My Health Heroes

My six-year metabolic health journey and knowledge were crafted by many incredible physicians, PhD researchers, science journalists and others that I wouldn't have expected. I have invested over 12,000 hours wrapping my brain around this. I will be listing them and their work here soon. Without them, I wouldn't have generated my own results or assisted others in reaching their health goals.  

Please check back to learn from the best as I work on building this page. 

Dr. Stephen Phinney, M.D., PhD,  is Co-Founder and former Chief Medical Officer of Virta Health, the first clinically-proven treatment to safely and sustainably reverse type 2 diabetes without medications or surgery.

As a physician-scientist with 40 years of experience divided between academic internal medicine and industry, Dr. Phinney has studied nutritional biochemistry with a long-term focus on low carbohydrate research and its benefits for physical performance and insulin sensitivity. His career has emphasized the interaction between diet and exercise and their effects on obesity, body composition, physical performance, and cellular membrane structure.

A Professor of Medicine Emeritus at University of California, Davis, Dr. Phinney is an internationally recognized expert on obesity, carbohydrate-restricted and ketogenic diets, diet and performance, and essential fatty acid metabolism. He has held clinical faculty appointments at MIT and the Universities of Vermont, Minnesota, and California at Davis as well as leadership positions at Monsanto, Galileo Laboratories, and Efficas.

Dr. Phinney's clinical experience includes inpatient and outpatient clinical nutrition, directing multidisciplinary weight management programs in three locations, and he has designed, completed, and published data from more than 20 clinical protocols involving diets, exercise, oxidative stress, and inflammation. His extensive experience in the design of clinical nutrition trials in both academic and industrial settings has led to more than 87 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters on clinical nutrition and biochemistry. He is the author of four books, including The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living and The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance, two foundational books on low carb nutrition science and nutritional ketosis that he co-authored with 

Jeff Volek, Ph.D, RD. is Co-Founder and former Chief Science Officer of Virta Health, the first clinically-proven treatment to safely and sustainably reverse type 2 diabetes without medications or surgery.

For the last two decades, Dr. Volek has performed cutting edge research on how humans adapt to diets restricted in carbohydrates with a dual focus on clinical and performance applications of nutritional ketosis. His scholarly work includes more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts and five books, including a New York Times Best Seller, and he has provided more than 200 lectures at scientific and industry conferences around the world. Dr. Volek is the author of The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living and The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance, two foundational books on low carb nutrition science and nutritional ketosis that he wrote with Stephen Phinney, MD, Ph.D.

As a registered dietitian and professor in the Department of Human Sciences at The Ohio State University, Dr. Volek's work has contributed to the existing science of ketones and ketogenic diets, their use as a therapeutic tool to manage insulin resistance, plus their increasing potential to augment human resiliency. This line of work has shown profound effects of carbohydrate restriction on overall health and well-being, and he has accumulated an extensive amount of laboratory and clinical data as it pertains to biomarker discovery and the formulation of personalized, effective, and sustainable low-carbohydrate diets.

His team at Ohio State University is currently focused on making new discoveries and breaking open new application related to nutritional ketosis. These studies are exploring the role of nutritional ketosis on cardio-metabolic status, ectopic fat accumulation in various tissues (liver, muscle, heart), tumor metabolism and health outcomes in women with advanced breast cancer, and human physical and cognitive capabilities in military personnel.

Dr. Volek does not just write about his research—he personally uses it. A former athlete and competitive powerlifter, he follows the principles of a low carbohydrate diet while regularly training for strength and health.

Dr. Volek has a Bachelor of Science in dietetics from Michigan State University, and a Master of Science in exercise physiology and Doctorate in kinesiology and nutrition from Pennsylvania State University. Both Phinney and Volek's biography's found at the Virta Health Website. 

Dr. Sarah Hallberg M.D.  (1971–2022)

Dr. Sarah was a remarkable physician, educator, and advocate in the field of diabetes management. Born in 1971, she dedicated her life to improving the lives of individuals living with type 2 diabetes.

A Trailblazer in Diabetes Care

- Medical Director at Virta Health, Dr. Hallberg served as the Medical Director at Virta Health, an online specialty medical clinic focused on reversing type 2 diabetes safely and sustainably.

- Researcher and Clinician, She conducted groundbreaking research on the effectiveness of nutritional interventions for diabetes management. Her work challenged conventional approaches and emphasized the role of low-carb and ketogenic diets.

- TEDx Speaker, In her influential TEDx talk, Dr. Hallberg discussed the reversal of type 2 diabetes using a ketogenic diet. Her passion for evidence-based practices resonated with audiences worldwide.

- A candid interview with Dr. Peter Attia on "The Drive" podcast, Episode 162, Sarah Hallberg, D.O., M.S.: Treating metabolic disease, & a personal journey through cancer

Courage and Resilience

- Diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in 2017, Dr. Hallberg faced immense challenges. Despite the grim prognosis, she continued to advocate for patients and contribute to scientific research.

- Remarkable Journey, Having never smoked and being in her 40s, her diagnosis was unexpected. Yet, she defied the odds, living with lung cancer for more than 5 years. Her resilience and determination inspired everyone who knew her.

Legacy and Advocacy

-Patient-Centric Approach, Dr. Hallberg embodied patient-first principles. Her selflessness and dedication to helping others were unparalleled.

- Scientific Contributions, As Principal Investigator in Virta Health's clinical trial, she authored numerous manuscripts and articles. Her legacy lives on through her research and advocacy.

- Remembering Dr. Sarah Hallberg, We mourn her passing but celebrate her impact. Dr. Hallberg's courage, compassion, and curiosity will forever inspire those in the fight against diabetes.

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Dr. Sarah Hallberg's legacy continues to shape diabetes care, and her memory remains in our hearts.   Biography found at Amazon.com

Reversing Type 2 Diabetes Starts with Ignoring the Guidelines - Ted Talk

Benjamin Bikman, PhD

Dr. Bikman’s research focus is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that mediate the disruption that causes and accompanies metabolic disorders, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and dementia. Driven by his academic training (Ph.D. in Bioenergetics and postdoctoral fellowship with the Duke-National University of Singapore in metabolic disorders), he is currently exploring the contrasting roles of insulin and ketones as key drivers of metabolic function. He frequently publishes his research in peer-reviewed journals and presents at international science meetings. 

The focus of my lab (the Laboratory of Obesity and Metabolism) is twofold. First, we aim to identify the molecular mechanisms that explain the increased risk of disease that accompanies weight gain, with particular emphasis on the etiology of insulin resistance and disrupted mitochondrial function. Second, we hope to reveal novel cellular processes that are responsible for fat development and accrual, with a particular emphasis on white/brown fat and the contrasting effects of insulin and ketones.

Much of our recent work is focused on the pathogenicity of the hormone insulin. Insulin, while necessary for healthy living, elicits significant and harmful changes in tissue metabolic function when chronically elevated. Several projects have stemmed from this work, including a focus on the varying effects of dietary macronutrients (e.g. carbohydrates vs. fats) on insulin homeostasis, the effects of insulin on brown adipose tissue (and metabolic rate), and insulin-induced brain alterations.

We employ numerous pharmacological and genetic tools to better understand the origins and consequences of ceramide accumulation on various factors related to metabolic function, including signal transduction, substrate utilization, and energy expenditure. 

• Doctor of Philosophy, Bioenergetics , East Carolina University (2008)
• Master of Science, Exercise Physiology , Brigham Young University (2005)
• Bachelor of Science, Exercise Science , Brigham Young University (2003)

Biography from BYU: https://cell.byu.edu/directory/benjamin-bikman

Robert H. Lustig, M.D., M.S.L.

Dr. Lustig is Professor emeritus of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He specializes in the field of neuroendocrinology, with an emphasis on the regulation of energy balance by the central nervous system. His research and clinical practice has focused on childhood obesity and diabetes. Dr. Lustig holds a Bachelor’s in Science from MIT, a Doctorate in Medicine from Cornell University. Medical College, and a Master’s of Studies in Law from U.C. Hastings College of the Law.

Dr. Lustig has fostered a global discussion of metabolic health and nutrition, exposing some of the leading myths that underlie the current pandemic of diet-related disease. He believes the food business, by pushing processed food loaded with sugar, has hacked our bodies and minds to pursue pleasure instead of happiness; fostering today’s epidemics of addiction and depression. Yet by focusing on real food, we can beat the odds against sugar, processed food, obesity, and disease.

Fat Chance - Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food Obesity and Disease

The Hacking of the American Mind - The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains 

Metabolical - The Lure and Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine

Dr. Lustig speaks all over the world.  https://robertlustig.com/

Gary Taubes is an investigative science and health journalist and co-founder of the non-profit Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI.org). He is the author of Rethinking Diabetes (2024), The Case Against Sugar (2016), Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It (2011) and Good Calories, Bad Calories (2007), The Case For Keto (2020)  published as The Diet Delusion in the UK. Taubes is the recipient of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in Health Policy Research, and has won numerous other awards for his journalism. These include the International Health Reporting Award from the Pan American Health Organization and the National Association of Science Writers Science in Society Journalism Award, which he won in 1996, 1999 and 2001. (He is the first print journalist to win this award three times.) Taubes graduated from Harvard College in 1977 with an S.B. degree in applied physics, and received an M.S. degree in engineering from Stanford University (1978) and in journalism from Columbia University (1981). Biography found at:   https://garytaubes.com/biography/ 

NinaTeicholz, PhD is an investigative science journalist and leader in nutrition reporting who is challenging the conventional wisdom on dietary fat–particularly, whether saturated fat causes heart disease and whether fat really makes you fat. The New York Times bestselling author of The Big Fat Surprise. Teicholz also serves as Executive Director of The Nutrition Coalition, an independent non-profit group that promotes evidence-based nutrition policy. She is one of a new generation of researchers arguing that diets lower in carbohydrates are a scientifically sound approach for reversing nutrition-related diseases.

For more than half a century, we’ve been told to eat a diet high in grains, low in fat, saturated fat (and cholesterol), but the last two decades of research have led a growing number of scientists  to conclude that this diet, despite being rigorously tested, could never be shown to prevent any kind of disease. Biography found at: https://ninateicholz.com/

Dr Jason Fung

Dr. Jason Fung is a New York Times-bestselling author of many books including The Obesity Code,  The Cancer Code, and The Diabetes Code. He completed medical school at the University of Toronto and a fellowship in nephrology at UCLA. He is the co-founder of The Fasting Method, a program to help people lose weight and reverse type 2 diabetes naturally with intermittent fasting. He lives in Toronto. 

Catherine Shanahan M.D

Dr. Cate is a Family Medicine MD whose revolutionary approach to nutrition and willingness to expose deep-seated flaws and conflicts of interest in science has earned global recognition as a thought leader, NYT Bestselling Author, sought after speaker and consultant.

She has been a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher and Good Morning America and featured in The Magic Pill documentary and The Real Skinny on Fat docuseries, Scientific American, Sports Illustrated, Men's Journal, CNN, US News and World Report, Prevention Magazine, Vogue, National Geographic, GQ, the New York Post, Woman's World, People Magazine among others as well as numerous radio talk shows and popular podcasts. 

Learn more at DrCate.com

Dr. Ken Berry 

Ken D Berry, MD is a Family Physician, Speaker and Author based near Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.

Ken was born in Linden, Tennessee, and grew up in the very small Southern town of Hohenwald, Tennessee. 

He received a Bachelor of Science degree, with honors, in Animal Biology and Psychology, from Middle Tennessee State University, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 1996.

He received his MD from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2000.

Ken has been practicing Family Medicine in rural Tennessee for over a decade. He is board certified in Family Medicine, and has been awarded the degree of Fellow, by the American Academy of Family Physicians. 

Having seen over 20,000 patients during his career of all ages, he is uniquely qualified to write on both acute and chronic diseases. More and more, Dr. Berry has focused on the chronic diseases caused by the Standard American Diet and Lifestyle, and has made it his mission to turn the tide on the epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes, chronic inflammation and dementia.

Ken has four children, 3 dogs, 2 cats and 7 peacocks. He, and his beautiful wife Neisha, live on their farm in Holladay, TN.

YouTube - www.youtube.com/kendberrymd

Facebook - www.fb.com/kendberry.md 

Instagram - www.Instagram instagram.com/kendberry.md

Georgia Ede, M.D.

Is a Harvard-trained, board-certified psychiatrist specializing in nutritional and metabolic psychiatry. My passion is empowering people with psychiatric conditions to reduce or eliminate the need for medications by changing how they eat. But which changes are worth making, and why? Answering that question is what my work is all about. 

Soon I will be updating with many presentations that she has delivered.

Her Book: Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind

Dr. Chris Palmer

Dr. Palmer is the Founder and Director of the Metabolic and Mental Health Program and the Director of the Department of Postgraduate and Continuing Education, both at McLean Hospital, and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. For almost 30 years, He has held administrative, educational, research, and clinical roles in psychiatry. 

His book, Brain Energy, presents the first comprehensive theory of what causes mental illness, integrating decades of clinical, neuroscience, and metabolic research into one unifying theory. Mental disorders are metabolic disorders of the brain. This theory integrates biological, psychological, and social factors and helps us understand the connections between mental health and physical health. It answers questions that have long plagued the mental health field, but more importantly, it offers new solutions, ones that come with the hope of long-term healing as opposed to just symptom reduction.

Soon I will be updating with many presentations that he has delivered.

Dr. Malcolm Kendrick

Dr. Kendrick is one of the doctors that I found in my effort to reverse my heart disease. He is a General Practitioner practicing in Macclesfield, England. He has written the following books poking holes in the research of cholesterol. They include: 

The Clot Thickens - The enduring mystery of heart disease

Doctoring Data - How to sort out Medical Advice from Medical Nonsense

The Great Cholesterol Con - The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid it

Prof Dr. Tim Noakes, M.D., MBChB, DSc

Prof Noakes has published more than 750 scientific books and articles. He has been cited more than 21,000 times in scientific literature and has an H-index of 77. (The primary purpose of the h-index is to evaluate the cumulative impact of an individual’s scholarly work. It compares author’s publications to citations, measuring quantity with quality. This article outlines all there is to know about the h-index. Surveys among academic physicians show that assistant professors have an average h-index of two to five, associate professors six to ten, while full professors have an h-index of 12 to 24. Einstein has an H-index of 67.)

He has won numerous awards over the years and made himself available on many editorial boards. 

For the final 15 years of his academic career he was rated an A1 scientist - the highest possible rating indicating a world-leading scientist - by the South African National Research Foundation. 

Tim is the co-founder and Chief Medical Director of the Nutrition Network and devotes the majority of his time promoting the low carbohydrate high fat diet (LCHF), especially for those with insulin resistance(IR), raising funds and doing research through the Noakes Foundation (TNF) and supporting Eat Better South Africa(EBSA).

Prof Noakes is one of M.D.'s that the food and pharma industries used the die

Please check back to learn from the best as I work on building this page. 

Ivor Cummins 

I came across Ivor in his capacity as President of Irish Heart Disease Awareness charity. The charity was established to raise awareness of heart disease as a progressive, measurable and treatable disease that can be detected by a simple calcification test. 

Ivor is the Co-Author with Dr. Jeffry Gerber of Eat Rich Live Long - Use the Power of Low-Carb and Keto for Weight Loss and Great Health. 

Since 2012 Ivor has been intensively researching the root causes of modern chronic disease. A particular focus has been on cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. He shares his research insights at public speaking engagements around the world, revealing the key nutritional and lifestyle interventions which deliver excellent health and personal productivity. He has recently presented at the British Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (BACPR) and also the the Irish National Institute of Preventative Cardiology (NIPC) annual Conferences.  

Ivor Cummins BE(Chem) CEng MIEI  completed a Biochemical Engineering degree in 1990. He has since spent 30 years in corporate technical leadership positions. His career specialty has been leading large worldwide teams in complex problem-solving activity.  

He has interviewed many world renown researchers and physicians on his YouTube channel. I learned my heart disease reversal protocol in 2019 from one of his guests.