Michael Greger
| Michael Greger | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 25, 1972 |
| Education |
Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Tufts University School of Medicine |
| Website |
www |
|
Medical career | |
| Profession | General practitioner |
| Field | Clinical nutrition |
| Notable works | Videos and publications at NutritionFacts.org |
Michael Herschel Greger (born October 25, 1972) is an American physician, author, and professional speaker on public health issues. He is a graduate of the Cornell University School of Agriculture and the Tufts University School of Medicine. He started eating a plant-based diet in 1990. He is currently the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and Humane Society International. Greger is the author of several books and various scholarly publications on animal agriculture, nutrition, and human health. In 2011, he founded the website NutritionFacts.org. He also is a founding member and Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.[1][2]
Greger's promotion of veganism has been criticized for including exaggerated claims of health benefits and for cherry-picking research even though the vegan diet can be a healthy one.[3][4]
Career and advocacy
Greger is licensed as a general practitioner specializing in clinical nutrition. Greger contributes to the HSUS's efforts to shape public policy on agriculture and nutrition.[5]
Physician and skeptic Harriet A. Hall analyzed one of Greger's videos in which he claimed that death was largely a "food-borne illness" and wrote that while it was already generally accepted that plant-based diets with less red meat conferred health benefits, the evidence for them "is nowhere near as impressive or definitive as the true believers think".[3]
Research and support
Greger also works on food safety issues, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease). He appeared as an expert witness testifying about mad cow disease when cattle producers unsuccessfully sued Oprah Winfrey for libel.[6]
Greger has lectured at universities, medical schools, and conferences,[see lecture list] including the Conference of World Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, and the International Bird Flu Summit. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and has appeared on television shows such as The Colbert Report and The Dr. Oz Show.
NutritionFacts.org is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit for which Greger summarizes research from scientific journals in short referenced videos. It was established by Greger with help from the Jesse and Julie Rasch Foundation.
Greger also serves on the advisory board of Naked Food Magazine, for which he is also a frequent contributor of articles espousing a plant-based diet.
Publications
In 2007, he wrote the book Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching, While it received a favorable review in the Journal of Clinical Investigation which said it was "interesting and informative to both scientists and lay persons",[7] public health expert David Sencer was critical of the book, writing that it "focuses heavily on doomsday scenarios and offers little in terms of practical advice to the public" and that "a professional audience would quickly put [the book] aside for more factually correct sources of information".[8]
Greger also wrote Carbophobia: The Scary Truth Behind America's Low Carb Craze (2005) and Heart Failure: Diary of a Third-Year Medical Student (2000). In 2015, he co-wrote How Not To Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease with Gene Stone. How Not to Die made the New York Times Advice, How-to, and Miscellaneous best seller list for December 27, 2015, appearing at #6.[9]
See also
References
- ↑ About Dr. Michael Greger.
- ↑ "Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine".
- 1 2 Hall HA (February 12, 2013). "Death as a Foodborne Illness Curable by Veganism". Science-based Medicine. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
- ↑ Schwarz, Joe. "Dr. Michael Greger–What do we make of him?". Office for Science and Society. McGill Blogs. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
- ↑ "Humane Nutrition Presentations : The Humane Society of the United States". www.humanesociety.org. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
- ↑ Reda, Bonnie Reda (February 28, 2004). "Expert to dissect 'mad cow' disease in presentation". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY). p. B.3. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
- ↑ Pekosz, Andrew (Sep 4, 2007). "Book Review. Bird flu: A virus of our own hatching". J Clin Invest 117 (9): 2350–2350. doi:10.1172/JCI33078. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
- ↑ Sencer DJ (2007). "Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching". Emerging Infection Diseases (Book review) 13 (11): 1802–1803.
- ↑ New York Times Best Seller List - Advice, How-to, and Miscellaneous for December 27, 2015