Events will be hosted by Lotus Health Foundation, the non-profit arm of Rochester Clinic, and will be held at the Rochester Seventh-Day Adventist Church. The Celebration Gala will be held at Rochester Golf and Country Club on May 6 at 5:30 pm.
 
The two-day event, themed “Lifestyle Medicine: The Compass to Your Well-Being”, focuses on education, prevention, and improving the health of our community, one person at a time through self-care. Featured speakers include Neil Nedley, MD, founder of the Nedley Depression and Anxiety Recovery Program; Wayne Dysinger, MD, Chair of American Board of Lifestyle Medicine; and several local lifestyle medicine experts.
 
Community members, health care practitioners, human resource professionals, corporate executives and others interested in building community resilience will benefit from attending these events. All events held at The Rochester Seventh-Day Adventist Church are free to attend. Gala tickets are available for purchase. Registration is required and available at: http://communityofwellness2022.eventbrite.com 
 
Mayor Norton will issue a proclamation to declare the Community of Wellness Month on Friday, May 6.
Gala – Friday, 5/6 at Rochester Golf & Country Club 5:30 – 8:45 p.m. (Ticketed event)

Presenting Speakers

Neil Nedley, MD

Neil Nedley, M.D., is a full-time practicing physician in Internal Medicine with emphasis in Gastroenterology, Mental Health, Lifestyle Medicine, and the difficult-to-diagnose patient.

He has provided continuing medical education courses to physicians and health professionals around the world. He has also given numerous health education seminars to general public audiences worldwide.

Dr. Nedley is author of the book Proof Positive: How to Reliably Combat Disease and Achieve Optimal Health through Nutrition and Lifestyle, now in its fourth printing. It tackles heart disease, cancer, hypertension, diabetes, kidney failure, high cholesterol, and many other diseases, providing common sense nutritional and lifestyle therapies that can make a substantial difference in treatment and/or prevention of these common conditions. More.

Wayne Dysinger, MD, DipABLM

Dr. Dysinger is a lifestyle, preventive and family medicine physician who currently serves as physician, chair and founder of Lifestyle Medical, a new model group of primary care clinics built around Lifestyle Medicine principles.  He is also the co-founder of the Lifestyle Medicine Network, a collaboration of primary care practices throughout the United States that all have a Lifestyle Medicine foundation.  Additionally, he is the Chair of both the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine and the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine.  He is an active faculty at Loma Linda University and consults, teaches and participates in research on Lifestyle Medicine issues around the world.  

Dr. Dysinger is a past President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and past Medical Director for the Complete Health Improvement Program.  He has previously worked in various capacities with the American Medical Association, the American College of Preventive Medicine and the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research.  Prior to his current position, Dr. Dysinger was Chair, Department of Preventive Medicine, Loma Linda University, and faculty/co-founder of both the Family and the Preventive Medicine residencies at Dartmouth.  He has also worked in faculty, patient care and service capacities in Atlanta and Guam.  

Dr. Dysinger earned his M.D. degree from Loma Linda University School of Medicine (1986), and his MPH from Loma Linda University School of Public Health (1990).  He is a Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the American College of Preventive Medicine, and the American Academy of Family Physicians. 

James Kosowicz, MD, DipABLM 

Dr. Kosowicz graduated from University of Minnesota Medical School and Board Certified in Internal Medicine. He currently is a hospitalist at Allina Health and the Co-Founder of his lifestyle medicine practice, Sound Lifestyle Medicine. Kosowicz loves to spend his free time traveling the globe with his family and try to keep up with his 6-year-old son.

LOCAL HEALTH ADVOCATES

Jengyu Lai, DPM

Jengyu Lai earned his Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM) and completed a Biomechanics Research fellowship and Podiatric Orthopedic residency at the Des Moines University. He subsequently completed an NIH fellowship in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at Mayo Clinic.

 Dr. Lai emphasizes an integrative approach to treat and manage the lower extremity problems. He also focuses on applying lifestyle medicine principles to assess and treat the root causes of common lower limb conditions.

 Dr. Lai currently practices at Rochester Clinic and is a certified physician wound specialist, Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) facilitator and Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) coach. He also serves on the boards of Lotus Health Foundation and Academy of Physicians in Wound Healing.

Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick, MS, USGBC

Kelly is passionate about collaborative design, research and education projects that promote a greater understanding of our food system. Because Kelly is a conductor that synthesizes ideas and brings sustainable projects into clear focus for implementation, she has the capacity to build community partnerships doing work that is both broad and deep. By envisioning how various components of a system work together, she leads in both expected and unexpected ways, increasing community resiliency. Kelly is a sustainability advocate and is the hub for all things community garden, local food, and urban agriculture here in Rochester. She was recently awarded the Olmsted County Environmental Achievement Award for her efforts on Sustainable Food Production.

Mei Liu, MS, MBA, Certified CHIP Facilitator, Founder and President

Mei Liu, founder of Lotus Health Foundation and Chief Financial Officer of Rochester Clinic, earned her master’s degree in Health Care Administration from Des Moines University and an MBA from Drake University.

In her current role, Mei serves as a proponent of lifestyle medicine and considers it to be the most effective way to reduce chronic disease and mitigate a crisis that is impacting all human health, financial markets and the environment.

As a certified facilitator of the Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP), Mei and the physician team at Rochester Clinic first introduced this lifestyle medicine education program to the Rochester community in 2015. After witnessing a transformation in more than 100 CHIP participants, Mei recognized a need for lifestyle interventions in the community and founded Lotus Health Foundation, the non-profit arm of Rochester Clinic, in 2016.

Mei believes more health care providers should serve as role models and deliver the message about healthy lifestyles and nutrient dense plant-based whole foods. Lifestyle education offers people the opportunity to achieve better health. “If I am able to save one person’s life, that person may turn around to save a community,” Mei said. “Together, we can make this a healthy world for us and for our next generation.” 

Mei is actively involved with community outreach and advocates for health equity in underserved neighborhoods. She also works with local businesses and collaborative partners to grow health and wellness initiatives in the region. Outside of work, Mei enjoys cooking and gardening.

Denise Stegall

As a speaker, teacher, transformational life coach and curator of Living Healthy List Denise ignites ideas, conversation, and connection.  She has innate wisdom, is a connector, leader who radiates emotional intelligence, strength, positivity, resilience and a zest for life!

Denise has condensed 20 years of experience/study in nutrition, cooking, exercise and coaching to educate clients on how to live happy, healthy, and productive lives through nutrition and self-empowerment.

Denise holds a BA in Hotel, Restaurant and Business Management with a focus on nutrition, experience in the hospitality industry and has certifications in Health Coaching, Life Coaching, Nutrition, ETP and Plant Based Cooking.

Her experience in cooking and nutrition delivers a unique perspective on what works (and doesn’t work) for most people.  She believes with just a little planning and a little discipline anyone can have a truly healthy life. Her coaching revolves around three pillars: Eat Real Food, Make Good Decisions and Be Accountable.

As a Certified Health and Life Coach Denise empowers clients to take charge of their health and helps them get results and create richer more fulfilling lives.

Denise is the CEO and Curator of Living Healthy List, an idea that came out of a very real problem.  In her experience she found that it is impossible to get honest, unbiased and expert information about health and wellness on the internet.   There’s too much information, misleading material and a lack of evidence-based health and wellness data.

Denise is described as an authentic connector, inspirational thought leader and is determined to provide Living Healthy List readers with honest, reliable, research-backed content that can be implemented in real life!