Profile of Dr Dean Ornish

Would you like to reverse your Heart disease WITHOUT drugs using Natural Healing? – Profile of Dr Dean Ornish

Dr Dean Ornish MD, is a spectacular example of a doctor who has properly researched natural healing as an alternative to drug therapy.His research proved that his Lifestyle approach was more successful at tackling Heart disease than the drug riddled approach that is still promoted by most doctors world-wide.

Dean Ornish MD

Dean Ornish 2007

Dean Michael Ornish, (born July 16, 1953) is a physician and president and founder of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, as well as Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.[1]

Personal Background

Ornish, a native of Dallas, Texas, is a graduate of Hillcrest High School of the Dallas Independent School District. He holds a Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude in Humanities from the University of Texas at Austin where he gave the baccalaureate address. He earned his M.D. from the Baylor College of Medicine, was a Clinical Fellow in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and served a medical internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital (1981–1984). Ornish is known for his lifestyle-driven approach to the control of coronary artery disease (CAD) and other chronic diseases. Beginning in 1977, he directed a series of clinical research studies proving, for the first time, that comprehensive lifestyle changes and natural healing could not only stop the progression of CAD, but could actually reverse it. These lifestyle changes included a whole foods, plant-based diet, smoking cessation, moderate exercise, stress management techniques including yoga and meditation, and psychosocial support all culminating in natural healing. He has acknowledged his debt to Swami Satchidananda for helping him develop this holistic perspective on preventive health.

Professional Background

Dean Ornish presenting at TEDx

This result was demonstrated in a randomized controlled trial known as the Lifestyle Heart Trial, with one-year data published in the Lancet in 1990, and five-year data published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which recruited test subjects with pre-existing coronary artery disease.[2][3] Not only did patients assigned to the above regimen fare better with respect to cardiac events than those who followed standard medical advice, their coronary atherosclerosis was somewhat reversed, as evidenced by decreased stenosis (narrowing) of the coronary arteries after one year of natural healing. Most patients in the control group, by contrast, had narrower coronary arteries at the end of the trial than the start. Other doctors have claimed similar results with similar methods, for example: Caldwell Esselstyn,[4] and K. Lance Gould.[5]

This landmark discovery was notable because it had seemed physiologically implausible, and it suggested cheaper and safer natural healing therapies against cardiovascular disease than invasive procedures such as coronary artery bypass surgery, angioplasty, and stents.
Ornish also directed the first randomized controlled trial demonstrating that comprehensive lifestyle changes may slow, stop, or even reverse the progression of early-state prostate cancer. This study was done in collaboration with the Chairs of Urology at the time at UCSF (Peter Carroll) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (William Fair).[6]

In 1998, he published research showing that comprehensive lifestyle changes affect gene expression in only three months, “turning on” disease-preventing genes and “turning off” genes that promote cancer and heart disease, as well as increasing telomerase, an enzyme that lengthens telomeres, the ends of human chromosomes which control aging (in collaboration with Elizabeth Backburn, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2009).

He is the author of six best-selling books, including ‘Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease; Eat More, Weigh Less; Love & Survival; as well as his most recent book, “The Spectrum.”

He has been a physician consultant to former President Bill Clinton since 1993, when Ornish was first asked by Hillary Rodham Clinton to consult with the chefs at The White House, Camp David, and Air Force One to cook more healthfully. In 2010, after the former President’s cardiac bypass grafts became clogged, Ornish met with him and encouraged him to follow a mostly plant-based diet and rely on natural healing, since moderate changes in diet were not sufficient to stop the progression of his heart disease, and he agreed.[7] In contrast to Esselstyn, Ornish recommends the consumption of fish oil supplements and does not follow a strict vegetarian diet, allowing for the consumption of occasional animal products.[8]

Ornish has written a monthly column for “Newsweek” and “Reader’s Digest” magazines and is currently serving as the Medical Editor of “The Huffington Post”. A one-hour documentary of his work was broadcast on “NOVA”, the PBS science series, in addition to being featured on Bill Moyers’ PBS series, “Healing & The Mind”. His work will be featured in a new documentary film about transforming the future of healthcare with patient-centered, integrative medicine, “A Tale of Two Systems: Following a Healthcare Revolution”.

Accolades

Dean Ornish speaking at Google Zeitgeist 2011
Ornish is a member of the boards of directors of the San Francisco Food Bank and the J. Craig Venter Institute. Additionally, he is a member of the boards of directors of the U.S. United Nations High Commission on Refugees and the Quincy Jones Foundation. He is an advisory board member of HealthCorps. He was appointed to The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy and elected to the California Academy of Medicine.

He chaired the Google Health Advisory Council from 2007 through 2009.

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 Stanley Wallach Lectureship Award from the American College of Nutrition; the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement; the Linus Pauling Award from the Institute for Functional Medicine; the Glenn Foundation Award for Research in Aging; the Bravewell Collaborative Pioneer of Integrative Medicine award; and the Sheila Kar Health Foundation Humanitarian Award from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles).

He regularly gives keynote speeches on his findings in natural healing, and has spoken at the White House, the Google Zeitgeist conference, as well as the Institute of Medicine’s first Summit on Integrative Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences.

Ornish was recognized as “one of the most interesting people of 1996” by People magazine; selected as one of the “TIME 100” in integrative medicine; honored as “one of the 125 most extraordinary University of Texas alumni in the past 125 years;” chosen by LIFE magazine as “one of the fifty most influential members of his generation;” and by Forbes magazine as “one of the seven most powerful teachers in the world.”

Published Works

Books and monographs

Ornish, D. Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease, New York: Random House, 1990; Ballantine Books, 1992.[9]
Ornish D. Eat More, Weigh Less. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993.[10]
Ornish D. Everyday Cooking with Dr. Dean Ornish. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996.[11]
Ornish D. Love & Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy. New York: HarperCollins, 1998.[12]
Ornish D. The Spectrum. New York: Ballantine Books, 2008.[13]
Billings J, Scherwitz L, Sullivan R, Ornish D. Group support therapy in the Lifestyle Heart Trial. In: Scheidt S, Allan R, eds. Heart and Mind: The Emergence of Cardiac Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 1996:233-253.[14]
Ornish D, Hart J. Intensive Risk Factor Modification. In: Hennekens C, Manson J, eds. Clinical Trials in Cardiovascular Disease. Boston: W.B. Saunders, 1998 (companion to Heart Disease, the Braunwald standard cardiology textbook).

US News awarded the Spectrum the “#1 Heart Healthy” diet in 2011

Ornish D. “Intensive Lifestyle Changes in Management of Coronary Heart Disease. In: Braunwald E. Harrison’s Advances in Cardiology. New York: McGraw Hill, 2002.[15]
Ornish D. “The cost-effectiveness of consumer-driven lifestyle changes in the treatment of cardiac disease.” In: Herzlinger RE. Consumer-Driven Health Care. San Francisco: Wiley & Sons, 2004.[16]
Scher B, Guarneri EM, Hart JA, Ornish D. Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trials. In: Manson J, Buring JE, Ridker PM, Gaziano JM, eds. Clinical Trials in Cardiovascular Disease, Second Edition. Boston: W.B. Saunders, 2004 (companion to Heart Disease, the Braunwald standard cardiology textbook).
Ornish D. “Our Genes Are Not Our Fate.” In: Brockman J. This Will Change Everything. New York: HarperCollins, 2010.[17]
Moyers, Bill. “Changing Life Habits: A Conversation with Dean Ornish.” In: Healing and the Mind. New York: Doubleday, 1993.[18]

Original Reports

Ornish DM, Gotto AM, Miller RR, et al. Effects of a vegetarian diet and selected yoga techniques in the treatment of coronary heart disease. Clinical Research. 1979;27:720A.[19]
Ornish DM, Scherwitz LW, Doody RS, Kesten D, McLanahan SM, Brown SE, DePuey G, Sonnemaker R, Haynes C, Lester J, McAllister GK, Hall RJ, Burdine JA, Gotto AM. Effects of stress management training and dietary changes in treating ischemic heart disease. JAMA. 1983;249:54-59.[20]
Ornish DM, Brown SE, Scherwitz LW, et al. Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary atherosclerosis? The Lifestyle Heart Trial. The Lancet. 1990; 336:129-133. (Reprinted in Yearbook of Medicine and Yearbook of Cardiology (New York: C.V. Mosby, 1991).[21]
Gould KL, Ornish D, Scherwitz L, Stuart Y, Buchi M, Billings J, Armstrong W, Ports T, Scherwitz L. Changes in myocardial perfusion abnormalities by positron emission tomography after long-term, intense risk factor modification. JAMA. 1995;274:894-901.[22]
Ornish D, Scherwitz L, Billings J, Brown SE, Gould KL, Merritt TA, Sparler S, Armstrong WT, Ports TA, Kirkeeide RL, Hogeboom C, Brand RJ. Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary heart disease Five-year follow-up of the Lifestyle Heart Trial. JAMA. 1998;280:2001-2007.[23]
Ornish D. Avoiding Revascularization with Lifestyle Changes: The Multicenter Lifestyle Demonstration Project. American Journal of Cardiology. 1998;82:72T-76T.[24]
Ornish DM, Weidner G, Fair WR, Marlin R, Pettengill EB, Raisin CJ, Dunn-Emke S, Crutchfield L, Jacobs NF, Barnard RJ, Aronson WJ, McCormac P, McKnight DJ, Fein JD, Dnistrian AM, Weinstein J, Ngo TH, Mendell NR, Carroll PR. Intensive lifestyle changes may affect the progression of prostate cancer. Journal of Urology. 2005;174:1065-1070.[25]
Ornish D, Magbanua MJM, Weidner G, Weinberg V, Kemp C, Green C, et al. Changes in prostate gene expression in men undergoing an intensive nutrition and lifestyle intervention. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 2008; 105: 8369-8374.[26]
Ornish D, Lin J, Daubenmier J, Weidner G, Epel E, Kemp C, Magbanua MJM, Marlin R, Yglecias L, Carroll P, Blackburn E. Increased telomerase activity and comprehensive lifestyle changes: a pilot study. The Lancet Oncology. 2008; 9: 1048–57.[27]
Dod HS, Bhardwaj R, Sajja V, Weidner G, Hobbs GR, Konat GW, Manivannan S, Gharib W,
Warden BE, Nanda NC, Beto RJ, Ornish D, Jain AC. Effect of intensive lifestyle changes on endothelial function and on inflammatory markers of atherosclerosis. Am J Cardiol. 2010 Feb 1;105(3):362-7.[28]
Silberman A, Banthia R, Estay IS, Kemp C, Studley J, Hareras D, Ornish D. The effectiveness and efficacy of an intensive cardiac rehabilitation program in 24 sites. Am J Health Promot. 2010;24[4]:260–266.[29]

References

^ “Preventive Medicine Research Institute”. 2009. http://www.pmri.org/. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
^ Lancet. 1990 Jul 21;336(8708):129-33.
^ Ornish, D.; Brown, S.E.; Billings, J.H.; Scherwitz, L.W.; Armstrong, W.T.; Ports, T.A.; McLanahan, S.M.; Kirkeeide, R.L. et al. (1990). “Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease? The Lifestyle Heart Trial”. The Lancet (U.S. National Library of Medicine; PubMed) 336 (8708): 129–33. doi:10.1016/0140-6736(90)91656-U. PMID 1973470.
^ Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease
^ Patient Publications: Weatherhead PET Imaging Center for Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease
^ Journal of Urology. 2005;174:1065-1070.
^ Sherwell, Philip. “Bill Clinton’s new diet: nothing but beans, vegetables and fruit to combat heart disease”, The Daily Telegraph, October 3, 2010.
^ Caldwell Esselstyn and Dean Ornish Explain Healthy Way for Bill Clinton’s Dramatic Weight Loss. CNN. September 22, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoHt9cSWJVI&feature=player_embedded.
^ “Dr Dean Ornish Program | Wellness Program | WVU Health Sciences Center”. Hsc.wvu.edu. http://www.hsc.wvu.edu/Wellness/Dr-Dean-Ornish-Program/. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ “Review: Eat More, Weigh Less”. Webmd.com. http://www.webmd.com/diet/ornish-diet-what-it-is. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ “Browse Inside Everyday Cooking with Dr. Dean Ornish: 150 Easy, Low-Fat, High-Flavor Recipes by Dean Ornish”. Harpercollins.com. http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060928117. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ Ornish, Dean. “Love and Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy by Dean Ornish”. Harpercollins.com. http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Love-Survival-Dean-Ornish/?isbn=9780060930202. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ “Dean Ornish’s “The Spectrum” Diet: Overview and Expert Opinion”. Webmd.com. http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/review-dean-ornish-the-spectrum. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ “JAMA Network | JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association | Intensive Lifestyle Changes for Reversal of Coronary Heart Disease”. Jama.ama-assn.org. 1998-12-16. http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/280/23/2001.full.pdf%20html. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ http://www.ornishspectrum.com/wp-content/uploads/Intensive-lifestyle-changes-for-reversal-of-coronary-heart-disease1.pdf
^ “Consumer-Driven Health Care: Implications for Providers, Payers and Policy Makers | Table of Contents”. Manhattan-institute.org. http://www.manhattan-institute.org/consumerdrivenhealthcare/html/toc.html. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ “Dean Ornish says your genes are not your fate | Video on”. Ted.com. http://www.ted.com/talks/dean_ornish_says_your_genes_are_not_your_fate.html. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ Healing and the Mind – Bill D. Moyers, David Grubin – Google Books. Books.google.com. 1995-03-01. ISBN 9780385476874. http://books.google.com/?id=D4q2xYUA42kC&pg=PA87&lpg=PA87&dq=ornish+Changing+Life+Habits:++A+Conversation+with+Dean+Ornish.#v=onepage&q=ornish%20Changing%20Life%20Habits%3A%20%20A%20Conversation%20with%20Dean%20Ornish.&f=false. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ “Preventive Medicine Research Institute”. Pmri.org. http://www.pmri.org/research.html. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ USA (2012-04-04). “Effects of stress management training and dietary chang… [JAMA. 1983] – PubMed – NCBI”. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6336794. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ USA (2012-04-04). “Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease?… [Lancet. 1990] – PubMed – NCBI”. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1973470. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ “the research | The Ornish Spectrum | A simple and proven program for making healthy, sustainable lifestyle changes”. The Ornish Spectrum. http://www.ornishspectrum.com/proven-program/the-research/. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ USA (2012-04-04). “Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary he… [JAMA. 1998] – PubMed – NCBI”. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9863851. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ “Avoiding revascularization with lifestyle changes: The Multicenter Lifestyle Demonstration Project.”. Mendeley. http://www.mendeley.com/research/avoiding-revascularization-lifestyle-changes-multicenter-lifestyle-demonstration-project/. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ http://www.ornishspectrum.com/wp-content/uploads/Intensive_Lifestyle_Changes_and_Prostate_Cancer.pdf
^ “Changes in prostate gene expression in men undergoing an intensive nutrition and lifestyle intervention”. Pnas.org. http://www.pnas.org/content/105/24/8369. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ “Comprehensive Lifestyle Changes Improve Levels Of Enzyme Telomerase Involved In Cell Ageing”. Medicalnewstoday.com. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/121479.php. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ “Elsevier”. Ajconline.org. http://www.ajconline.org/article/S0002-9149(09)02409-6/abstract. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
^ “Decision Memo for Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation (ICR) Program – Dr. Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease (CAG-00419N)”. Cms.gov. https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/details/nca-decision-memo.aspx?NCAId=240&ver=7&NcaName=Intensive+Cardiac+Rehabilitation+(ICR)+Program+-+Dr.+Ornish%2527s+Program+for+Reversing+Heart+Disease&NCDId=339&ncdver=1&IsPopup=y&bc=AAAAAAAAIAAA&. Retrieved 2012-05-17.