David Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, FACLM
Founding Director, Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center; Founder, True Health Initiative; Scientific Advisory Board, InsideTracker · InsideTracker
Preventive-medicine physician and prolific public-health voice — founded Yale-Griffin PRC and True Health Initiative
About
David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, FACLM is an American preventive-medicine physician, nutritionist, and writer. He earned a BA from Dartmouth (1984), MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine (1988), and MPH from Yale School of Public Health (1993), and is board-certified in Preventive Medicine. In 1998 he founded the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center at Griffin Hospital and directed it until 2019, securing roughly $40M in research funding. He's the founder and president of the nonprofit True Health Initiative, founder of Diet ID, CMO of Tangelo, senior science advisor to Blue Zones, and past president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (2014–2016). Author of ~19 books and ~250 peer-reviewed publications.
What to Know
Signature approach
Katz's frame is plant-predominant, whole-food nutrition as the core lever for chronic-disease prevention — operationalized through lifestyle medicine, public-health policy, and dietary-pattern research rather than single-nutrient or fad-diet thinking. His widely cited synthesis "Can We Say What Diet Is Best for Health?" (Annual Review of Public Health, 2014) argues that diets emphasizing whole plants, minimally processed foods, and the Mediterranean pattern outperform fad alternatives across outcomes.
What sets them apart
- Founding institutional weight. Founded the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in 1998 and directed it for 21 years (1998–2019), securing roughly $40M in research funding.
- Field-shaping nonprofit. Founder and president of True Health Initiative, a coalition aligning hundreds of health experts on lifestyle medicine and plant-predominant nutrition consensus.
- Public reach. ~19 books, ~250 peer-reviewed publications, regular columns at LinkedIn and The Oprah Magazine, op-eds at The New York Times, three honorary doctoral degrees, and past presidency of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (2014–2016).
Affiliations
Scientific Advisor
Thought Leadership
Books
- How to Eat: All Your Food and Diet Questions Answered · Harvest, 2020
- Nutrition in Clinical Practice · Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2022
Publications
- Can We Say What Diet Is Best for Health? · Annual Review of Public Health, 2014
- Plant-Based Diets for Reversing Disease and Saving the Planet: Past, Present, and Future · Advances in Nutrition, 2019
- Lifestyle and Dietary Modification for Prevention of Heart Failure · Medical Clinics of North America, 2004
- Public Health Strategies for Preventing and Controlling Overweight and Obesity in School and Worksite Settings · MMWR Recommendations and Reports, 2005
Media Appearances
- Is Our Fight Against Coronavirus Worse Than the Disease? · The New York Times · 2020-03-20
- Regular column on health, nutrition, and lifestyle medicine · LinkedIn
- Health and nutrition contributor · The Oprah Magazine
Notable Collaborators
- Mark Bittman · Food journalism and plant-predominant nutrition — co-author of How to Eat (2020)
- Dan Buettner / Blue Zones · Longevity, Blue Zones research, and plant-predominant lifestyle patterns — senior science advisor relationship
Other specialists at InsideTracker
Directory listings are for informational purposes only. Inclusion does not constitute endorsement. Verify credentials and qualifications independently.