T. Colin Campbell
Rip EsselstynTwo health luminaries featured in a documentary about the benefits of plant-based diets will present keynote programs next week in Chattanooga and Collegedale.
Their visits, sponsored by Southern Adventist University's School of Nursing, are part of a Lifestyle Medicine Conference that coincides with Heart Health Awareness Month.
Both T. Colin Campbell and Rip Esselstyn were featured in "Forks Over Knives," a 2011 film that advocates a low-fat, whole-food, plant-based diet as a means of combating disease.
Campbell, a biochemist who specializes in the effect of nutrition on long-term health, is the author of "The China Project," which chronicles what has been called the most comprehensive study of health and nutrition ever conducted. Esselstyn is a health activist and food writer who released "The Engine 2 Diet," after using a plant-based diet to restore the health of a fellow firefighter in Austin, Texas.
Their presentations are scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3, at Cigna Healthcare Co., 7555 Goodwin Road in Chattanooga, and at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, in the Iles PE Center on SAU's campus in Collegedale.
Additional lectures are also open to nonstudents, but they require an RSVP due to space limitations. The complete schedule may be viewed at www.southern.edu/lifestyleconference.
According to spokesman Lucas R. Patterson, Southern is the only university in North America to offer a Doctor of Nursing Practice program that includes a lifestyle therapeutics emphasis. Southern's first DNP candidate will graduate in May.