Dr. Suzannah Bozzone, Erlanger Family Medicine physician, is one of only two Tennessee doctors and PhD/masters-level health clinicians to be certified as a diplomate of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine/American College of Lifestyle Medicine and the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine.
After participating in a board certification process, only 240 physicians and healthcare clinicians became the first medical professionals in the world earning board certification in the new field of lifestyle medicine.
Lifestyle Medicine, defined by the ACLM, is the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic approaches, such as a predominantly whole food, plant-based diet, physical activity, adequate sleep, stress management, tobacco cessation and other non-drug modalities, to prevent, treat, and, oftentimes, reverse chronic disease.
“Erlanger Health System is the region’s only health system to put an emphasis on lifestyle medicine, focusing not only on the treatment of chronic illnesses, but on prevention and even reversal of otherwise life-threatening medical conditions,” said Dr.
Bill Moore Smith, medical director of Sports Medicine and Primary Care, Erlanger Sports and Health Institute. “Dr. Bozzone is a national leader in the field of lifestyle medicine. Her expertise and training will be of great value to patients in the Chattanooga region.”
ACLM President George Guthrie, MD, MPH, FACLM stated, “Having health care providers not only look at symptoms, but also at the underlying cause of disease, will help patients take charge of their health and prevent, arrest and reverse chronic disease, thus returning years to their life and life to their years.”