For more than a decade, I’ve been dedicated to helping people protect their hearts and live healthier lives. Even with today’s medical advances, heart disease remains the leading cause of premature death in adults in the U.S. But there is some good news - most heart attacks and strokes are preventable.

Healthy daily habits make a powerful difference in lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses including high blood pressure and diabetes. There is an entire medical specialty, Lifestyle Medicine, devoted to teaching patients how to implement the 6 pillars of healthy living - eating mostly whole, plant foods, staying active, getting quality sleep, avoiding tobacco and other risk substances, intentional stress management, and fostering strong social connections - to prevent cardiovascular disease and maintain a healthy body, mind, and spirit.

Heart disease often begins silently in late teenage to early adulthood , which is why prevention matters long before a heart attack or stroke occurs. Rather than waiting for a life-changing event, my goal is to help patients understand their personal risk and take control of their health early.

We now have safe, affordable imaging tools that can find early plaque buildup in the heart—often years before symptoms appear—so we can take action early with lifestyle changes and, when needed, medications.

Today, the foundation of my practice is helping patients implement the six pillars of Lifestyle Medicine in addition to risk factor modification, in particular cholesterol lowering (high LDL cholesterol or LDL cholesterol carrying lipoprotein particles to be more precise is the root cause of plaque build up in arteries) with medications when appropriate. Seeing patients improve their health and energy through small, sustainable changes and reduce the amount of medications they take is one of the most rewarding parts of my work.