About Us
Vision and Mission
Values
Honesty
Integrity
Empathy
Passion
Leadership
Koushik Reddy, MD, FACC, FACLM, DipABLM
Founder and President
Dr. Reddy is the Director of Interventional Cardiology at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center. He completed his cardiology and interventional cardiology training from Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, NY in 2007.
Dr. Reddy has been working at the VA hospital in Tampa, FL since 2007 and has been affiliated with the University of South Florida. He is the director of the CCU and the cardiac cath lab. He served as the Assistant Program Director for General Cardiology fellowship and has won many teaching awards.
Dr.Reddy is on the executive board for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine as the national treasurer.
Dr. Reddy is a plant based physician who believes in lifestyle intervention and disease prevention. He has established programs at the hospital that focuses on disease prevention.
Angela Persaud-Reddy, MD, MBA, DipABLM
Co-Founder
Dr. Angela Persaud-Reddy has practiced internal medicine both as an inpatient physician (Hospitalist) and an outpatient physician (Internist) for well over 15 years. She is currently board certified in both Internal Medicine and Lifestyle medicine.
Dr. Persaud-Reddy is focused on helping her community grow and understand the power of lifestyle medicine and disease prevention. Realizing that the root cause of most chronic diseases are diet related, she has made it her mission to empower as many people as she can about lifestyle choices. She is a public speaker educating communities throughout the Tampa Bay area.
Dr. Persaud-Reddy is a mom of three children who focuses on the health and wellbeing of her family along with her community. Enjoying family time, the great outdoors, building communities, and cooking plant-based meals, are among some of her passions.
Michele Fasnacht, MBA
Vice President
Michele is the Founder and President of Solid Rock Community School, a K-12 non-profit private school specializing in “Educating Out of the Box.” She holds numerous credentials in business, leadership, marketing and education.
She developed the school’s philosophy, which emphasizes individualized, whole-child development. An educator at heart, she has a strong desire to bring plant-based nutritional information to her families and students.
Jill Edwards, MS CEP
Secretary
Jill is a Clinical Exercise Physiologist through the American College of Sports Medicine. She worked in cardiopulmonary rehab for over 8 years educating patients on the power of lifestyle changes to manage and reverse their disease. In her role, she was instrumental in bringing the The Ornish Reversal Program (ICR) to Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
Jill is currently the Director of Education for The Plantrician Project and is a passionate advocate for lifestyle medicine to transform and regenerate human health and health care. It is her mission to educate and empower people with knowledge about the power of lifestyle changes to improve personal and global health.
Healthcare Advisory Team
Amber Orman, MD, DipABLM
Dr. Orman is a board-certified radiation oncologist who specializes in the treatment of breast cancer with radiation, as well as lifestyle interventions for breast cancer treatment and prevention. She recently became a member of the AdventHealth Medical Group in Orlando, Kissimmee, and Celebration, Florida. Previously she served at Moffitt Cancer Center and the University of South Florida Morsani School of Medicine in Tampa, where she served as staff in the breast section and medical faculty, respectively.
Her past honors have included the John T. Royse Award, an award given to the Rose-Hulman undergraduate senior thought to be the most outstanding graduate, as well as selection for the John H. Edwards Fellowship for her outstanding success at Indiana University School of Medicine. More recently she was listed by her peers as a Tampa Top Doctor.
Karen Laing, RN, DipACLM
Karen graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from the University of Maryland at Baltimore, School of Nursing. She began her cardiac rehabilitation work at the Bennett Institute in Baltimore, MD where she loved working within their holistic fitness center that was also open to community members. Since that time, she has continued supporting individuals working to make lifestyle changes, including adding more plants into their diets, both in cardiac rehabilitation settings and personal or group coaching settings.
Karen is a member of the International Coach Federation. She is also an active member of the Tampa Bay Chapter of the American Holistic Nurses Association and the Central Florida Chapter of the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association. Karen is a Certified Health Education Specialist through the NCHEC, Certified Holistic Nurse through the AHNCC, and Certified Lifestyle Medicine Nurse through the ACLM.
Myriam Parham, RD
Myriam Parham, RD, CDE is a Registered Dietitian, a Certified Diabetes Educator and a Certified CHIP program instructor for Dr. Hans Diehl’s Complete Health Improvement Program. She is the outpatient Diabetes Education Program Coordinator at Advent Health Zephyrhills, where she also teaches multiple community programs promoting plant-based nutrition and lifestyle.
She is the president and co-founder of Florida Voices for Animals, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to educate the public about animal abuse and exploitation. Myriam has presented nutrition lectures for Dr. John McDougall programs and is a frequent speaker at the North American Vegetarian Society’s Vegan Summerfest. She has also served on the PCRM Professional Advisory board for many years and participated in their GEICO nutritional intervention research program.
Community Advisory Team
Janice Brooks
Janice served in the Marine Corps for decades, earning numerous military decorations and awards for achievements and humanitarian services, even earning a Master’s degree in Management during her off-duty hours! Once “retired” from active duty, Janice established a children’s learning and development center while still overseas, and once returning to the states accepted positions in support of Naval Air Systems Command in Maryland, moving up the ranks in her field.
She’s also recently published her first book, titled “Core Values: The Styles and Practices of Successful Military Leaders.” This work was inspired by, and derived from, her love of country and corps and her doctoral research work on the values that inspire and inform the practices of successful military leaders. Ultimately, she believes that a healthy nation is a strong and secure nation, and a mission of sharing the value of plant-based nutrition in fighting our nation’s deadliest chronic diseases is integral to achieving that goal.
Maria Bott
Maria Bott was born with a painful auto-immune disease, and allergic to medication. A physician predicted that she would be crippled by the age of twenty-five. With a passion to prove him wrong, Maria trained to become a hypnotherapist, with a focus on the relief of pain and trauma. It felt like a natural progression from there to the science of yoga.
In 1986 Maria moved from England to the United States, where she added certifications in personal training and post rehabilitative exercise. Today, as founder of Blissful Body Life Coaching, Maria teaches chronic pain relief through private sessions, articles, and workshops. These teachings include the emotional, nutritional, and anti-inflammatory benefits of a whole-food plant-based diet.
Michelle Winarsky, MS, LMHC
Michelle became a vegetarian over 28 years ago and vegan since 2002. In 2016, along with her brother, she converted to a whole food plant-based diet without oil to help him avoid a quadruple heart bypass procedure. Due to that success, she has recommended this way of eating to her family, friends, and clients, to support their health through their diet.
Michelle joined PBLM in order to advocate for anyone who would like to learn how they can control their health destiny. She wishes to educate the public and influence the medical profession, so they can advocate for their patients.
Stephen Cooper, JD
Judge Cooper is the founder and President of Healthy Lifestyles Meetup which is dedicated to encouraging the community to achieve healthier, longer and more disease-free lives through programs, activities, and Health and Medical Speakers. After more than 20 years as a District Court trial judge and more than 20 years before that as a trial attorney, Chief Judge Stephen C. Cooper now practices in the areas of mediation, arbitration, and receiverships, as well as serving as a visiting judge in various Courts.
Judge Cooper has twice been elected by his fellow judges to the board of governors of the American Judges Association (AJA.) He has served as President of the Michigan District Judges Association, the Southfield Bar Association, and the B’nai B'rith Barristers Association. He served as a board member of the Michigan Association of Drug Court Professionals (two prior terms as vice president). Judge Cooper has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Martin Luther King, Jr., Award; Honoree-of-the-Year of the Women’s Bar Association; the Distinguished Service Award of the Oakland County Bar Association; and the Governor’s Award for Volunteer Service.
