The Brain Surgeon's Take

Deepak is founder of The Chopra Foundation and Chopra Global, as well as Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at UCSD and senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is author of over 90 books translated into 43 languages, including New York Times bestsellers. Chopra has been at the forefront of the meditation and personal transformation revolution. TIME magazine has described him as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.” Larry King has described his work as “some of the most important of the decade.” The Wall Street Journal has declared his books “must reads for your career”.

His books have been awarded the prestigious Nautilus Award and Quill Award. Two of his books have been recognized on “The Books of The Century Bestsellers List”. He is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and contributes to Oprah.com, Intent.com, and Huffington Post. He has been recognized as one of “The 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness “, the #17 “most influential thinker in the world” and #1 in Medicine. As background, Dr. Chopra is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, and Metabolism.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

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Dr. Padron is President Emeritus of Miami Dade College, having served as its president for almost twenty-five years. He is credited with elevating MDC, the largest degree-granting institution in America, into a position of national prominence among the best and most recognized U.S. colleges and universities. Dr. Padron’s work at MDC has been hailed as a model of innovation in higher education.

In 2018, he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, for being a prominent national voice for access and inclusion in higher education. In 2015, he was inducted into the U.S. News & World Report STEM Hall of Fame. In 2012, he received the Citizen Service Award from Voices for National Service, the coveted TIAA Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence, and the Aspen Institute Ascend Fellowship. In 2011, the Washington Post named him one of the eight most influential college presidents in the United States, and he was awarded the prestigious 2011 Carnegie Corporation Centennial Academic Leadership Award. In 2010, Florida Trend magazine placed him on the cover of its inaugural “Floridian of the Year” issue. In 2009, TIME magazine included him on the list of “The 10 Best College Presidents.”

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Logan is a brain cancer survivor that was diagnosed with a stage 4 glioblastoma over 6 years ago. He has been through brain surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, growing through these experiences mentally, physically, and emotionally. The most critical day, however, was the day he began the Ketogenic diet. Although doctors told him nothing would help, the ketogenic diet saved his life and helped him transform physically and internally. His surveillance MRIs are clean and he has been deemed cancer free.

Following the ketogenic diet not only helped save his life, but has helped transform lives worldwide. Thousands of people that make the decision to follow his Fusion Lean plan, simply make the decision to change and create the best version of themselves. When you choose his Fusion Lean as your online personal trainer, you're working with someone who knows how to get through the struggle. He has goals to make sure that every client conquers their journey in every way they can.

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Dan Radakovich was named the 14th Director of Athletics in University of Miami history, returning to his graduate school alma mater as one of the nation’s most decorated and successful college athletics administrators. Radakovich, who most recently served as Director of Athletics at Clemson for nine years, has experience at seven schools and 30-plus years as a visionary leader in all aspects of college athletics. In his first 6 months in Coral Gables, Radakovich has worked with campus leaders to chart an ambitious course for Miami Athletics with respect to facilities, sport sponsorship, fundraising and staff development. He has worked closely with new football head coach Mario Cristobal to ramp up recruiting, evaluation, sports science and creative resources. Radakovich is the immediate past President of LEAD1, which represents athletic directors at the Division I level. He was also named Athletic Director of the Year, and was on a member of the first College Football Playoff committee.

At Clemson, Radakovich oversaw the most successful stretch in Tigers football history as the program won two national championships (2016, 2018), six ACC titles and made six College Football Playoff appearances. Clemson set a school record in the NCAA’s most recent Graduation Success Rate report, posting a 95 percent score.

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Dr. Grossman is CEO of NYU Langone Health and Dean of NYU School of Medicine, which was renamed in his honor in 2019. In this role, he oversees more than 45,000 employees, students, and faculty across 6 inpatient locations and over 320 sites throughout the New York region and in Florida. Dr. Grossman increased NYU Langone’s revenue from $2 billion in 2007 to $10.2 billion in 2021, and more than $3.9 billion in philanthropy has also been raised. Also of note, NYU Langone’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) 2021 research awards totaled $815 million—an increase of more than 532 percent compared to 2007.

As dean of NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Dr. Grossman led the historic and unprecedented initiative of providing tuition free medical education for all students in its MD degree program. He also curated a new curriculum for the 21st Century, which emphasizes clinical training from the beginning of medical school and includes a revolutionary 3 year MD program for select candidates.

Dr. Grossman has been named to Time magazine’s list of the 50 most influential healthcare leaders who changed the state of healthcare in America. Additionally, he was named a “Living Landmark” by the New York Landmarks Conservancy. A prolific and highly respected scientist, Dr. Grossman was awarded the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award by the NIH in 1999. He was a member and chairman of the Diagnostic Radiology Study Section at the NIH, was appointed to the NIH’s National Advisory Council and became the first recipient of the Outstanding Contributions in Research Award.

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Marilyn is a partner in Holland & Knight's Miami office. She is a litigation practitioner, with a specific emphasis representing corporate clients in trade secret and covenant-not-to-compete, employment and business litigation, including matters related to breach of fiduciary duty and corporate governance. In her employment litigation practice, she has represented a number of high-profile individuals.

Ms. Holifield has received numerous accolades related to her law practice, professionalism and civic engagement. She was named by Black Enterprise Magazine as one of America's top employment lawyers. The Miami-Dade County Bar Association honored Ms. Holifield with its highest award, the Judge David Dyer Award for Professionalism. Within the firm, Ms. Holifield serves on the Steering Committee for the firm's Diversity and Inclusion Engagement Initiative to strengthen partnerships with clients and businesses that share Holland & Knight's values of diversity and inclusion. She also has served on the Directors Committee. In 2000, she was the recipient of the firm's Chesterfield Smith Award, the highest honor bestowed by the firm to lawyers who demonstrate a deep commitment to equal justice, public service and excellent client service.

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Dr. George is an Associate Professor on the Tenure Track in the Division of Gynecological Oncology within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine and a full member of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Sophia’s lab studies the pathogenesis of sporadic and hereditary breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers using molecular genetics, epigenetics and transcriptomics to study the disease pathogenesis and overall outcomes of women diagnosed with these diseases.

Given that Black women with breast and ovarian cancers have inferior outcomes when compared to women of other racial groups, and understanding that there is a void in the research when it comes to studying Black women’s cancers, one of the main goals of her research has been to understand why Black women are prone to getting more aggressive cancer sub-types and how/why their responses to treatment differs from those of non-Black women. She is currently part of a multi-disciplinary team who studies the incidence of HBOC mutations in Afro-Caribbean nationals. She is a co-Leader of the women’s cancer working group in the African Caribbean Cancer Consortium and co-Principal Investigator of the Transatlantic Gynecologic Cancer Consortium.

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Dr. Lorenzo Cohen is the Richard E. Haynes Distinguished Professor in Clinical Cancer Prevention and Director of the Integrative Medicine Program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) and Distinguished Clinical Professor, Fudan University Cancer Hospital, Shanghai, China. Dr. Cohen is a founding member and past president of the international Society for Integrative Oncology.

Dr. Cohen is passionate about educating others on how to prevent cancer and maintain optimal health across the lifespan. As the majority of cancers are preventable, Dr. Cohen is conducting research to demonstrate that lifestyle factors can influence cancer outcomes.

Dr. Cohen leads a team conducting NIH-funded research and delivering clinical care of integrative medicine practices such as meditation, yoga, tai chi, massage, diet, exercise, acupuncture and other strategies such as stress management, music therapy, emotional writing and more aimed at reducing the negative aspects of cancer treatment and improving quality of life and clinical outcomes.

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Miguel “Mike” B. Fernandez currently serves as Chairman of MBF Healthcare Partners, L.P., a private investment firm located in Coral Gables, Florida. The firm focuses on investing in healthcare service companies nationwide. He has been the Founder and/or majority shareholder of over 20 healthcare related companies.  Most of these companies have been acquired by publicly traded companies.  Among these enterprises are Physicians Healthcare Plans, CAC Medical Centers, Prescribit Rx, CarePlus Health Plans, Navarro Pharmacies, Hospitalists of America, Simply Healthcare Plans, and Nutri-Force Nutrition.

Mr. Fernandez’s best-selling autobiography titled ”Humbled by the Journey" details his rags to riches story, from a dirt-road Cuban town to the pinnacles of U.S. business success.

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Jeffrey A. Engel is founding director of the Center for Presidential History at SMU and Professor in the Department of History.  A Senior Fellow of the Norwegian Nobel Institute and of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies, he graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University.  He additionally studied at St. Catherine's College, Oxford University, and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in American history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, before holding a John M. Olin Postdoctoral Fellow in International Security Studies at Yale University. In 2012 the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations named him their Bernath Prize lecturer, while at SMU the students voted him their Professor of the Year.

Engel has authored or edited twelve books on American foreign policy. A frequent media contributor on international and political affairs on venues including MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, National Public Radio, and the BBC, his scholarly and popular articles have appeared in such journals as Diplomatic History; Diplomacy & Statecraft; American Interest; USAToday; The Los Angeles Times; International Journal; The Dallas Morning News; The Houston Chronicle; Air & Space Magazine; and The Washington Post.

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