Keynote Address: Dr. Ian Smith
Smith is the creator and founder of “The 50 Million Pound Challenge” and is currently the medical/diet expert on VH1’s “The Celebrity Fit Club” and a medical contributor on “Rachael Ray.” He also hosts “HealthWatch,” on American Urban Radio Networks. Smith is the author of six books, and he will speak about behaviors that can make an impact on your health and happiness.
Smith will also be awarded the President’s Medal of Excellence by President Susan Fuhrman for his dedication to health and nutrition and achievements in his career following his education at TC.
The Keynote Address will take place at 2:30 p.m. in the Joyce Berger Cowin Conference Center.
More about Dr. Ian Smith
Dr. Ian Smith has served as the medical/diet expert for six seasons on VH1’s highly-rated “Celebrity Fit Club,” the creator and founder of The 50 Million Pound Challenge and The Makeover Mile”, and a medical contributor on the nationally syndicated television show “Rachael Ray.” Dr. Smith is also the host of his own nationally syndicated radio show “HealthWatch” on American Urban Radio Networks. He is the former medical correspondent for NBC News network and for NewsChannel 4 where he filed reports for NBC’s “Nightly News” and the “Today” show as well as WNBC’s various news broadcasts. He has appeared extensively on various broadcasts including “The Oprah Show,” “The View,” “The Tyra Banks Show,” “Larry King Live,” “Anderson Cooper 3600,” and “Showbiz Tonight.” Dr. Smith has recently been appointed by President Obama to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition. He has written for various publications including Time, Newsweek, Men’s Health, and the New York Daily News, and has been featured in several other publications including, People, Essence, Ebony, University of Chicago Medicine on the Midway, Cosmopolitan, and Black Enterprise.
A highly-sought after speaker, Dr. Smith’s work has been honored by several organizations, including the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for his coverage on the momentous events beginning on Sept. 11, 2001. Dr. Smith is very active in charitable causes. He is currently a national advisory board member for The Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity. He has also served on the boards of the American Council on Exercise, the New York Mission Society, the Prevent Cancer Foundation and the New York Council for the Humanities.
Dr. Smith graduated from Harvard College with an AB (class of ’91) and received a master’s in science education from Teachers College of Columbia University. He attended Dartmouth Medical School and completed the last two years of his medical education and graduated from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
Dr. Smith is also the author of eight books, the #1 New York Times Bestseller Extreme Fat Smash Diet, the #1 New York Times Bestseller The Fat Smash Diet, the New York Times Bestseller The 4 Day Diet, the critically acclaimed The Blackbird Papers (2005 BCALA fiction Honor Book Award winner), Happy, Dr. Ian Smith’s Guide to Medical Websites, and The Take-Control Diet. His eighth book, Eat, will be available in April 2011.