Dr. John La Puma

Dr. John La Puma Profile

Dr. John La Puma MD is the leading physician voice for culinary medicine and nature as essential parts of your health, and an internationally recognized expert in nutrition, well-being and wellness. Dr La Puma is a board-certified specialist in internal medicine, a professionally trained chef and an urban organic regenerative farmer. He is also a New York Times best-selling author, has lectured on culinary medicine at TEDMED and TEDx, and on nature-based medicine and culinary medicine at the University of Chicago and Harvard University,

Dr. John believes that both food and nature are information for the body and the brain. The right foods, beverages, outdoor activities and nature-based solutions can help you reboot your brain and your health. Both food and nature are regenerative, powerful, underutilized therapeutic tools in medicine.

John La Puma is a practicing physician, board-certified in internal medicine and a professionally trained chef. His patients, books, recipes and television episodes are changing the way people think about food, health and medicine–as fun, personal and tasty. Three of his books Cooking the RealAge Way, The RealAge Diet, and ChefMD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine have been bestsellers around the world and have been translated into 8 languages.

The Wall Street Journal calls him a “Secret Weapon” against cholesterol and heart disease. He taught the first Nutrition and Cooking Course for Medical Students in the US, at SUNY-Upstate with Dr. Michael Roizen of the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. La Puma is a renowned speaker. He spoke at the prestigious TEDx conference in October 2010, at Gel Health in October 2009 and is consistently rated among the very best speakers by the audiences he addresses. He has also been a consultant and spokesperson for some of the groups to which he has given talks, such as CIGNA, Caremark, GSK and Kraft.

Dr. La Puma is in the media. He hosts the nationwide 90 minute PBS Special Eat and Cook Healthy now airing; hosted a nationwide 30 minute Chef MD PBS Special in 2010; and co-hosted 100+ episodes of Lifetime TV’s Health Corner (most recently with Joan Lunden and Leeza Gibbons). He starred in the weekly Chef MD TV segment on Lifetime TV for nearly 5 years. He has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The 700 Club, NPR, Dr. Oz XM, Oprah.com, Martha Stewart radio, and on NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, PBS and CNN, and in hundreds of print publications.

Dr. La Puma is Founding Editor of Alternative Medicine Alert, the leading evidence-based newsletter for clinicians on dietary supplements and integrative medical approaches. He worked as a general internist at North Suburban Clinic before leaving to become a full time independent physician, writer, teacher and researcher.

His clinical trial designs and academic work has resulted in authorship or co-authorship of over 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers, 150 other contributions to the medical literature and three medical books, including a CME book.

He performed his residency in internal medicine at West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center and UCLA, and completed the first postgraduate fellowship in general internal medicine and clinical medical ethics in the US, at the University of Chicago.

Dr. La Puma became a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, Professor of Nutrition at Kendall College’s School of Culinary Arts, and cook at James Beard-award winning Chef Rick Bayless’ Topolobampo in Chicago. Dr. La Puma graduated with honors from the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago (now a Le Cordon Bleu school) in Professional Cooking.

Repeatedly named “One of America’s Top Physicians” by Consumers’ Research Council, Dr. La Puma has been honored with the American Medical Association/National Association of Medical Communicators “Award of Excellence.” He is based in Santa Barbara, California.