Dean Ornish
The campus community is invited to hear national health expert, Dean Ornish, MD, clinical professor of medicine at UCSF, who will discuss how his pioneering scientific research has reversed and prevented chronic illnesses and how lifestyle changes can improve health and quality of life.
Ornish will share his insight about health at a free lunchtime wellness lecture, part of a series sponsored by the UCSF Faculty and Staff Assistance Program (FSAP), on Thursday, April 28 in the Clinical Sciences Building, room C 701, 521 Parnassus Ave.
Ornish is the founder, president, and director of the non-profit
Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California. He received his medical training from the Baylor College of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital. He earned a BA in Humanities from the University of Texas in Austin.
For the past 27 years, Ornish has directed clinical research demonstrating, for the first time, that comprehensive lifestyle changes may begin to reverse even severe coronary heart disease, without drugs or surgery. He is the author of five best-selling books, including New York Times' bestsellers Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease, Eat More, Weigh Less, and Love & Survival. Ornish recently directed the first randomized controlled trial demonstrating that comprehensive lifestyle changes may affect the progression of prostate cancer.
The research that he and his colleagues conducted has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, Circulation, The New England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Cardiology, and elsewhere. A one-hour documentary of their work was broadcast on NOVA, the PBS science series, and was featured on Bill Moyers' PBS series, Healing & The Mind. In addition, their work has been featured in virtually all major media, including cover stories in Newsweek, Time and US News & World Report.
Ornish is a member of the boards of directors of the US United Nations High Commission on Refugees, the Quincy Jones We Are the Future Foundation, and the Wheelchair Foundation. He was appointed to The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy and elected to the California Academy of Medicine.
Ornish has received several awards, including the 1994 Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from the University of Texas, Austin, the Jan J. Kellermann Memorial Award for distinguished contribution in the field of cardiovascular disease prevention from the International Academy of Cardiology, the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement, a Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association, the Beckmann Medal from the German Society for Prevention and Rehabilitation of Cardiovascular Diseases, and a U.S. Army Surgeon General Medal.
Ornish has been a physician consultant to The White House and to several bipartisan members of the U. Congress. He is listed in Who's Who in Healthcare and Medicine, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the World.
Related Links
Preventive Medicine Research Institute
