Integrating Mental Health into Lifestyle Medicine | Chef AJ LIVE! with Dr. Merlo & Dr. Rodriguez

5 DELICIOUS DINNER RECIPES to support your weight loss: https://www.chefaj.com/5-delicious-low-fat-dinner-recipes
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Gia Merlo, MD, MBA, DipABLM, is clinical professor of nursing and senior advisor on Wellness at New York University (NYU). She is also a clinical professor of psychiatry in the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Her academic book, Principles of Medical Professionalism, was released in April 2021 (Oxford University Press). Dr. Merlo serves on the editorial board of the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine in Mental Health and Psychiatry. She is a contributor to ACLM’s curriculum Lifestyle Medicine 101 and the 3rd edition of the board review course, Foundations to Lifestyle Medicine.

Merlo has a few projects, including book editor (along with Kathy Berra) of Nursing Lifestyle Principles and Practice (CRC Press/Taylor and Francis, expected 2022). She will serve on the editorial team of the 4th edition of Dr. James Rippe's book, Lifestyle Medicine, specifically as the editor of the Mental Health Section and co-editor of Nursing and Lifestyle Medicine Section. She expects her second Oxford University Press book (this time as an edited larger volume) titled Medical Professionalism: Theory, Education, and Practice to be published in late 2023. She serves as chair of ACLM’s Mental and Behavioral Health Member Interest Group. Merlo developed a novel Lifestyle Medicine curriculum titled Wellness in Nursing Through the Lens of Lifestyle Medicine and has been teaching this 3-hour elective course to doctoral and graduate nursing students at the Rory Meyers College of Nursing at NYU since 2020. In 2021, Dr. Merlo is also teaching undergraduate nursing students at NYU in a 3-hour elective course titled Lifestyle Approaches and Well-Being in Nursing. At NYU Grossman School of Medicine, she is teaching Lifestyle Medicine to psychiatry residents.
In November 2021, she was named a fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Merlo serves on the board of directors of Plant Powered Metro NYC.

Dr Merlo's book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0197506224/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0

Karla Rodriguez, DNP, RN, CNE, DipACLM is a clinical assistant professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. She has been teaching since 2007 and is a certified nurse educator and clinical instructor. Her background is adult and pediatrics medical-surgical nursing. She is a mentor for registered nurses and nursing students along their varying trajectories. She has been a registered nurse since 1999 and worked in Irvine, California and different areas of New York. Rodriguez has been certified in Lifestyle Medicine since 2020 and has always been passionate about teaching the preventative and disease-reversal nature of a plant-based diet. She is also certified in Plant Based Nutrition from Nutrition Studies eCornell.

Rodriguez earned her DNP from Quinnipiac University, MSN from Phoenix University, and her BSN from Long Island University. Rodriguez serves as one of the medical advisors for Plant Powered Metro NY. She is a member of the Office of Global Inclusion at NYU. She is the treasurer for the New York Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. She serves as one of the faculty advisors for the student group, Latinos Aspiring to Imagine Nursing Opportunities (LATINOS) at NYU. Rodriguez is also an active member of the Sigma Theta Tau – Upsilon chapter as Chair of the Education Committee.

She is currently teaching an undergraduate course elective to nursing students this Fall at NYU Rory Meyers called Lifestyle Approaches and Well-Being in Nursing. She was a guest speaker on The Nurse Practitioner Podcast in August 2021 talking about Lifestyle Medicine.

A vegan for over 10 years, she is grateful she found a better approach to her lifestyle. She also does outreach on behalf of the animals and is a member of Anonymous for the Voiceless in Long Beach. She is a mom to a 14 year-old furbaby.

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TIME CODE:
00:00 Guest introductions, bios and their plant-based journeys
0:07:20 Chef AJ and viewer Q & A
0:15:40 Incorporating mental health into Lifestyle Medicine and more viewer Q & A
1:04:35 Final thoughts and show wrap