Author Bio: David Katz

David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP is the founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center.   He received his BA from Dartmouth College (1984; Magna Cum Laude); his MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (1988); and his MPH from the Yale University School of Public Health (1993). He is a board certified specialist in Preventive Medicine/Public Health, and two-time diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine (1991; 2001). Katz is Director and founder of the Integrative Medicine Center at Griffin Hospital (2000) in Derby, CT, and founder and president of the non-profit Turn the Tide Foundation (www.turnthetidefoundation.org).

Know internationally for expertise in nutrition, weight management, and chronic disease prevention, as well as integrative care and patient-centered care models, Katz is active in patient care, research, teaching, and public health practice. He established, and formerly directed, one of the nation’s first combined residency programs in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine; and served as Director of Medical Studies in Public Health at the Yale School of Medicine for 8 years.

Katz has secured nearly $35 million in research funding. He has published over 120 scientific articles & textbook chapters; nearly a thousand newspaper columns; innumerable commentaries and blogs; and 12 books to date. He has consulted on obesity control and chronic disease prevention to the World Health Organization; National Cancer Institute; National Governors Association; Health Canada; the Health Ministry of Israel; the Institute of Medicine; several U.S. Governors; the US Secretary of Health; and the FDA.

Katz is a prominent voice in health & medicine in the media. He is a frequent consultant and former on-air contributor to ABC News; a health editor for the Huffington Post; an on-line writer for Prevention Magazine; a health columnist for the New Haven Register; and a frequent source for leading newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times; the Wall Street Journal; The Washington Post; Time; Newsweek; and many more. He has appeared numerous times on most major news programs, including ABC World News; The Today Show; CNN; Good Morning America; 20/20; 48 Hrs; and more. He is a regular guest on the Dr. Oz Show. He was an on-air contributor to Good Morning America (2005-2007); a health columnist for the New York Times Syndicate; and the nutrition columnist to O, The Oprah Magazine (2002-2010).

Dr. Katz serves as a reviewer of federal research grants for the NIH, the CDC, and AHRQ, as well as a number of international organizations. He is a peer reviewer for numerous leading medical journals. He is on the editorial advisory boards of The American Journal of Health Promotion; Prevention Magazine; Health; Men’s Health; Children’s Health; and Eating Well. In 2011, he was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal, Childhood Obesity. He is on numerous advisory boards, including that of Dr. Mehmet Oz’ HealthCorps. A highly regarded orator represented by the prestigious Harry Walker Agency, Dr. Katz has delivered keynote addresses at conferences throughout the United States and in numerous other countries, including Canada, Israel, France, Poland, and Austria.

Katz has 5 U.S. patents, several patents pending, and is the principal inventor of the Overall Nutritional Quality Index (patents pending) utilized in the NuVal™ nutrition guidance program (www.nuval.com), currently offered in over 1,600 supermarkets throughout the United States, from coast to coast. He has been recognized three times by the Consumers Research Council of America as one of the nation’s top physicians in Preventive Medicine. He was nominated for the position of US Surgeon General in 2009 by the American College of Physicians, the American College of Preventive Medicine, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, among others; and was the 2011 recipient of the Katharine Boucot Sturgis award from the American College of Preventive Medicine, the most prestigious award the College confers – awarded for illustrious career contributions to the field of Preventive Medicine. Also in 2011, he received the Lenna Frances Cooper Award from the American Dietetic Association for illustrious contributions to the field of nutrition. In 2012, Katz was named the first inductee into the MDPA Communicating Childhood Obesity Prevention and Policy Hall of Fame.

Dr. Katz and his wife, Catherine, live in CT. They have 5 children.

(published March 29, 2012)