifestyle medicine physician in Colorado with an initial specialization in Ob-Gyn. She is a Professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver where she created and oversees the country’s first Bachelor of Science in Lifestyle Medicine and the Wellness Coaching and Lifestyle Medicine Pathway.She received her ABLM lifestyle medicine board certification and a fellowship in Lifestyle Medicine from ACLM. As an ACLM member for over a decade, she founded and co-chaired the Women’s Health Member Interest Group (MIG) as well as the Pre-Professional Lifestyle Medicine Education MIG.

Dr. Tollefson has presented at ACLM conferences, workshops, and a symposium. She has published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine (AJLM), served as guest editor for the AJLM ACLM Conference Edition and is the Editor-in-Chief for the Women’s Health Lifestyle Medicine being published later this year. As a breast cancer survivor she is honored to offer the PAVING the Path to Wellness, Lifestyle Medicine group program for breast cancer survivors, developed by Dr. Beth Frates and modified by Dr. Amy Comander. She is thriving through the power of lifestyle medicine as a breast cancer survivor and enjoys spending time in the Colorado outdoors with her active family.

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Treasurer

Koushik Reddy, MD, FACC, FACLM, DipABLM

Koushik Reddy is an interventional cardiologist at the James A Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa, FL. Over the course of past 16 years, he played a crucial role in developing many programs at the hospital and now serves as the director of interventional cardiology and the coronary care unit. Dr. Reddy was the first interventional cardiologist to be board certified in lifestyle medicine and he is currently the only cardiologist and one among only 14 physicians with the distinct honor of being a certified lifestyle medicine intensivist. In 2018 he established two, first of their kind Lifestyle Medicine clinics at the Tampa VA hospital. He also started advanced lifestyle medicine educational modules for internal medicine residency and Cardilogy fellowship programs at the University of South Florida. He published many papers in the area of lifestyle medicine and cardiovascular diseases. He has presented lectures on this topic at many national and international meetings. From the very first day he joined ACLM in 2017, he has been actively involved in many leadership roles and has been instrumental in advancing the idea of health promotion and disease prevention through lifestyle medicine. He is the founding co-chair of the VA/DoD and Cardiology MIGs. In addition to being on many clinical, research, policy, marketing committees, he is currently serving his second term as the college’s treasurer.

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Young Director

Hugo Ortega, MD

My name is Hugo Ortega. A first generation Hispanic (Ecuadorian/Dominican) born in the US. I am the first member in my family to attend college and to become a doctor. I have always had a passion for medicine since watching TV as a young child and always wanted to make a difference in my community and help serve the underserved. I attended St John’s University where I worked as a Tutor and participated in multiple pipeline summer programs such as Montefiore’s Health Opportunities program, Summer Undergraduate Mentorship program, that fostered an interest in mentoring and education within me. I attended Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell for medical school whereas part of a summer project I got to work with migrant backstretch workers of the Belmont racetrack. We were able to spend 6 weeks in the community teaching a variety of topics based on a needs assessment such as hands only CPR, wound care, environmental emergencies, etc. We even built a community garden. That experience was very formative for me and showed me the importance of going out and working within the community in terms of making a difference and allowing for broad sweeping changes.

For residency I trained in the Montefiore Primary Care and Social Internal Medicine program at Montefiore where I got to further develop my passions for community outreach, medical education, and primary care. I was able to develop and create a 7-hour longitudinal resident-as-teacher curriculum for our primary care program utilizing Kern’s development cycle. During my time at Montefiore, I began to focus on my personal health and in the process of transition to a whole food plant-based diet I learned about Lifestyle Medicine. I felt this was a perfect extension of primary care and I wanted to bring the message along with me to future endeavors.

After completion of residency, I came back to Northwell for a General Internal Medicine fellowship to pursue a master’s in Health Professions Education. Since starting in August of 2022 I have been successful at bringing lifestyle medicine to Northwell. I have worked over the 2021 academic year to get the LMRC accepted and started across 6 residencies and 59 residents for the upcoming 2022 academic year. I have also partnered with many wonderful folks in Northwell who have an interest in Lifestyle Medicine and have help create a Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group at both the Medical School and PA schools. I hope to continue to marry my passions of medical education, health equity, community outreach, and lifestyle medicine throughout my career.

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Board Member - Director

Melissa Bernstein, PhD, DipACLM, RD, LD, FAND

Dr. Bernstein completed a coordinated program in nutrition and dietetics and received a bachelor of science from Syracuse University. She earned her Master of Science and Doctorate degree in nutritional biochemistry and exercise physiology with a focus on geriatrics from the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Her interests include introductory nutrition, geriatric nutrition, and the role of diet and lifestyle in health and disease prevention. Dr. Bernstein has co-authored prominent nutrition textbooks; Nutrition, Discovering Nutrition, Nutrition Across Life Stages, Nutrition for the Older Adult, and Nutrition Assessment: Clinical and Research Applications and reviewed and authored textbook chapters, position statements, and peer-reviewed journal publications. She is the co-author of the Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Food and Nutrition for Older Adults: Promoting Health and Wellness. Dr. Bernstein has served on review and advisory committees for the Academy’s Evidence Analysis Library and as a reviewer for Academy position statements.

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Board Member - Director

Brad Biskup, PA-C, MHS, MA, DipACLM

Brad Biskup has developed an expertise in Lifestyle Medicine in the clinical setting, especially with the focus on exercise prescription. Brad earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Wyoming, as well as being certified as an Exercise Specialist through the American College of Sports Medicine before receiving a Master of Arts degree in Biology from Central Connecticut State University. While working on his masters, he worked in osteoporosis and exercise research, as well as all phases of cardiac rehab prior to completing Quinnipiac University’s Physician Assistant Program and earning a Master’s in Health Science. Brad began working as a physician assistant in cardiology and specialized in lipid management as well as exercise in cardiovascular disease. Brad has developed an expertise in Lifestyle Medicine with the focus on primary and secondary cardiovascular prevention/treatment with modifiable risk factors, such as exercise, diet, smoking cessation, weight loss, and stress management. He started and has developed the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic at University of Connecticut Health and has a Lifestyle Medicine Lecture series with monthly lectures. Both the clinic and lecture series have grown exponentially since the inception in 2010 with the goal of comprehensive health care with the primary focus on lifestyle changes and giving them the tools to improve their overall health. Brad has been active nationally having developed the Physician Assistant Interest Group through the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in 2014 which he currently chairs. He also is active presenting regionally and nationally on exercise as medicine.

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Board Member - Director

David Bowman, MD, DipABLM

Dr. David Bowman is a Lifestyle Medicine physician and pediatrician. The Indianapolis native attended Howard University for undergrad and Indiana University for medical school. After residency at DC Children's, he embarked on a career in global health and HIV and worked in Botswana, Nigeria and Haiti. He currently works at Howard University Hospital and is Board Certified in Pediatrics and also in Lifestyle Medicine. After his own health transformation using Lifestyle Medicine, he has been passionate and innovative in empowering health care providers, patients and the general public about the power of applying the pillars of Lifestyle Medicine in their lives. He created a Wellness Day for the new residents at Howard University Hospital, a program that has successfully run for three consecutive years. This program included yoga, fitness, mental health, and nutrition empowerment in the form of an interactive presentation and whole-food, plant-based cook-along demonstrations for the virtual Wellness Days in 2020 and 2021. In the inaugural Wellness Day in 2019, he added health screenings and a WFPB menu for meals. He has given grand rounds presentations about Lifestyle Medicine to various departments at Howard University Hospital, including family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology. He started his own venture, “Lifestyle Med Revolution” in 2021 to provide transformative health education to churches, schools, and community programs and has sponsored several “Daniel Fast” (WFPB spiritual fast) challenges. Dr. Bowman received glowing reviews for his appearance on the Chef AJ Live show on YouTube and numerous other interviews. Dr. Bowman is earning his Master’s in Nutritional Sciences at Howard University to formalize his nutrition education. He is passionate about applying spirituality to a person’s arsenal in achieving health goals. Dr. Bowman’s work has transformed his own family, his patients and their families, and he inspires those who hear him speak.

Board Member - Director

Amy Comander, MD, DipABLM

Dr. Amy Comander is Director of Breast Oncology and Survivorship at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center in Waltham and at Newton Wellesley Hospital. She is Medical Director of the MGH Cancer Center in Waltham, and an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. As of August 1, 2022, I will become the Director of the Mass General Cancer Center Lifestyle Medicine Program. In this role, my goal is to ensure that patients at the Mass General Cancer Center, and beyond, have access to education and tools from lifestyle medicine in order to improve physical fitness, nutrition, quality of life, and cancer prognosis.

Dr. Comander is a graduate of Harvard University, where as an undergraduate she developed a passion for understanding the biological basis of behavior, and she studied neurobiology and psychology as part of the multidisciplinary Mind, Brain, and Behavior Initiative. She then received her MD at Yale University School of Medicine. She completed her Internal Medicine residency training and Hematology-Oncology fellowship training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. She is board certified in Hematology, Medical Oncology, and Lifestyle Medicine.

As a breast oncologist, Dr. Comander has witnessed the struggles her patients face during and following completion of primary cancer treatment, and she is passionate about improving the overall health and well-being of breast cancer survivors through lifestyle interventions. She is the founding co-chair of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) Breast Cancer subcommittee of the Women’s Health MIG.

In collaboration with Dr. Beth Frates and Dr. Michelle Tollefson, she has launched PAVING the Path to Wellness Program lifestyle medicine group for breast cancer survivors. Recently she has started training other colleagues at the MGH Cancer Center to run PAVING groups, so this transformational experience can be offered to a larger group of breast cancer survivors. Dr. Comander practices what she preaches, having run marathons, including 9 consecutive Boston Marathons thus far. She views running marathons as a metaphor for life, and her favorite running mantra is “Every mile out there is a gift and every finish line is a gift.”(Amby Burfoot, winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon).

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Board Member - Director

Mahima Gulati, MD, DipABLM, FACLM

Dr Gulati is a triple board-certified physician specializing in endocrinology, diabetes, metabolism, lifestyle medicine, as well as internal medicine. She serves as medical director of Lifestyle Medicine at Connecticut's Middlesex Health Hospital, and a senior attending physician in endocrinology. As director, Dr Gulati has been involved in starting novel culinary medicine based Shared Medical Appointments at her Middlesex clinical endocrine practice, which was published as an abstract at American Association of Clinical Endocrinology’s official journal Endocrine Practice. She is an Associate professor of Internal Medicine at the Quinnipiac University Frank H. Netter School of Medicine, where she is involved in teaching medical students about Lifestyle Medicine as well as Endocrinology. She runs the Endocrinology elective for Middlesex Health Family Medicine residents.

Dr Gulati has been a passionate advocate for employees’ wellness and health through Lifestyle Medicine solutions. She is the physician representative at Middlesex’s employee wellness oversight committee. She is currently actively engaged in creating a pilot “Type 2 Diabetes remission/ prevention program” for the organization’s staff, which is a culinary medicine/ Lifestyle pillars based group visit available to all employees at her self-insured organization. She actively synergizes and networks with various national and local stakeholders to bring more sustainable models of reimbursement to Lifestyle Medicine clinical practice, e.g. leveraging Lifestyle Medicine for self-insured employers to reduce their healthcare claims costs. As Director, Dr Gulati has facilitated her health system to become one of the founding members of ACLM’s Health Systems council.

Dr Gulati chairs the American College of Lifestyle Medicine's Endocrinology member interest group as well as co-chairs the American College of Lifestyle Medicine's sub-committee on women's reproductive health. She has authored several book chapters and journal articles on type 2 diabetes remission with lifestyle approaches; women's reproductive and hormonal health, gonadal disorders, PCOS, pituitary disorders, etc. She has also published on Business of Lifestyle medicine & bringing healthier lifestyles to workplaces. She is one of the co-authors of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine's recently published Expert Consensus Statement on "Dietary Interventions for type 2 diabetes remission."

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Board Member - Director

Alka Gupta, MD, DipABLM

In 2020, I co-founded and became Chief Medical Officer of Bluerock Care, an early stage startup providing integrated primary care for individuals in underinvested areas in Washington, DC. Here, I am the medical lead for the primary care that our (small but mighty) team delivers. I oversee hiring, develop medical policies and procedures, oversee all activities that lead to care delivery.

I find it very important to incorporate my passions into my work, and lifestyle medicine is a major example. I work to bring lifestyle medicine into the foundation of health care, by incorporating it at its heart – primary care. The highlights of my daily work include one-on-one visits with my patients, leading shared medical appointments with my patients, and watching our team care for our underinvested population in Washington, DC.

I am also Chief Medical Officer of a direct contracting entity, one of CMMI’s most recent models. During the last 2 years, I have gained a deep understanding of value-based care, and the pitfalls that organizations often encounter. I am still learning in this arena, and hope to collaborate with other medical leaders to improve the effectiveness and efficiency when caring for Americans.

From 2015 - 2020, I conceptualized, developed, and launched the Integrative Health and Wellbeing Program at NYP-Weill Cornell in New York City. I was co-founder & Medical Director of the program. During this time, I hired and oversaw an interdisciplinary team of professionals, including registered dietitians, fitness instructors, a clinical psychologist, a mind-body instructor, and others. I worked to integrate this and care teams across NYP Hospital and Weill Cornell, collaborating with primary care physicians and specialists to increase access to these often missing disciplines to patients when and where they needed it.

While at Cornell, I represented the new center to the CEO and executive staff at NYP Hospital and to the Dean’s Board of Trustees. I also launched a clinical fellowship program to train already practicing physicians, and developed innovative programming such as a 12-week Lifestyle Change Program for patients.

Board Member - Director

Jessica Matthews, DBH, MS, NBC-HWC

Jessica Matthews, DBH, MS, NBC-HWC, DipACLM, is assistant professor and program director in the College of Health Sciences at Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, CA, where she has developed and implemented a graduate degree program in addition to creating and teaching courses in Lifestyle Medicine and health and wellness coaching. She also serves as director of integrative health coaching at UC San Diego Health in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, where she leads the development, delivery and management of health coaching within clinical practice and research, to include overseeing a team of coaches within the Centers for Integrative Health. 

Dr. Matthews received her doctorate in behavioral health with a focus in clinical integrated care from Arizona State University and she holds numerous professional certifications including as a national board-certified health and wellness coach. With a background in exercise science, she has served as a consultant and senior advisor for leading fitness and wellness organizations and has regularly contributed to numerous national media outlets.

Dr. Matthews serves as lead faculty in the area of health behavior change for the ACLM Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum and as founding chair of the Health and Wellness Coaches Member Interest Group. Additionally, she serves on the board of directors for the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching.

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Board Member - Director

Neha Pathak, MD, DipABLM

Neha Pathak, MD, DipABLM, is an honors graduate of Harvard College and Weill Medical College of Cornell University and currently serves as Medical Editor and writer for WebMD and Medscape. Board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine, she began practicing lifestyle medicine within the Department of Veterans Affairs as part of the VA’s Whole Health program to bring access to whole health care to vulnerable veterans. Currently, she is a member of ACLM's Women's Health Member Interest Group (MIG) and co-editor of a textbook volume focused on Lifestyle Medicine and women's health.

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Board Member - Director

Colin Zhu, DO, DipABLM, Chef

Dr. Colin Zhu is Board-Certified in family practice/OMT and lifestyle medicine. Passionate about the intersection of medicine, food, and nutrition, Dr. Zhu trained as a chef and health coach at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health & Culinary Arts and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition following completion of his medical degree. To share his unique blend of medical knowledge with a wider audience, Dr. Zhu launched TheChefDoc in 2017, an online wellness and lifestyle education platform which has been featured in several publications. Dr. Zhu is an international speaker, the author of "Thrive Medicine: How To Cultivate Your Desires and Elevate Your Life,“ and is the podcast host of Thrive Bites in which he interviews the latest health and wellness experts about incorporating a plant-powered lifestyle, enhancing emotional wellness, and creating a thriving mindset! He is also the creator/director of a self-educational masterclass series called The THR5 Formula™ where he combines inspiration, education, and practical tools on how to THRIVE! Here you will learn the 5 To THR5™ Pillars: Food As Medicine, Functional Fitness, Relationships, Community, & Emotional Resilience! Currently, based in the Southern California area and has a virtual lifestyle medical practice called TheChefDoc Lifestyle Medicine.

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