About us

LOTUS HEALTH FOUNDATION

OUR VIsION

Lotus Health Foundation provides evidence-based lifestyle medicine education to empower individuals to prevent, manage, and possibly reverse chronic illness. We serve as an advocate for healthy living to reduce the cost of health care and lessen the need for medical interventions.

OUR Mission

LHF is committed to demonstrating an innovative and lasting solution for a common human problem, so our goal is to deliver evidence-based education to maintain the public trust. We believe that all individuals are worthy of respect and dignity regardless of their background or socioeconomic status. LHF will deliver culturally-sensitive and responsive education for all. We will operate with transparency, integrity, and honesty with all providers, clients, and members of the public.

Chronic health conditions account for the majority of the health care costs while greatly impacting the quality of life.

Chronic health conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and arthritis account for the majority of the health care costs while greatly impacting the quality of life. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 10% of US population has diabetes or prediabetes. It is the seventh leading cause of death in the US with an annual cost of $500 billion. Similar to other chronic conditions, the costs include the direct care, the complications, the loss of work productivity, and the reduced quality of life.

The current treatments for those chronic conditions have been medications, surgeries, and supportive modalities. They treat the symptoms but not the root causes. It is estimated that 80% of the chronic health conditions are lifestyle related. Much research has shown that adopting a healthy lifestyle is as effective, if not more effective, than current treatment options. More importantly, adopting a healthy lifestyle can frequently arrest, reduce, or even reverse multiple chronic conditions.

Unfortunately, lifestyle medicine and components of a healthy lifestyle are rarely included in health care programs. When health care providers are not educated on the concept of lifestyle medicine, or when they are suffering from the chronic conditions, it is hard to image how they can teach the concept of lifestyle medicine to their patients and reverse the epidemic of chronic health conditions.

The Lotus Health Foundation (LHF) is an emerging nonprofit prepared to undertake this task. Through education, research, and collaborations with community partners, LHF seeks to improve health and wellness of the communities.

MEET OUR TEAM

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.

Jengyu Lai

DPM

Dr. Jengyu Lai serves as a board member of the Lotus Health Foundation.

Dr. Lai is the Chief Manager of Rochester Clinic and has been providing podiatric and wound care for almost two decades. He earned his DPM (Doctor of Podiatric Medicine) at the College of Podiatric Medicine at Des Moines University in Iowa. After completing a fellowship in Biomechanics Research and a residency in podiatric orthopedics, he accepted a fellowship in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

Dr. Lai takes a holistic approach to treating common foot and ankle problems. Since many of those problems are associated with chronic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity, he became interested in lifestyle medicine to treat the root cause instead of managing symptoms with medications.

By serving on the LHF board, Dr. Lai hopes to spread the awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle.

Lori Kollasch

Lori Kollasch is a Rochester resident and long-time employee of Cardinal of Minnesota where she currently holds the title of Executive Assistant. In September of 2016, she joined the Cardinal of Minnesota CHIP (Complete Health Improvement Program) group. She is the chair for many celebratory events for Cardinal, including Client Fall Ball, Cardinal Idol and Wednesday’s on Wellner, to name a few. She also volunteers for several events benefiting the American Legion Post 92 in Rochester.

Todd Pisarski

CPA, CFE

Todd is a licensed CPA and a certified fraud examiner (CFE); and is currently an auditor with the Office of the Legislative Auditor, State of Minnesota. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Bradley University, an MBA from Benedictine College, and master’s in Accounting and Financial Management from Keller Graduate School of Management. Todd is a combat veteran and is retired from the U.S. Army after serving 20 years.

Todd began his involvement with the CHIP program in the fall of 2016. He completed the program in December 2016 with proven results. He continues to implement and build on lifestyle changes he was introduced to in the program. Todd has taken whole food, plant-based cooking classes through Rouxbe, and has taken the CHIP refresher program. Todd is originally from the Chicago area, but has been enjoying the northern Minnesota lakes from an early age. He relocated to Rochester in 2013, where his fiancé resides.

Andrea Grimm

Andrea Grimm is currently the Assistant Vice President / Branch Manager at Premier Bank Rochester’s North Broadway branch, and she is also the secretary of her family’s lawn care business. Andrea grew up in rural, central Texas and attended the University of Texas at Austin, graduating with her bachelor’s degree in 2012. After graduating, she moved to Rochester to be near family. In addition to Andrea’s enthusiasm for healthy lifestyle practices, she is active in the community, her church, and she continues to nurture her passion for the arts.

Join our board!

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