Pritikin founded the Pritikin Longevity Center in Santa Monica, California, where he advocated for a diet rich in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, as well as regular physical activity. He challenged the common medical practice of relying on medications alone to manage chronic disease, emphasizing the role of diet and lifestyle in reducing heart disease and other conditions. Pritikin’s work significantly influenced the idea that lifestyle changes could lead to better health outcomes and longer, healthier life.
ACLM immediate Past President and Associate Professor, Part-Time, at Harvard Medical School Beth Frates, MD, FACLM, DipABLM, shared a personal story while presenting the award, displaying two worn copies of Pritikin’s books that her father received in the late 1980s. He participated in intensive cardiac rehab after suffering a stroke at age 52 and his experience at the Pritikin Center empowered him to make lifestyle changes that helped him enjoy the best 27 years of his life following his stroke, Dr. Frates said. This motivated her to enter the field of lifestyle medicine and to later establish in her father’s memory the Donald A. Pegg Student Leadership Awards, which empower students and faculty members to create and sustain Lifestyle Medicine Interest Groups (LMIG).
Cindy Berner, vice president of account operations for Pritikin ICR, accepted the award on behalf of Pritikin, who died in 1985.
“Nathan Pritikin was a pioneer who created a legacy of health restoration through his championing of lifestyle behavior and, today, the magnificent teams at Pritikin Intensive Cardiac Rehab and the Pritikin Longevity Center continue his health- and life-transforming work,” Dr. Frates said. “I am overjoyed, both professionally and personally, to honor Nathan Pritikin’s legacy on behalf of ACLM.”
Previous recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award are:
- 2023: Hans Diehl, DrHSc, FACN
- 2022: Jack LaLanne and Kenneth Cooper, MD
- 2018: John A. McDougall, MD
- 2017: T. Colin Campbell, PhD
- 2016: Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., MD
- 2015: Dean Ornish, MD
About ACLM®
Serving as a transformation catalyst, disruptor of the status quo, and a galvanized force for change, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine is the nation’s medical professional society advancing the field of lifestyle medicine as the foundation of a redesigned, value-based and equitable healthcare delivery system, essential to achieving the Quintuple Aim and whole person health. ACLM represents, advocates for, trains, certifies, and equips its members to identify and eradicate the root cause of chronic disease by optimizing modifiable risk factors. ACLM is filling the gaping void of lifestyle medicine—including food as medicine—in medical education, doing so across the entire medical education continuum, while also advancing research, clinical practice and reimbursement strategies. Adding years to lives and life to years, while reining in the alarming, unsustainable trajectory of healthcare spending, is what lifestyle medicine delivers. https://lifestylemedicine.org/
Media Contact
Alex Branch, Director of Communications, American College of Lifestyle Medicine, American College of Lifestyle Medicine, 9719835383, [email protected], American College of Lifestyle Medicine
SOURCE American College of Lifestyle Medicine; American College of Lifestyle Medicine
