Obesity Management Workshop

He completed a clinical and research fellowship in integrative medicine at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in La Jolla and a residency in family practice at the Sharp Grossmont Family Practice Residency Program in San Diego. Board certified by the American Board of Family Practice, Dr. Bonakdar is a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the California Academy of Family Physicians, the American Holistic Medical Association, and the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture. He has conducted award-winning research and presented at numerous conferences in the area of herbal and natural medicines.

From 1993 to 1996 he performed his post-doctoral studies as a Fulbright scholar at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA) with Professor Charles N. Serhan, a leading scientist in the resolution of inflammation. He has also been a Visiting Scientist at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, NC) (2001) and The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME) (2007) and a Visiting Professor at the Harvard Institutes of Medicine (Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School) (Boston, MA) (2010-2011). His laboratory is mainly interested in the study of lipid mediators implicated in the resolution of inflammation, with a special emphasis on the role of specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) derived from omega-3-PUFA in obesity-associated liver complications. He is the innate immune Section Editor of the Journal of Immunology and member of the Editorial Boards of Gut, Lipids Insight, World Journal of Immunology and Frontiers in Lipidology and Metabolism. He is the current President of the European Society for Lipid Mediators.

Dr. Contractor has extensive experience running research programs in both academic- and industry-research settings across the spectrum of preclinical to clinical research with over 10 years in the development of nutritional products. She has held leadership positions at Wyeth, Pfizer and Nestle and has authored over 15 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Contractor earned her PhD in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania where she studied the role of gut microbiota in models of inflammation and the function of the intestinal immune system. She continued these research interests as a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.

Dr. Hamdy is a co-investigator of 2 landmark studies; the National Diabetes Prevention Program and the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) Study. He translated the successful clinical research results of these lifestyle modification clinical trials into a clinical practice model through the initiation of the Why WAIT Program (Weight Achievement and Intensive Treatment), the world's first multidicplinary clinical practice model for diabetes weight management. Dr. Hamdy chaired the task force that developed the Joslin New Nutrition Guidelines and is a member of the Nutrition Guidelines Committee of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) that created the AACE Nutrition Guidelines for Healthy Americans, the Guidelines for Obesity Management and the Guidelines for Bariatric Surgery.

Dr. Hamdy has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and clinical proceedings about diabetes and obesity. He is a member of editorial review boards for several medical journals including JAMA, Diabetes Care, Expert Opinion Journals and Obesity Research.

http://www.thediabetesbreakthrough.com/

In conjunction with her academic degrees and extensive teaching experience at the university level, she is both a Fellow (F.A.C.N.) and a Certified Nutrition Specialist (C.N.S.) through the American College of Nutrition. Dr. Minich has over ten years of experience working in both the food and dietary supplement industries. In 2014, she led The Detox Summit, an online event featuring 30 experts on detox, which was attended by almost 70K people worldwide. Following The Detox Summit, she collaborated with the Institute for Functional Medicine to lead 3000 people through The Detox Challenge, a 21-day, online, functional medicine-oriented, holistic detoxification program. Results collected from almost 700 people in this program indicated a significant improvement in all body systems. Her book, Whole Detox: A 21-Day Personalized Program to Break Through Barriers in Every Area of Your Life (HarperOne, 2016), was published in March 2016. In addition, she spends her time as a Board member for the American College of Nutrition and the Nutritional Therapy Association, and as adjunct faculty at the University of Western States. She is the author of five books on nutrition, wellness, and psychology, and is passionate in helping others to live well using therapeutic lifestyle changes.

Dr. Rice’s professional interests include nutrition based chronic disease management as well as bioidentical hormone replacement therapy for men and women. His clinical expertise is in most areas of chronic disease and, ultimately, the treatment and reversal of some of the more commonly encountered conditions in clinical practice today. His main focus in his practice is on wellness and prevention, nutrition, therapeutic lifestyle change and appropriate hormone balancing for men and women. His practice is a blend of both functional and lifestyle medicine.

Dr. Rice has been featured on local television as well as local and national radio to discuss a wide range of health care topics, including obesity in adults and children, healthy eating, healthy exercise, hormones, and lifestyle medicine. He remains actively involved in the education of young trainees and established healthcare practitioners on the benefits of lifestyle medicine as it relates to patient care and 21st century chronic disease. Dr. Rice frequently mentors in-state and out of state physicians from a variety of specialties looking to implement a similar treatment philosophy at their respective practice(s).

Dr. Rice currently serves on BioTE Medical’s Advisory Board. He has also been certified as a physician mentor through BioTE Medical, a leading provider of natural hormone replacement therapy using subcutaneous pellets, where he helps certified health care providers on the use of bioidentical pellets for both men and women.

Dr. Rice was awarded the 2015 Vision Award by BioTE Medical at their Annual Medical Conference in Marco Island, Florida. This is a Medical Excellence Award that recognizes his and his practice’s vision when it comes to educating patients and fellow physicians/practitioners in the area of appropriate, evidence-based hormone balancing for both men and women.

Dr. Rice is also an owner of Optimal Wellness and Hormone Balancing, PLLC in Dallas, TX. Visit their website at www.optimalhormonebalancing.com.

You can read more about his accomplishments and recognitions here.

Dr. Volek has secured several million dollars in research funds from federal sources, industry, and foundations. He has been invited to lecture on his research over 200 times at scientific and industry conferences in a dozen countries. His scholarly work includes 300+ peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts and five books.