Dean Ornish, M.D., is the founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, where he holds the Safeway Chair.  He is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.  Dr. Ornish received his medical training in internal medicine from the Baylor College of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts General Hospital.  He received a B.A. in Humanities summa cum laude from the University of Texas in Austin, where he gave the baccalaureate address. 

For the past 30 years, Dr. 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.   Recently, Medicare agreed to provide coverage for this program, the first time that Medicare has covered a program of comprehensive lifestyle changes.  He and his colleagues are now training and licensing health professionals from around the world in his program for reversing heart disease for free in an open source model.

Dr. Ornish recently directed the first randomized controlled trial demonstrating that comprehensive lifestyle changes may stop or perhaps even reverse the progression of prostate cancer.  His current research is focusing on whether comprehensive lifestyle changes may affect gene expression. 

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.  His sixth book, The Spectrum, will be published in January by Random House/Ballantine Books.

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.  Their work has been featured in all major media. 

Dr. Ornish is a member of the boards of directors of the U.S. United Nations High Commission on Refugees and the San Francisco Food Bank and the advisory board of "Project Q" at the Harvard School of Public Health.  He was appointed to the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy and elected to the California Academy of Medicine.  He is Chair of the Google Health Advisory Council, the PepsiCo Blue Ribbon Advisory Board, and the Safeway Advisory Council on Health and Nutrition and consults with the CEO of McDonald's to make more healthful foods and to provide health education to their customers in this country and worldwide.

He has received several awards, including the 1994 Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from the University of Texas, Austin, the University of California, Berkeley, "National Public Health Hero" award, the Jan J. Kellermann Memorial Award for distinguished contribution in the field of cardiovascular disease prevention from the International Academy of Cardiology, a Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association, the Beckmann Medal from the German Society for Prevention and Rehabilitation of Cardiovascular Diseases, the "Pioneer in Integrative Medicine" award from California Pacific Medical Center, the "Excellence in Integrative Medicine" award from the Heal Breast Cancer Foundation, the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement, a U.S. Army Surgeon General Medal, and the Bravewell Collaborative Pioneer of Integrative Medicine award.  Dr. Ornish has been a physician consultant to The White House and to several bipartisan members of the U.S. Congress and consulted with the chefs at The White House, Camp David, and Air Force One to cook more healthfully.  He is listed in Who's Who in Healthcare and Medicine, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the World.

Dr. Ornish was recognized as "one of the most interesting people of 1996" by People magazine and chosen by LIFE magazine as "one of the fifty most influential members of his generation."