Welcome to the 4th Malaysian Lifestyle Medicine Conference 2024

Malaysia's Leading Annual Lifestyle Medicine Conference

Join our upcoming 3rd Malaysian Lifestyle Medicine Conference 2023

Theme

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Conference :
21st & 22nd November 2024

Conference Schedule

8.00am -8.30am-Registration
8.30am- 5.30pm -Conference Programme

Post Conference :
23rd November 2024

Post Conference Workshop Schedule 

1.30pm-2.00pm-Registration
2.00pm -6.00pm-Programme

Berjaya Times Square Hotel,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Conference Only: 16 CPD Points
Post-Conference Only: 4 CPD Points
Conference + Post-Conference: 20 CPD Points

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

According to the International Diabetes Federation, worldwide 537 million people have diabetes and it is expected that by 2030, 578 million people will have diabetes (2019).

It is indeed alarming that1 in 2 adults with diabetes are undiagnosed. Prevalence of diabetes in Malaysia increased from 11.2% in 2011 to 18.3% in 2019 which is a huge 68.3%increase.

The healthcare costs attributed to treating Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is unsustainable. Furthermore, the disease poses  a huge strain on families, the society and the country not only due to economic losses but also as a result of the morbidity and mortality attributed to T2D. A very preventable disease is contributing to premature deaths and disability at the prime of people’s lives.

Forty five percent of our healthcare budget spent to treat non-communicable diseases (NCD),  is spent on treating diabetes and diabetes recorded the highest productivity loss at RM5.74 billion among the non-communicable diseases.

Where do we go from here?
How can we make a difference?

Traditionally the focus of treatment of T2D is regulating blood glucose and preventing the development of complications. With the advent of bariatric surgery and Buchwald’s publication in 2005,the narrative in terms of the goal of T2D treatment changed. Remission of T2D was now possible. In 2022 ,the new international guidelines for remission of T2D were released.

Studies indicate that poor lifestyle choice that include dietary choices such as foods that are ultra processed, high in simple carbohydrates and saturated fats, high in calories, lack of physical activity amongst others are key factors in the pathogenesis of T2D. 

Evidence suggests that T2D can not only be prevented and managed but brought to remission by intensive  lifestyle modification. Lifestyle Medicine, an emerging discipline in healthcare, has the potential to address the T2D tsunami plaguing mankind. It is an evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic intervention that aims to prevent, treat and reverse T2D by addressing the underlying causes and replaces unhealthy behaviour patterns with positive behaviour.

The two-day conference, brings to you evidence-based state of the art strategies to prevent, treat and reverse T2D; and aims to educate and empower healthcare professionals. Our esteemed speakers from around the world will provide insight into how you can help stem the T2DM tsunami! We have a lively programme that includes lectures, workshops, mindfulness sessions, physical activity  sessions and more.

Join our upcoming 4th Malaysian Lifestyle Medicine Conference 2024

Lectures

Workshops

Mindfulness Sessions

Zumba Sessions

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Intensive Lifestyle Medicine For Remission Of T2D
Exercise Physiology In T2D
Social Isolation And Loneliness
Plant-Based Diet And Chronic Kidney Disease
Depression And Anxiety In T2D
Plant-Based Diet And Microvascular Damage
Building Resiliency With Mindfulness
Thriving And Flourishing With T2D
Lifestyle Medicine And Coronary Artery Disease
Gut Microbiome For T2D And Obesity
Mitochondrial Dynamics In T2D
Culinary Medicine For Hyperglycaemia
Behavioural Change With Motivational Interviewing
Review Of The Diets For T2D And Obesity
And More

WELCOME
MESSAGE

On behalf of the Malaysian Society Of Lifestyle Medicine, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you, to the 4th Malaysian Lifestyle Medicine Conference on the 21st and 22nd of November 2024 at Berjaya Times Square Hotel. This year’s conference is scheduled to be a hybrid conference. Following the conference is the Board Certification Examination in Lifestyle Medicine on the 23rd of November 2024.

We were involved in creating the Lifestyle Medicine For Remission of Diabetes Module and training the healthcare professionals at a public health facility in Malaysia. This project by the World Health Organisation and the Ministry of Health Malaysia heralded the introduction of Lifestyle Medicine at a public health facility. The results of the pilot project was extremely encouraging and we are pleased that Malaysia’s initiative is on WHO’s website.

At the Global Lifestyle Medicine Leadership Summit held at Weill Cornell Qatar in February 2024, I had the opportunity to present on “The Role Of Lifestyle Medicine In Revolutionizing Healthcare”. The Lifestyle Medicine leaders from around the world applauded Malaysia’s success in introducing the Lifestyle Medicine For Remission Of Diabetes module that was curated for Malaysia into the public healthcare system. 

MSLM will once again be participating at the Civil 20(C20) Brazil 2024.As part of the C20 Integrative and Holistic Health Working Group, MSLM will be actively contribute to the deliberations and proposals to be recommended to the G20 on Lifestyle Medicine and Diabetes Remission.

This year’s conference theme “Diabetes Management Revolution: From Prevention To Remission” gives us an opportunity to explore how intensive evidence based lifestyle medicine intervention in clinical practice can not only prevent but also manage and reverse Type 2 Diabetes. 

The scientific programme is designed to showcase how the different pillars of Lifestyle Medicine play a role in preventing, managing and bringing to remission Type 2 Diabetes. Once again, we have eminent international and local Lifestyle Medicine physicians, policy makers and international health organizations presenting at the conference.

We invite physicians and allied health professionals to attend this exciting conference, which has lectures, workshops, forums, mindfulness session and more. You will learn about strategies to help your patients be free of Type 2 Diabetes and to keep you in robust health. It also gives you an opportunity to network and forge relationships with like minded healthcare professionals.

We are delighted to have you here at our conference and we hope that you will enjoy the conference!

Best Regards,
Dr Sivaneswaran Poobalasingam MD, Dip IBLM
Organizing Chairman, 4th Malaysian Lifestyle Medicine Conference 2024
Founder and President, Malaysian Society of Lifestyle Medicine
Lifestyle Medicine Expert Consultant, WHO (WHO-MOH Lifestyle Medicine
For Remission Of Diabetes Programme)
Advisory Board, International Board Of Lifestyle Medicine/Lifestyle Medicine
Global Alliance
Advisory Board, International Journal Of Disease Reversal And Prevention
Advisory Council, Global Positive Health Initiative
Council, True Health Initiative

Why Attend The Conference?

Expert Speakers

Engaging Sessions

Networking Opportunities

Developing Lifestyle Medicine Skills

Keynote Lecture

Dr Rabindra Abeyasinghe

WHO Country Head Malaysia,Brunei Darussalam and Singapore

SPECIAL ADDRESS

Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai

President Commonwealth Medical Association

Plenary speakers

Dr.Caldwell Esselstyn

Director,Heart Disease Reversal Program,Cleveland Clinic

Prof. Roy Taylor

Director of Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre

Professor of Medicine and Metabolism at Newcastle University and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust

SPEAKERS

Dr.Elizabeth Frates 

MD, FACLM, DipABLM

President ,
American College Of Lifestyle Medicine

Dr.Sivaneswaran Poobalasingam 

MD, Dip IBLM

Founder And President,
Malaysian Society of Lifestyle Medicine

Ms Brenda Davies

RD

Lead Nutritionist,Diabetes Wellness Research Project,Marshall Islands

Dr.Amy Mechely

Chair American and International
Boards Of Lifestyle Medicine

Dr. Wayne Dysinger

MD,MPH,FACLM

Chair,
Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance

Dr.Liana Lianov

MD, MPH, FACLM, FACPM, DipABLM

President ,
Global Positive Health Institute

Dr.Darshan Mehta

MD, MPH

Medical Director, Benson Henry Institute For Mind Body Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Dr.Edward M. Phillips

MD

Director, Institute of Lifestyle Medicine, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Mr.Stephan Herzog

Executive Director, American & Internationals Boards of Lifestyle Medicine

Dr. Shireen Kassam

MBBS, PhD, FRCPath, Dip IBLM

Consultant Haematologist, And Senior Lecturer, King’s College Hospital, London

Dr.Siobhan McCormack 

MBBS , DRCOG , DFSRH ,
DCH , MRCGP , Dip IBLM.

Lifestyle Medicine Physician

Assoc Prof Fadzilah Hanum

MBBS,MMed,MD,Dip IBLM

Primary Care Consultant,University Malaya

Dr. Faridah Mohd Zin

Dip IBLM

Consultant Family Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine Physician, MSU Medical Centre

Dr. Mechelle Palma

President, Philippine College of Lifestyle Medicine

Dr.Lawaniah Sandran

MBBS, Dip IBLM

Lifestyle Medicine Physician

Dr. Arti Mahbubani

MD

Family Medicine Consultant qualified from Guy’s, King’s and St. Thomas’ School of Medicine, London

Dr. Ravinder Mamtani

MD, MSc, FACPM, FACOEM, ABoIM, FACLM

Professor of Population Health Sciences
Professor of Medicine (Center for Global Health)
Vice Dean for Population Health and Lifestyle Medicine
Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar
Doha, Qatar

REGISTRATION FEE-
CONFERENCE & POST CONFERENCE

Tickets In Person Attendance Virtual Session
Early Bird ( up to 15th October 2024)-
* For Local Delegates & MSLM Members Only
Conference +Post Conference Workshop( 1/2 day) * CLOSED*
RM780 N/A
MLSM Members : Conference +Post Conference Workshop( 1/2 day) RM810 RM450
Local Delegates : Conference +Post Conference Workshop( 1/2 day) RM880 RM500
Affiliates: Conference +Post Conference Workshop( 1/2 day) RM850 RM470
Students : Conference +Post Conference Workshop( 1/2 day) ( Note : Attendees must be undergraduate students under the age of 25 to qualify for the student rate) RM680 RM400
International Tier 1 Countries
(Including Singapore, Korea, Japan & Taiwan)
Conference +Post Conference Workshop( 1/2 day)
RM1750 RM1000
International Tier 2 and Tier 3 Countries
(Including India,China,Sri Lanka, ASEAN countries excluding Singapore)
Conference +Post Conference Workshop( 1/2 day)
RM1000 RM590

REGISTRATION FEE-
POST CONFERENCE ONLY

Tickets In Person Attendance Virtual Session
Post Conference Workshop (1/2day) ONLY
on 23rd November 2024
International Tier 1 Countries (Including Singapore, Korea ,Japan, Taiwan)
RM500 N/A
Post Conference Workshop (1/2day) ONLY
on 23rd November 2024
Local delegates, Affiliates Tier 2 and Tier 3 Countries
RM450 N/A

REGISTRATION FEE- CONFERENCE ONLY

Tickets In Person Attendance Virtual Session
Early Bird ( up to 15th October 2024)- * CLOSED*
* For Local Delegates & MSLM Members Only
RM600 RM400
MLSM Members RM630 RM350
Local Delegates RM700 RM400
Affiliates RM670 RM370
Students ( Note : Attendees must be undergraduate students under the age of 25 to qualify for the student rate) RM500 RM300
International Tier 1 Countries
(Including Singapore, Korea, Japan & Taiwan)
RM1500 RM800
International Tier 2 and Tier 3 Countries
(Including India,China,Sri Lanka, ASEAN countries excluding Singapore)
RM750 RM490

REGISTER HERE

REGISTRATION : CONFERENCE & POST CONFERENCE/
POST CONFERENCE ONLY

REGISTRATION : CONFERENCE ONLY

REGISTRATION : STUDENTS ONLY

Dr.  Muruga Raj Rajathurai is a practicing General Practitioner in Johor. He graduated from Kasturba Medical College, India in 1993 with a degree in medicine. He obtained his Masters in Business Administration in 2019. His passion for law made him pursue a LLB (Hons) degree from the University of London in 2021.

Dr Muruga Raj volunteered in Aceh, Indonesia during the 2004 Tsunami and also was a volunteer doctor for the Ukranian refugees that were seeking shelter in Warsaw , Poland following the Russian-Ukraine war in 2022.

He is the current President of the Malaysian Medical Association and the President of the Commonwealth Medical Association. He is the Vice-President for the Malaysian Society for Quality in Health and a Councillor for the Confederation of Medical Associations in Asia and Oceania. He has held and currently holds various positions in the Ministry of Health Ccommittees in Malaysia and was also a  a Town Councillor with Majlis Perbandaran Pasir Gudang from 2008 to 2014.

Roy Taylor qualified in medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and is Professor of Medicine at Newcastle University. He founded the Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre in 2006 to develop innovative research techniques. Using these new methods, he showed that his 2008 Twin Cycle Hypothesis could be proven in clinical practice. Type 2 diabetes was shown to be a simple, reversible condition of excess fat within liver and pancreas. Subsequently he has extended these observations on the cause of type 2 diabetes and how remission can be achieved. This has led to practical application in the NHS with the national ‘NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission’ programme now well underway.

Between 1986 and 2000, Professor Taylor developed the system now used throughout the United Kingdom for screening for diabetic eye disease, with major reduction in blindness due to diabetes across the UK.

He has published books in lay language explaining type 2 diabetes (eg ‘Life Without Diabetes’) plus training books on retinal screening. He has been invited to deliver named lectures including the 2012 Banting Lecture, the 2015 Harry Keen Lecture (Diabetes UK), the 2016 Samuel Gee Lecture (Royal College of Physicians of London) and Sir Robert W Philip Lecture of The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 2021). He received the 2023 Robert Turner Award for Research Impact. Professor Taylor was made MBE in the King’s 2023 New Year Honours.

 Beth Frates, MD, FACLM, DipABLM, is a trained physiatrist and a health and wellness coach, with expertise in Lifestyle Medicine. She is an award-winning teacher at Harvard Medical School, where she is an assistant clinical professor. Dr. Frates is a pioneer in lifestyle medicine. She developed and taught a college Lifestyle Medicine curriculum at the Harvard Extension School in 2015 and it is still one of the most popular courses offered at the school. She was voted president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in August 2020. Dr. Frates serves as President-Elect until 2022.

She authored a Lifestyle Medicine syllabus, which can be downloaded through the ACLM website, to serve as a template for other instructors and professors. In addition, Dr. Frates co-authored The Lifestyle Medicine Handbook: An Introduction to the Power of Healthy Habits, which was ranked in the top 20 by Book Authority for medical books released in 2018. To accompany the syllabus and handbook, she also co-created Lifestyle Medicine 101, a full college curriculum with 12 weeks of powerpoints and a teacher’s manual, which is free and accessible through the ACLM website.  Most recently, Dr. Frates co-authored, The Teen Lifestyle Medicine Handbook, published in October 2020.

As Director of Wellness Programming at the Stroke Institute for Research and Recovery at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, Dr. Frates has created and implemented a 12-Step wellness program, PAVING the Path to Wellness™ for patients and providers. As of the fall of 2020, Dr. Frates serves as the Director of Lifestyle Medicine and Wellness for the Department of Surgery at Mass General Hospital. In addition, Dr. Frates has her own Lifestyle Medicine consulting/coaching practice where she sees patients 1:1 and in groups.

Dr. Sivaneswaran Poobalasingam was appointed as the Lifestyle Medicine Expert Consultant with the World Health Organisation for the Lifestyle Medicine For Diabetes Remission Project(WHO-MOH). Dr. Siva is the Founder and President of the Malaysian Society of Lifestyle Medicine which is affiliated to the Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance. He is on the Advisory Board of the International Journal for Disease Reversal and Prevention. He also sits on the US based True Health Initiative Council and Global Positive Health Institute’s Advisory Council and the National Coalition for Mental Wellness in Malaysia He is one of two Asian
Physicians to be appointed as Exam Question Writers for the Lifestyle Medicine Board  Certification examination. Dr Siva is the Country Representative for the International Council of Integrative Medicine and the Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance.

Dr. Siva is CEO of Amrita Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine Center and Amrit Lifestyle Medicine Academy, a wellness academy. He is a Board Certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician. He is frequently invited to speak on Lifestyle Medicine by government institutions. He has also conducted workshops on Lifestyle Medicine for programs jointly organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Malaysian Ministry of Health and University Era Ketiga (University Putra Malaysia). He is a published author and has written books on a mind body approach to wellness and on the importance of herbs and nutrition in healthy ageing.

Dr. Amy Mechley, MD, FAAFP, FACLM, DipABLM, DipABFM, earned her medical doctorate at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and completed her residency in family medicine at The University of Utah. She is a practicing Lifestyle Medicine, Direct Primary Care, Family Medicine physician, entrepreneur, clinical consultant, and educator. She serves as the Chair of Board of Directors for the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine and International Board of Lifestyle Medicine. She is an active speaker for many organizations including the American Academy of Family Physicians and The American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

Her career as a physician is grounded in servant-led principles.  Dr. Mechley takes innovative approaches to some of the most challenging concerns in healthcare today.  She is dual board certified in Lifestyle and Family Medicine and has achieved the status of Lifestyle Medicine Intensivist. Dr. Mechley is actively involved in teaching medical students and family medicine residents. It is her interest in aligning her focus of Lifestyle Medicine principles within the practice of primary care that has led her to open IFC Direct Primary Care in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Dr. Dysinger is a lifestyle, preventive and family medicine physician who currently serves as physician, chair and founder of Lifestyle Medical, a new model group of primary care clinics built around Lifestyle Medicine principles.  He is also the co-founder of the Lifestyle Medicine Network, a collaboration of primary care practices throughout the United States that all have a Lifestyle Medicine foundation.  Additionally, he is the Chair of both the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine and the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine.  He is an active faculty at Loma Linda University and consults, teaches and participates in research on Lifestyle Medicine issues around the world. 

Dr. Dysinger is a past President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and past Medical Director for the Complete Health Improvement Program.  He has previously worked in various capacities with the American Medical Association, the American College of Preventive Medicine and the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research.  Prior to his current position, Dr. Dysinger was Chair, Department of Preventive Medicine, Loma Linda University, and faculty/co-founder of both the Family and the Preventive Medicine residencies at Dartmouth.  He has also worked in faculty, patient care and service capacities in Atlanta and Guam. 

Dr. Dysinger earned his M.D. degree from Loma Linda University School of Medicine (1986), and his MPH from Loma Linda University School of Public Health (1990).  He is a Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the American College of Preventive Medicine, and the American Academy of Family Physicians. 

As an innovative global leader in lifestyle medicine, Liana Lianov, MD, MPH, FACLM, FACPM, DipABLM has advanced the movement for integrating positive psychology into health care. She led the development of the original lifestyle medicine core competencies for physicians and health professionals, which have recently been expanded to include positive psychology-based knowledge and skills. She serves as the President of the Global Positive Health Institute, chair of the Happiness Science and Positive Health Committee of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), lead faculty for the ACLM Physician and Health Professional Wellbeing Program, and vice-chair of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine.

Dr. Lianov is the immediate past president of the Positive Health and Wellbeing Division of the International Positive Psychology Association, A few of her notable past roles include president of the ACLM, director for the Healthy Lifestyles Division of the American Medical Association and board regent for the American College of Preventive Medicine. She also directed programs in heart disease, stroke and cancer prevention at the California Department of Health Services.

In 2018, Dr. Lianov convened the inaugural Summit on Happiness Science in Health Care cosponsored by the ACLM and Dell Medical School, which led to scholarly publications and a groundbreaking book on how to integrate happiness science into medical practice, Roots of Positive Change, Optimizing Health Care with Positive Psychology. To further this mission, she founded the Global Positive Health Institute (https://www.positivehealth.world) which provides positive psychology education and practical tools for health professionals to use in their clinical practices and support their personal well-being. You can follow her work with the GPHI on FB and Instagram @globalpositivehealth. Her latest book, Strengths in the Mirror, Thriving Now and Tomorrow (to be published August 30, 2021) shares inspirational stories from colleagues and sums up how we all can flourish through healthy lifestyles, positive activities and personal strengths.

Darshan Mehta, MD, MPH is Assistant Professor in Medicine and Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is the Director of Education for the Osher Center at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Medical Director of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at MGH, Director for the Office for Well-Being with the Center for Faculty Development at MGH, and an internal medicine consultant to the Home Base Program at MGH. In addition, he is the MGH site director for the Practice of Medicine curriculum required of all 1st-year Harvard Medical School students and leads their well-being curriculum. His educational and research interests include curricular development in complementary and integrative medical therapies, mind/body educational interventions in health professions training, and promotion of professionalism in medical trainees.

Edward M. Phillips, MD, is Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School and is Founder and Director of the Institute of Lifestyle Medicine (ILM) at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.  In his work at the ILM since 2006 he has directed 26 live CME programs attended by over 25,000 clinicians from 115 countries.

In 2015 Phillips joined the VA Boston Healthcare System and now serves as Whole Health Medical Director. He is integrating Whole Health-lifestyle medicine training for students and trainees across the VA as National Whole Health Education Champion for Health Professions Trainees. Additionally, Phillips is a Fellow of American College of Sports Medicine (FACSM) and serves on the executive council that developed the Exercise is Medicine global initiative. He has >80 scientific publications. He serves on the Advisory Board of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the Health Sector and Military Settings Sectors of the United States National Physical Activity Plan and is a founding director of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine.

Phillips is an active clinician, educator and advocate who speaks and consults nationally guiding a broad-based effort to reduce lifestyle-related death, disease, and costs through clinician directed interventions with patients. His medical school, SUNY Buffalo, honored him with its Distinguished Alumni Award for his accomplishments in Lifestyle Medicine. The President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition has recognized Dr. Phillips, the ILM and the Lifestyle Medicine Education Collaborative with its Community Leadership Award. He appears on national media including Good Morning America, ESPN radio, Huffington Post, Slate, and Time Magazine. He co-hosted the NPR Daily Exercise Podcast, WBUR’s Magic Pill which was awarded an Edward R. Murrow award for Excellence in Innovation and has 2 million downloads of the sequel podcast “Food, We Need to Talk.” He is co-authoring his third book, “Food, We Need to Talk: The science-based, humor-laced, last word on eating, diet, and making peace with your body” from St. Martin’s Press, Summer, 2023.

Stephan is a business professional who was born and raised in Switzerland and spent most of his professional career working for large multi-nationals in Australia, Europe and the US. He has worked for GE in Switzerland and Australia for 10 years, ran Australia’s largest chain of fitness centers as CEO for 6, served on the board of a large health food manufacturer and has been running his own consulting business since 2011. In his spare time, he mentors MBA graduates from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and supports an orphanage in Myanmar. Most recently he orchestrated the revamping and commercialization of the preeminent intensive therapeutic lifestyle change program (CHIP) globally. Currently he serves as the Executive Director of the American and International Boards of Lifestyle Medicine, helping to bring standardized lifestyle medicine education and certification to all corners of the globe. Stephan is passionate about being a walking talking example of optimal health and motivating others to be the best they can be.

Dr Shireen Kassam is a Consultant Haematologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at King’s College Hospital, London with a specialist interest in the treatment of lymphoma. She is also a Visiting-Professor at University of Winchester, Hampshire, where she has developed and facilitates the UK’s first University-based course on plant-based nutrition. In 2023 she launched a course on lifestyle medicine for cancer.

Shireen is passionate about promoting plant-based nutrition for the prevention and reversal of chronic disease and for maintaining optimal health after treatment for cancer. In 2019 she became certified as a Lifestyle Medicine Physician and is also a CHIP facilitator.

Shireen founded Plant-Based Health Professionals UK in 2018, a non-profit, membership organisation whose mission is to provide evidence-based education on whole food plant-based nutrition. 

Shireen qualified as a doctor in 2000. During her training, she completed a PhD, which investigated the role of selenium in sensitising cancer cells to chemotherapy. Shireen has published a number of peer-reviewed papers in the field of lymphoma. Her first book, Eating Plant-Based, Scientific Answers to Your Nutrition Questions, co-authored with her sister Zahra, was published in January 2022. She has also co-edited the textbook Plant-Based Nutrition in Clinical Practice, published in September 2022.

Dr Siobhan McCormack ( aka Dr Shiv ) has been an NHS  GP partner for over 30 years, gaining a huge range and depth of  experience in Primary Care  as well as developing special interests in Women’s Health and Mental Wellbeing.

After qualifying  from Charing Cross & Westminster Medical School, London in 1989, she trained in General Medicine, General Surgery,  A&E, Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Gastroenterology, and  Psychiatry, collecting qualifications in several specialities en route, including MRCGP.

Over her three decades of working in Primary Care , she has watched the tsunami of chronic disease derailing the healthcare landscape. This motivated her search for a ‘better way’ , leading her to Lifestyle Medicine and the BSLM.

She is passionate about Lifestyle Medicine which she sees as the foundation to all aspects of healthcare. She completed the Winchester Plant-Based Nutrition course in 2019 and the BSLM Diploma in Lifestyle Medicine in 2020 and is currently studying an MSc Nutritional Medicine at the University of Surrey.

Her obsession  for all things microbiome began in 2018 when she read The Psychobiotic Revolution ( authors: Anderson ,Cryan ,Dinan) and discovered she had a rainforest in her colon. Since then, she has been deep-diving into the evidence on human microbiomes and health  and, in the process, has co-authored a course on the subject, The Gut Microbiome for Clinicians with fellow microbiome enthusiast , Dr Sheena Fraser. Together they host Microbiome Medics Podcast .

Dr Shiv sits on the UK Gut Microbiota for Health Expert Panel , a multi-disciplinary group with  expertise and interest in the gut microbiota and its role in health and disease. 

Dr Shiv  is regularly invited to speak to  clinicians , medical students and patient groups on various aspects of the gut microbiome and Lifestyle Medicine and has presented at the BSLM conference.

She enjoys yoga, walking ,running and mindfulness meditation. She is a member of Breathworks, PBHP and BSLM.

Dr Faridah binti Mohd Zin is a Family Medicine Specialist and an IBLM certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician. She obtained her medical degree from National University of Ireland in Galway, Ireland. Subsequently received her master’s degree in Family Medicine from Universiti Sains Malaysia and later in 2019, she was honored with Doctor of Philosophy in Social Studies by Universiti Utara Malaysia. She is a certified smoking cessation practitioner and participated in the 2018 Fellowship Program in Tobacco Control in Hong Kong, SAR, China. She has an overwhelming interest in prevention and treatment of lifestyle related diseases, as well as community health education. She has delivered countless lectures for the community and professionals in the past 10 years especially on lifestyles, disease prevention and noncommunicable diseases. She believes in the importance of self-empowerment as an essential element in patient care. She is currently practicing her passion and expertise at the Health Screening and Wellness Clinic, MSU Medical Centre.

Dr Lawaniah Sandran,MBBS, DipIBLM

Dr Lawaniah Sandran is a Lifestyle Medicine Physician and a Diplomate of the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine. She is a trained Complete Health Improvement Program Facilitator. Early in her career, Dr Lawaniah worked at the ‘downstream’ end of the health spectrum in rehabilitation medicine, where she provided treatment for people suffering from complications of chronic diseases. Realizing the need in preventing chronic diseases, she pursued her certification in Lifestyle Medicine. She offers Lifestyle consultations at her practice. She is among the first two doctors in Malaysia who successfully became the Diplomate of International Board of Lifestyle Medicine.

Dr Lawaniah has also realized the need to create mental health awareness among Malaysians. She has conducted mental health related webinars and also stress management training for various corporate clients..