Biography

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 27 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 >90 scientific publications. He served 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 >2.8 million downloads of the sequel podcast “Food, We Need to Talk.” He is co-author of “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, July 2023.

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