Physician, Speaker, Educator
Michael A. Klaper, MD, is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago and has practiced acute-care medicine in Hawaii, Canada, California, Florida, and New Zealand. For over three decades, his practice has focused on health-promoting food and lifestyle choices to help people stay out of hospitals and off of operating tables. He has authored numerous articles on plant-based nutrition and is creating a video course on plant-based healing for physicians and their patients.
A long-time radio host and a pilot, Dr. Klaper has served as nutrition advisor to NASA’s programs for space colonists on the Moon and Mars, and serves on the Nutrition Task Force of the American Medical Student Association. To improve his own health and to minimize suffering of sentient beings, Dr. Klaper adopted a plant-based diet in 1981.
For eight years, Dr. Klaper practiced nutritionally-based medicine on the clinical staff of the TrueNorth Health Center in Santa Rosa, California. Dr. Klaper now serves as the full-time director of the non-profit organization, the Moving Medicine Forward Initiative, that sponsors his lectures at medical schools across five continents. His presentations awaken young physicians-to-be to understand that the food their patients are eating is usually the primary cause of their chronic illnesses and that a whole food, plant-based diet can be an effective means to arrest and even reverse their disease and restore them to health. Dr. Klaper’s talent for presenting complex medical topics in a simple, enjoyable format has made him a sought-after speaker at health conferences worldwide.
Panel Q&A: Cruisin’ for Knowledge – Doctor’s Panel
Hosted by Sandy Pukel with Drs. Neal Barnard, Michael Greger, & Michael Klaper
Don’t miss this motivational, inspiring, and informative Q&A with plant-based diet luminaires, Drs. Michael Greger, Neal Barnard and Michael Klaper. Your host is Sandy Pukel, founder of Holistic Holiday at Sea. This is your chance to get all your questions answered. Whether you have been practicing a plant-based lifestyle for year or are just getting your feet wet, these experts can take you to the next level. Get the real scoop on living well, eating well, and taking control of your health.
KEYNOTE: What I Wish I Learned in Medical School about Nutrition
In recent years, it has become clear that most of the chronic diseases that kill so many people – high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, clogged arteries and autoimmune diseases, are largely caused by the Standard American Diet (SAD) and can be arrested or reversed with a whole food, plant-predominant diet – yet this is generally not mentioned to medical students during their education. This lecture will explore the mechanisms of this reversal and, hopefully, motivate the viewer to incorporate healthier food choices in their own diet.
Physician’s Eye – Healer’s Heart
What is it like to see through the eyes of the doctor? What does the healer see and do when presented with chaos and suffering? How do we contact and nurture the Healer we each have inside of us? This presentation explores the motivation for one physician to become a doctor and presents the mind-set that allows such healers to stay focused on relieving suffering, despite working in scenes of pain and distress. Dr. Klaper will share his personal journey into physician-hood and share insights into how doctors think, solve problems, and make decisions that can dramatically affect people’s lives.
Harvesting Health: The Growing Pains and Gains of Plant-Based Diets
Plant-based diets are increasingly gaining acceptance, but this is at the cost of some real resistance. Many are drawn to this way of eating because of the positive research for long-term health or to put an end to animal cruelty, and to support positive environmental changes for the planet – all of the above? Compelling as these reasons are, the resistance to embracing a vegetarian lifestyle is often affected by nutritional concerns, cultural practices, social pressure, and a lack of familiarity for plant-based meals, to name a few. In this dynamic presentation, Dr. Klaper shares his views regarding the recent progress and obstacles on the trail to wide-spread acceptance of plant-based diets.
