Kaitlyn R. Pauly, MS, RDN, DipACLM

As the Chief Integration Officer of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Kaitlyn supports the Education, Practice Advancement and Research teams who develop and integrate high-quality lifestyle medicine education, training, research, resources and support tools across academic institutions, health systems, workplaces, research networks, risk-bearing entities, communities and other stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem. She also supports the advancement of the field of lifestyle medicine by raising awareness about key challenges and barriers to successful LM implementation, including those linked to payment, incentives, quality measure misalignment and structural support.

Prior to her role at ACLM, Kaitlyn had experiences in clinical weight management and bariatrics, corporate wellness, academics and in the Whole Health program at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

She is passionate about applying the principals of lifestyle medicine in her own life.

Susan Benigas, Chief Executive Officer

As the Chief Executive Officer of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), Susan is helping to lead the effort to transform health and redefine health care, not only in the United States, but around the world through her work with the Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance. Under Susan’s leadership, ACLM is now recognized as the nation's fastest growing medical professional association, having experienced over 700% growth in membership and over 800% growth in revenue in the past five years alone. Her work has spanned the gamut, from running political campaigns to serving in executive, senior management and consultant roles for organizations ranging from professional sports and media to healthcare technology and worksite health promotion. A writer and international speaker, Susan serves (or has served) on the boards of directors for the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine; True Health Initiative; The Plantrician Project, which she co-founded; T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies; Shape Up US; Athletes International Ministries; and the AZ Chapter of the American Heart Association. She served as state youth chair of the West Virginia Chapter of the American Heart Association and chair of the March of Dimes Teen Action Program. For her dedication to community service, Susan was recognized as an Outstanding West Virginian by Governor John D. Rockefeller and as the youngest Kentucky Colonel in state history by Governor John Y. Brown. In 2019, she was honored to receive ACLM’s inaugural President’s Award. Her life’s motto: Fearlessly, faithfully moving forward, leaving no stone unturned.

Padmaja Patel, MD, FACLM, DipABLM, CPE 

Padmaja Patel is a board-certified internist specializing in lifestyle medicine and healthcare transformation strategies. She is the President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) and Chief Medical Officer of Nudj Health, an ACLM-certified Lifestyle Treatment Program. In addition, Dr. Patel serves as the President of Midland Quality Alliance and the Chair of Quality Committee, an ACO-REACH located in Midland, TX, and as a consultant for the Texas Medical Board’s committee on Alternative Payment Models. She is also a member of the National Quality Forum's 2024 Healthcare Professional Stakeholder Advisory Council and the Endorsement and Maintenance Committee of the Partnership for Quality Measurement. Dr. Patel serves on the Whole Person workgroup at the Primary Care Collaborative and is the founding Chair of ACLM's Clinical Practice and Quality Committee. 

Dr. Patel is a pioneer in the field of Lifestyle Medicine (LM) and has developed innovative care delivery models. Her work includes designing an office-based intensive cardiac rehabilitation program for physicians and serving as medical director of the Lifestyle Medicine Center at Midland Health. Dr. Patel has successfully delivered LM-based ITLC programs for chronic disease remission in both in-person and virtual settings. She is a strong advocate for LM integration within health systems across the patient care continuum and in employee and population health. Her efforts to integrate lifestyle medicine into employee health have resulted in significant cost savings. She has also held the position of lifestyle medicine Medical Director at Wellvana, a national value-based healthcare organization, and as Vice President of the World Lifestyle Medicine Organization. 

Dr. Patel has been awarded the prestigious title of Fellow of ACLM in recognition of her remarkable contributions to the field of Lifestyle Medicine. Additionally, she has been honored with the 2023 AMWA Inspire Award, which acknowledges her as a source of inspiration for others through her dedication to healthcare, compassionate treatment of patients, leadership, advocacy, and community service. Dr. Patel is a Certified Lifestyle Medicine Intensivist, a recognition given to those who have successfully used Lifestyle Medicine as a therapeutic intervention to prevent, treat, and even reverse chronic diseases in individuals, populations, and communities. She is also a co-founder of Healthy City, a non-profit organization aimed at raising awareness of the benefits of plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine within her community. 

Annette Bettridge, EdD, MSPAS, PA-C, FNP

Annette Bettridge, EdD, MSPAS, PA-C, FNP, is a physician assistant and faculty member at A.T. Still University (ATSU) in Arizona, where she plays a key role in advancing clinical education and wellness initiatives. She has supported the development and implementation of the FreshRx Shared Medical Appointment (SMA) wellness visits. ATSU, a national academic institution with clinical training sites at FQHCs across the country, is a collaborative partner in a grant proposal currently under review with the Ardmore Institute of Health. The proposal aims to develop a scalable SMA model utilizing Ardmore’s “Full Plate Living” curriculum—designed to promote plant-forward nutrition and chronic disease prevention.

Will Koopal, PA, DipACLM 

William Koopal, PA-C, is a Certified Physician Assistant with Albany Area Primary Health Care (AAPHC). He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Georgia and completed his Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from AT Still University in Mesa, Arizona. He has worked in psychiatry and internal medicine since 2019. He was certified through the institute for functional medicine in 2023. He obtained his certification from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in 2024. 

He quickly realized that lifestyle factors played a major role in the health of his underserved patients so created a shared medical appointment in 2020 titled "FreshRx". This program covers lifestyle medicine implementation at his FQHC. Additionally, each participant of the SMA is given a box of fresh produce to implement into their diet. The FreshRX program recently received national attention at the NACHC conference in Atlanta GA in 2024. Will's passion is to continue collaborating with like-minded professionals to implement SMA's and lifestyle medicine into FQHC's across the nation to decrease the burden of chronic disease in America. 

Dan Chen, MD, FACP, DipABLM 

Dr. Chen is double board-certified in Internal Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine. He is a primary care clinician practicing in Spanish and English at Esperanza Health Center in North Philadelphia. Dr. Chen trained at Jefferson Medical College (now Sidney Kimmel) and completed his internship and residency at Temple University Hospital. A second-generation Chinese-American, born and raised in Southern California, he has found immense joy in connecting what he does in his own kitchen to everyone around him through a delicious, nutritious, plant-based, and culturally connected approach to food. He leads a continually expanding initiative to implement a multi-disciplinary, interactive model of food, movement, and behavioral health to support positive lifestyle changes with patients and work towards health justice. He has been an invited speaker, podcast guest, and workshop presenter and contributes as part of the Medical Advisory Board at the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. He and his wife, Charlene, also a physician, are living out the adventure of raising their two school-aged children plant-strong. 

Kristi Artz, MD, FACLM, CCMS, DipABLM 

Kristi Artz, MD, FACLM is the Vice President of University Hospitals Connor Whole Health. Dr. Artz most recently served as the Medical Director of Lifestyle Medicine at Corewell Health based in Grand Rapids, MI. She is board certified in Lifestyle Medicine and Emergency Medicine, a Certified Specialist in Culinary Medicine, and a member of the Board of Directors for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) and the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaching. Dr. Artz earned her medical degree from Wayne State School of Medicine in Detroit and completed her residency in Emergency Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a Masters in Population Health from Jefferson College of Population Health.

Michelle McMacken, MD, FACP, DipABLM 

Michelle McMacken, MD, FACP, DipABLM is Executive Director of Nutrition & Lifestyle Medicine at NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest municipal public healthcare system in the US. A practicing internist at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, she also directed Bellevue’s Adult Weight Management Program from 2005-2022. In 2019 Dr. McMacken founded the innovative Bellevue Lifestyle Medicine Program, among the first of its kind in a safety-net setting. She now leads the expansion of this program to a total of seven sites throughout NYC. The interdisciplinary program, which has received national attention and high demand for services, aims to improve cardiometabolic health in high-risk communities by combining support for lifestyle change with strategies to address health-related social needs.

An Associate Professor of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Dr. McMacken has received the faculty “Teacher of the Year” award three times. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Yale University and her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She has presented at numerous academic conferences including the American College of Physicians and the American Diabetes Association. She is board certified in both internal medicine and lifestyle medicine.

Wayne Dysinger, MD, MPH, FACLM, DipABLM 

Dr. Wayne Dysinger is Chief Medical Officer of Blue Zones Health. Dr. Dysinger brings decades of leadership in evidence-based lifestyle medicine together with the Blue Zones principles to deliver primary care through an innovative economic model for employers and government payers. Dr. Dysinger was previously Chair of the Preventive Medicine Department at Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was inspired by the original longevity studies. From there, he decided to further pursue the study of lifestyle medicine and its ability to treat and reverse chronic disease. This eventually led to his past positions as president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) and founding Board Chair of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine. In 2015, Dr. Dysinger left academia to focus on a lifestyle medicine-based private practice and demonstrate how to achieve the IHI Triple Aim through a new value-based care economic model. Since then, he’s leading more than 200 primary care physicians in Southern California to adopt this approach of practicing medicine and continues in this mission at Blue Zones Health. As an international voice on the transformational power of lifestyle medicine, Dr. Dysinger hopes to make access to this type of care possible for all by empowering physicians to become credentialed by the ACLM and discovering opportunities through Blue Zones Health.

Aruna Nathan, MD, DipABLM 

Dr. Nathan is a board-certified physician specializing in Internal Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine with over 25 years of experience. She earned her medical degree from Seth G.S. Medical College in Mumbai, India, and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, where she also served as Chief Resident. 

In 2017, Dr. Nathan became one of the first physicians in the United States to be board-certified in lifestyle medicine. Throughout her career, Dr. Nathan has practiced in Maryland, providing care in various settings, including private practice, hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living, and rehabilitation facilities. She has been recognized multiple times as a "Top Doctor" by Washingtonian magazine. Currently, Dr. Nathan serves as the Lead Physician for Lifestyle Medicine at AbsoluteCare, where she focuses on integrating lifestyle medicine into primary care to address chronic diseases. 

Meagan Grega, MD, FACLM, DipABLM 

Meagan L. Grega, MD, FACLM, DipABLM is the Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Kellyn Foundation (www.kellyn.org), a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to making the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice. Through the “Healthy Neighborhood Immersion Strategy”, Kellyn provides school-based healthy lifestyle education and “Garden as a Classroom” programs; supports access to nutrient-dense produce via the Eat Real Food Mobile Market; engages participants in hands-on, plant-based cooking classes in community settings and offers intensive therapeutic lifestyle change interventions for families, employers and community groups. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Bucknell University with a B.S. in Biochemistry/Cell Biology and earned her MD degree from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.

Dr. Grega spent several years as a medical officer in the United States Navy and is currently the Managing Director of Llantrisant Retreat and Wellness Center (www.llantrisantretreat.com). She is honored to serve as faculty for the St. Luke’s University Health Network Anderson Campus Family Medicine and Internal Medicine Residency programs, Clinical Assistant Professor for the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and as the faculty advisor for the LKSOM/SLUHN medical student Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group. She frequently lectures on the topics of Lifestyle Medicine and local food systems/food access, serves as a member of several national task force groups dedicated to the expansion of evidence-based lifestyle medicine services and is the current conference chair for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine Annual Meeting. She is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, a Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, serves on the governing Board of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and is board certified in both Family Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine.

Jennifer Shalz, MD, DipABIM, DipABLM, FACLM 

Jennifer Shalz, MD is an internal medicine physician who is the medical director of the St. Luke’s Health System Department of Lifestyle Medicine in southwest Idaho. She develops and directs programs that use lifestyle interventions to help prevent, treat, and reverse chronic disease. Currently these programs include Cardiac, Peripheral Vascular Disease and Pulmonary Rehab; Nicotine Dependence Treatment; Care Transitions; the St. Luke’s Lifestyle Medicine Clinic at the South Meridian YMCA; and the St. Luke’s Complete Health Improvement Program. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine and board certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She earned her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed her internal medicine residency at David Grant Medical Center, Travis Air Force Base. She practiced at three different VA Medical Centers after separating as a major from the USAF in 2000. She was previously a hospice medical director and worked in supportive oncology at a cancer center prior to joining St. Luke’s in 2011.

Joshua Baker, MOT, MHA

Joshua Baker, MOT, MHA, serves as the Director of the Department of Lifestyle Medicine at St. Luke’s Health System, working in dyad partnership with Dr. Jennifer Shalz. The Lifestyle Medicine Program offers a range of services, including:

· Cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation
· Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia
· Nicotine dependence treatment
· Community-based lifestyle medicine classes
· An intensive lifestyle medicine intervention program

Joshua has been with the Lifestyle Medicine department for 12 years, previously serving as a pulmonary rehabilitation case manager, inpatient clinical supervisor, and site manager. In his current role, he oversees operations across five clinics within the St. Luke’s Health System, serving communities in southwest and central Idaho, as well as eastern Oregon.

He is an active member of both the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Joshua earned his Master of Occupational Therapy from the University of North Dakota and recently completed a Master of Healthcare Administration at Idaho State University. His clinical background includes experience in work hardening and chronic pain management, ergonomics, home health, outpatient rehabilitation, long-term care, and sub-acute rehab.

Outside of work, Joshua enjoys cycling, gardening, baking, and spending time outdoors. He lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife and their three children.

Alex Sommers, MD, ABEM, DipABLM 

Alex Sommers, MD, ABEM, DipABLM, a double board-certified emergency medicine and lifestyle medicine physician, is passionate about improving the lives of all patients we serve through value-based health and healthcare. He incorporates advanced direct primary care, collaborative care integrated mental health and lifestyle medicine programs to bring patients and employers the best possible value. On the backside he is data driven and user experience focused. His career is centered around improving the 5x Aim(s) of quality, cost, access, provider satisfaction as well as the SDoH that are meant to help our communities thrive.

Bob Chestnut, MD 

As the Chief Medical Executive Director at Cummins Inc., I lead the clinical operations strategy for over 70,000 employees in more than 190 countries. I oversee the delivery of occupational health, primary care, and telemedicine, and drive the integration of health policy and innovation across the organization. I also serve as an Adjunct Faculty at University of Utah School of Medicine, where I host and mentor resident physicians pursuing training in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. I am on the board of Primary Care Collaborative, a non-profit organization that advocates for high-quality, accessible, and equitable primary care. I am an experienced leader in corporate medicine, population health, occupational medicine, and family practice. I am a thought leader and public speaker in these areas. My mission is to improve the health and well-being of workers and communities through evidence-based practice, education, and advocacy. I am passionate about occupational and environmental health, and I strive to advance the field through research, collaboration, and innovation.