| Neal Barnard | |
|---|---|
| Born | Fargo, North Dakota |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | M.D. |
| Alma mater | George Washington University School of Medicine |
| Occupation | Physician, psychiatrist, writer |
| Employer | Founder, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine; adjunct associate professor of medicine at George Washington University |
| Website | |
| www.nealbarnard.org | |
Neal D. Barnard is an American physician, author, clinical researcher, and founding president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), an international network of physicians, scientists, and laypeople who promote preventive medicine, conduct clinical research, and promote higher standards in research. An advocate of low-fat vegan diets, he has also conducted research into alternatives to animal experimentation and has been active in the animal rights movement. As of 2011, he is an adjunct associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, serves as president of The Cancer Project, and heads the Washington Center for Clinical Research, a PCRM subsidiary.[1]
Barnard is the author of several published research papers on vegan nutrition and its impact on human health, and several books, including Breaking the Food Seduction (2003), Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes (2007), The Cancer Survivor’s Guide (2008). He is also a musician. On May 4, 2009, his composition, "Dream of the Black Horse," was played on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., at the conclusion of the Library of Congress's "Journey to Freedom" weekend about the Vietnamese boat people.[2]
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Barnard grew up in Fargo, North Dakota in a family of cattle ranchers and physicians. He received his M.D. from George Washington University School of Medicine.[1] He trained as a psychiatrist and is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. For ten years he provided psychiatric services to the Calvary Shelter for Homeless Women in Washington, then shifted his focus to research the impact of diet on human health, and finding alternatives to the use of animals in research.[3] He has published his research in several academic journals, including Lancet Oncology and the American Journal of Cardiology, and is an invited peer reviewer for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. He became vegetarian in his first year of medical school and vegan in the mid 1980s.[4]
He conducted a study with Georgetown University in 2000 regarding the role of diet in menstrual disorders,[5] and in 2005 another on the effects of a low-fat vegan diet on weight loss and insulin sensitivity.[6] In 2002 he published a study on the use of oral estrogens to suppress growth in adolescent girls.[7]
In 2003, he was awarded a US$350,000 research grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the effect of a low-fat vegan diet on diabetes. The study results, published in Diabetes Care, found that "both a low-fat vegan diet and a diet based on American Diabetes Association guidelines improved glycemic and lipid control in type 2 diabetic patients," but "these improvements were greater with a low-fat, vegan diet." [8] With colleagues at PCRM, he developed an insulin ELISA assay that utilizes monoclonal antibodies from hybridomas maintained in media free of animal products.[9] The test proved as effective as methods that use animal products, and is now produced commercially by Millipore.[10]
In 2004 he formed The Washington Center For Clinical Research, a nonprofit subsidiary of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine that aims to conduct research into the role of nutrition in health.[11] He is now an adjunct associate professor of medicine at GWU and is also a life member of the American Medical Association.[12]
Barnard has written more than a dozen books about nutrition that have collectively sold over two million copies.[1] He is also the editor-in-chief of the Nutrition Guide for Clinicians (2007). In Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes he writes that the disease can be reversed in three steps: Set aside animal products; keep vegetable oils to a minimum, including olive oil; and favor foods with a low glycemic index.[13] Nutritionist Marion Nestle, while disagreeing with Barnard's vegan principles, wrote that he raises "provocative questions that deserve serious attention."[1] Physician Dean Ornish has called him "one of the leading pioneers in educating the public about the healing power of diet and nutrition."[14] and Henry Heimlich described his "tremendous influence on dietary practices in the United States."[15] Salon praised his ability to promote a vegan diet "with such eloquence as to make the proposition sound almost inviting."[1]
In 1985, Barnard founded the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). The organization is opposed to some medical and scientific practices that it considers harmful to human health, and promotes the health benefits of a vegetarian and vegan diet.[16] PCRM is based in Washington D.C., where a staff of seventy operate within a $7.2 million budget.[1] With PCRM, Barnard has successfully campaigned against live-animal teaching labs for medical students, something he refused to take part in himself when he was studying medicine. According to Salon.com, by 2001 over half of U.S. medical schools had stopped using live animals for teaching purposes, and by 2006, 85 percent of schools had abandoned the practice.[1] Barnard also opposes the use of animals in biomedical research and promotes the use of alternatives.[16]
In 1991, Barnard founded The Cancer Project, originally as a PCRM program. It became independently incorporated organization in 2004, with Barnard as president, aiming to educate the public on diet’s role in cancer prevention and survival by providing nutrition and cooking classes for cancer sufferers throughout the U.S.[17]
Up until 2005, Barnard also sat on the board of the Foundation to Support Animal Protection (the PETA Foundation). PETA and the Foundation donated over $850,000 to PCRM between 1988 and 2000. Barnard also writes a medical column for Animal Times, PETA's magazine.[1] PCRM affirmed itself in 2005 as an "entirely independent organization" from PETA.[18]
As president of PCRM, Barnard has been at the forefront of criticism of the high-fat Atkins diet. He runs a website advising of potential health consequences, and warning of the possibility of legal liability for doctors who prescribe the diet.[19] In 2004, he approved the release by PCRM of a medical report on the death Robert Atkins.[20] The New York City medical examiner's office said the report had been "inappropriately obtained" by a cardiologist, who said he had provided it to PCRM for research purposes only. Barnard said the cardiologist was aware the report would be released and justified it to expose the effect of the diet on Atkins' health.[21]
The documentary feature film Forks Over Knives, released to theaters in mid-2011, traces the research work of Barnard, T. Colin Campbell and Caldwell Esselstyn. Barnard also features on the film A Delicate Balance - The Truth. He has a companion video to his book, Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes.
Barnard is also a musician—he plays the electric guitar and keyboards, and sings—and has released several recordings, including a CD with American and Vietnamese musicians, called Verdun (2004).[22] Previously, he played in the fusion jazz group Pop Maru, which mutated into the jazz group, Quartet.[23] On May 4, 2009, his composition, "Dream of the Black Horse," was played on the National Mall in Washington, DC, at the conclusion of the Library of Congress’ Journey to Freedom weekend events commemorating the Vietnamese boat people.[2]
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