Redefining Medicine

Gordan Lauc is the Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Zagreb, Director of the National Centre of Scientific Excellence in Personalised Healthcare, honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh and the King's College London and member of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars. In 2017 he initiated the launch of the Human Glycome project and is one of its two co-directors. His research team is pioneering high throughput glycomic analysis and the application of glycan biomarkers in the field of precision medicine. By combining glycomic data with extensive genetic, epigenetic, biochemical and physiological data in a systems biology approach they are trying to understand the role of glycans in normal physiology and disease. Professor Lauc co-authored over 200 research articles that are cited over 5,000 times. He was PI and co-PI in four NIH, two FP6, seven FP7, six H2020, and three ESI Funds projects and coordinated five of them. In 2007 he founded Genos, a biotech company that is currently the global leader in high throughput glycomics.

Tom O'Bryan, DC, CCN, DACBN. When it comes to getting healthy, Dr. Tom O'Bryan's goal for you is 'Making It Easy To Do the Right Thing'. As an internationally recognized, admired and compassionate speaker focusing on food sensitivities, environmental toxins, and the development of autoimmune diseases, Dr. Tom's audiences discover that it is through a clear understanding of how you got to where you are, that you and your Dr. can figure out what it will take to get you well.

Dr. O'Bryan is considered a 'Sherlock Holmes' for chronic disease and teaches that recognizing and addressing the underlying mechanisms that activate an immune response is the map to the highway towards better health. He holds teaching Faculty positions with the Institute for Functional Medicine and the National University of Health Sciences. He has trained and certified tens of thousands of practitioners around the world in advanced understanding of the impact of wheat sensitivity and the development of individual autoimmune diseases.

James B. LaValle, R.Ph., C.C.N. M.T. DHM, DHPh., is an internationally recognized clinical pharmacist, author, and board-certified clinical nutritionist, with over 35 years of clinical experience. LaValle is best known for his expertise in performance health and integrative care with personally seeing thousands of clients over the years. He has an extensive background in natural products, lifestyle, drug/nutrient depletion, and uncovering the underlying metabolic issues that keep people from feeling healthy and vital. He has developed programs for several industries including fitness, professional sports teams and health care companies. Most recently Jim was appointed the Clinical Director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Performance Health Program.

He taught for 15 years as an appointed adjunct faculty member at the University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy pioneering the course "Survey of Natural Medicine", served as faculty at the College of Medicine at U.C. all the while serving as a preceptorship for both physicians and pharmacy students.

He is the founder of Metabolic Code Enterprises, a cloud-based assessment tool that helps to pinpoint where the metabolic roadblocks are to person's health based on their symptom survey, lab markers, biometric and wearable data. The tool helps prioritize care for individuals using a point system to indicate areas of metabolism that are the most out of balance. The platform provides suggestions for dietary supplements, diet and other targeted lifestyle suggestions with the goal of building metabolic reserve, resiliency and vitality.

In 2010, Jim developed personalized weight loss and wellness programs for LifeTime Fitness using his Metabolic Code approach for health and wellness. He and his team have also developed performance health programs for professional sports car racing, football, baseball, basketball, soccer and hockey players and teams, along with Olympic athletes.

LaValle gained national recognition as National Clinician of the Year in 2012 by the Natural Products Association for his pioneering work in furthering the professional standards of integrative care. And in 2017 as Educator of the Year for American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine.

He is an appointed faculty member for the Integrative Medicine postgraduate program at George Washington University School of Health Sciences. As the Clinical Co-Chair at the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, he has trained thousands of health care professionals on the value of predictive health and performance and modeling health care practices to incorporate lifestyle, diet and natural therapies as part of the health equation for Americans.

He is author of more than 20 books including, "Cracking the Metabolic Code," "Nutritional Cost of Drugs," and his latest book, "Your Blood Never Lies". In addition, he has authored 16 e-Books and four databases with information on a variety of topics, ranging from natural therapeutic decision tools, herb drug interactions, drug induced nutrient depletion, and professional monographs on 240 vitamin, mineral, nutraceutical and herbal compounds. He has also authored 200 articles, as well as being published in peer reviewed literature.

Jim was named one of the "50 Most Influential Pharmacists" by American Druggist magazine and was one of nine Americans selected by Senator Tom Harkin, to participate in the inaugural Dietary Supplement Education Alliance & Dietary Supplement Information Bureau. As such, he is often called on by media for interviews on a variety of health topics due to his expertise and engaging style.

Dr. Peter Staats is the Chief Medical Officer of National Spine & Pain Centers. He is recognized as one of the country's foremost interventional pain management doctors, having been named among the top 1 percent of pain management physicians in the country byU.S. News and World Report. He founded the division of Pain Medicine in the Department of Anesthesia at Johns Hopkins University, where he served as the director for more than a decade. In 2003, he co-founded Premier Pain Centers of New Jersey, now an affiliate practice of National Spine & Pain Centers. Dr. Staats is widely published, having edited or authored numerous textbooks on pain medicine. He has also written more than 450 articles, book chapters and abstracts on the diagnosis and management of complex pain problems for prominent publications such as JAMA, Lancet, Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine and others. He has received research grants from numerous sources numerous and his patents have led to new approaches for pain management. Dr. Staats earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School. He completed his residency and fellowship in the specialties of anesthesiology, critical care medicine and pain management at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland. Dr. Staats also earned an MBA at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Emily Werner, PhD, RD, CSSD is in her third season as the Team Dietitian for the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA. She has also been working as Nutrition Affairs lead for Amazentis and Timeline Nutrition since February of 2022. She has over seven years of experience working with athletes in different capacities including individual consultation, research, academia, and the team sport setting. Her expertise is in the assessment of sport nutrition knowledge and behavior, as well as the application of sport nutrition for health and performance.

Dr. Rosensweet graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1968. He has been in private medical practice since 1971, and has had offices in New Mexico, California, and Colorado and is currently in practice in Southwest Florida. Dr. Rosensweet was the clinical physician involved in the very first Nurse Practitioner training program in the U.S.A. and in charge of health promotion for the State of New Mexico. He teaches health professionals about the treatment of women in menopause with bio-identical hormones.

Thierry Hertoghe, MD currently serves as President of the International Hormone Society. Born in 1957, he practices medicine that focuses on longevity and reversing the process of aging. Dr. Hertoghe represents the fourth consecutive generation of physicians who have worked in the field of hormone therapy; he practices medicine with a team of experienced doctors in Brussels. Dr. Hertoghe is an internationally recognized authority regarding medical therapies designed to correct hormone deficiencies, extend lifespan, and reduce or potentially reverse aging.

Charles Brenner, PhD is the Alfred E Mann Family Foundation Chair in Diabetes and Cancer Metabolism at City of Hope National Medical Center. In 2004, Brenner, then a faculty member at Dartmouth College, discovered nicotinamide riboside (NR) to be a vital precursor of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), which is made available by nicotinamide riboside kinases (Nrks) that are conserved between yeast and humans. In 2007, Dr. Brenner's lab discovered a second pathway by which NR is converted to NAD+ and showed that NR can extend the lifespan of yeast cells by virtue of elevating NAD+ levels and increasing the activity of the NAD+-dependent Sir2 enzyme.

In the past decade, Dr. Brenner has made multiple seminal contributions to NAD+ metabolism, which include engineering a yeast strain to convert inexpensive NAD+ precursor vitamins into NR, solving the crystal structure of human Nrk1, developing the methods for quantitative NAD+ metabolomics, and demonstrating the activity of oral NR in animal models of fatty liver disease; obesity; type 2 diabetes; diabetic and chemotherapeutic neuropathy; heart failure; and central brain injury. Dr. Brenner also led the first clinical trial of NR, which established safe oral availability in humans. He is currently focusing on the maternal and neonatal effects of oral NR and translating animal discoveries into evidence-based safe, human clinical practice for human conditions of metabolic stress.

Today's podcast on Redefining Medicine spotlights Peter Diamandis, MD. Named one of the "World's 50 Greatest Leaders" by Fortune Magazine, Diamandis continuously pushes the boundaries of what was once considered possible in the field of healthcare: a thought leader committed to the burgeoning convergence of medicine and technology. Diamandis serves as the Founder & Executive Chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions. Diamandis is also the Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Singularity University, a graduate-level Silicon Valley institution that counsels the world's leaders on exponentially growing technologies. A graduate of MIT and Harvard Medical School, Diamandis is equal parts entrepreneur, visionary, and change-maker of the future.

Deborah Simkin, M.D., is a board-certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist specializing in Complementary and Integrative (CIM) or Functional Psychiatry for children, adolescents and adults. She is also board certified by the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine and in Neurofeedback and specializes in LORETA neurofeedback. Dr. Simkin uses non-medical and medical interventions that include natural products, meditation, cognitive behavior therapy, genetic testing, validated screening instruments and nutrition, after a thorough bio/psycho/social evaluation is done.

Dr. Simkin trained at Harvard's McLean and Mass General Hospitals in child and adolescent psychiatry. She is presently Co-Chair of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry's (AACAP) Committee on Integrative Medicine. In that position, she works with the National Institute of Complementary and Integrative Medicine (NCCIM) at the National Institute of Health (NIH) to increase research among child and adolescent psychiatrists. She has written numerous articles and chapters and lectures throughout the country. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Emory School of Medicine where she teaches CIM.