About Us
We are a non-profit coalition of lifestyle medicine organizations in Asia that promotes evidence-based approaches to prevent, treat, and reverse lifestyle-related diseases and enhance health and well-being.
The Asian Lifestyle Medicine Council (ALMC) is a non-profit coalition uniting lifestyle medicine organizations across South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Rooted in the definition of lifestyle medicine, it employs evidence-based therapeutic approaches to address lifestyle-related diseases and enhance overall health. ALMC envisions an Asia where lifestyle medicine serves as the foundation of healthcare, contributing to positive health outcomes for diverse populations.
Our Vision
An Asia with an established, sustainable practice of evidence-based lifestyle medicine improving positive health outcomes for its diverse populations with lifestyle medicine as the foundation of healthcare.
Our Mission
Provision of regional leadership and a platform for collaboration among the lifestyle medicine societies in Asia to create policies and procedures, define industry standards, promote education and research, develop and share resources, and facilitate communications.
What We Do
Provide a platform to establish industry standards, enable mechanisms for quality assurance, and develop frameworks required for sustainable growth of the lifestyle medicine discipline in Asia.
Establish and promote the best practices and introduce the principles and guidelines related to the practice of evidence-based lifestyle medicine in Asia.
Build strong local, regional, and international collaborations, including academic institutions, for the purpose of clinical and public health research in lifestyle medicine.
Provide accredited undergraduate and postgraduate opportunities for learning, training, and knowledge sharing in lifestyle medicine in Asia.
Facilitate communications between lifestyle medicine organisations in Asia for the purpose of meaningful and outcome-oriented collaborations such as facilitating the growth of neighbouring country organisations, hosting events, etc.
Advocate for policy integration of evidence-based lifestyle medicine principles into national healthcare policies across Asia.
Our Organisation
The council's mission is to provide regional leadership, fostering collaboration among Asian lifestyle medicine societies. ALMC aims to develop policies, industry standards, and educational resources, facilitating communication and research initiatives. It aspires to establish and promote best practices, incorporating evidence-based principles into lifestyle medicine across the region. ALMC also seeks to build strong collaborations with academic institutions, fostering clinical and public health research in lifestyle medicine.
ALMC's core objectives include creating industry standards, ensuring quality assurance, and developing frameworks to sustain the discipline's growth in Asia. Furthermore, the council aims to introduce best practices, guidelines, and principles for evidence-based lifestyle medicine, emphasizing the importance of collaboration with neighboring countries and academic institutions.
The ALMC places a strong emphasis on education, aiming to provide accredited learning opportunities in lifestyle medicine at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. By facilitating communication among lifestyle medicine organizations in Asia, ALMC seeks meaningful collaborations, including supporting the growth of neighboring country organizations and hosting events that foster knowledge exchange and professional development.
Lifestyle Medicine
Lifestyle medicine collates sound scientific evidence from diverse medical fields to redefine the approach to treating and reversing lifestyle-related diseases (noncommunicable diseases) and promoting health in clinical settings. Lifestyle medicine centers around clinical settings, filling a significant gap in the global efforts to address the rising trends of lifestyle-related diseases. The current definitions of lifestyle medicine call for the prevention, management, and reversal of lifestyle-related diseases through its six (6) pillars with a patient-centered approach - whole-food, plant-based eating patterns, regular physical activity, restorative sleep and sleep hygiene, stress management, positive social connections, and avoiding harmful substance use. This approach enables an individual to develop and sustain a healthy lifestyle in the long run. Incorporating these ideals into an economically viable clinical practice could arguably present the best approach to face the ongoing chronic disease epidemic as health professionals engaged in direct patient care.
Board of Directors
Dr. Samandika Saparamadu
President, Asian Lifestyle Medicine Council | Member of the Board of Directors
Samandika Saparamadu, MBBS, MPH, DipIBLM, is a Sri Lankan physician and public health researcher. He obtained his medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, and served in Singapore’s public healthcare system following his medical internship at the National University Hospital, Singapore. He holds a Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he was a Dean’s Scholar. He completed the Health Policy Institute Fellowship at the Maryland General Assembly.
Dr. Saparamadu is currently a Researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and affiliated faculty at George Mason University. His research focuses on chronic disease epidemiology, public health nutrition, disease prevention, and health equity, with publications in leading peer-reviewed journals. He is also the Founding President of the Sri Lankan Society of Lifestyle Medicine, an Executive Board Member of the World Lifestyle Medicine Organisation, and President of the Asian Lifestyle Medicine Council.
Email :samandika@icloud.com
Dr. Mechelle A. Palma
Secretary, Board of Directors | Chair, Education Committee
Dr. Mechelle Acero Palma is a family medicine physician, working for the past 15 years. She has been an associate professor at the Adventist University of the Philippines College of Health and College of Medicine. Dr. Palma has been active as a resource person and training program developer for various private and public organizations advocating healthy lifestyles since 2008.
As one of the pioneering certified lifestyle medicine physicians, she focused on the advancement of lifestyle medicine by developing the Competency Course and Specialty Board Examination, reorganizing the Society, and leading its accreditation as an Affiliate Specialty Society of the Philippine Medical Association under the division of the Philippine Academy of Family Physicians.
Dr. Palma is the president of the Philippine College of Lifestyle Medicine, the founder of Culinary Medicine Asia with over 2000 local and international trainees, and an active member of the PAFP Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) team. She is also one of the authors of the Lifestyle Medicine Competencies for the foundational and intensivist category.
Dr. Mohammad Zia Abbas
Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Mohammad Zia Abbas is an MD in Internal Medicine from the University of Health Sciences Antigua School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency at Cook County and Norwegian American Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
He completed his lifestyle medicine postgraduate course at Ripha International University, Islamabad. Dr. Abbas started practicing lifestyle medicine in 2021, and he currently practices internal medicine and works as a lifestyle coach. In addition, he is an executive member of the Pakistan Association of Lifestyle medicine (PALM) and the deputy director of LM Events. He is also the associate country head for Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance (LMGA).
Dr. Abbas has had a dynamic career in the healthcare industry in the US, the Middle East, and Pakistan. He was a consultant for Johnson & Johnson and Smiths Medical for about 22 years, responsible for training, education, and development. Dr. Abbas has experience in clinical education, especially in angioplasty, tracheostomy, and temperature management.
Email :mzabbas110@gmail.com
Dr. Lakshmi Sundar
Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Lakshmi Sundar is a medical doctor and lifestyle medicine practitioner based in Chennai, India. She graduated from Stanley Medical College in 1990 and has over 25 years of experience in diabetes care, with a particular focus on diabetic foot management and amputation prevention. Following training in general surgery and a brief period in cardiac surgery, she returned to specialising in diabetic foot care.
Dr. Sundar heads the foot department and runs an amputation prevention clinic at Dr. A. Ramachandran’s Diabetes Hospitals, Chennai. She was the lead clinical researcher in a multicentre study on developing insoles for people with diabetes, led by the Biomechanics Department at Staffordshire University, UK.
A passionate advocate for holistic health, she qualified as a Diplomate of the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine (IBLM) in 2021 and is a consultant with SHARAN. She is a marathon runner and President of Chennai Runners, a community of approximately 4,000 runners across 17 chapters. She has also worked with The Banyan, establishing a community health centre in Kovalam, Chennai.
Jenny Lee
Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Lee is the founder/chair of Korean College of Lifestyle Medicine (KCLM). Dr. Lee is an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Loma Linda Univ. School of Medicine. Currently, she is located to Korea to directly run the KCLM while serving as adjunct professors at Cha Univ. Graduate School of Integrative Medicine and the Health Policy and Healthy City Center in Korea Univ. Public Policy College.
Dr. Lee is the first Korean Board Certified in Lifestyle Medicine and fellow of American College of Lifestyle Medicine while being the Certified Health and Wellness Coach, the Certified Health Education Specialist, and the Certified Wellness Practitioner in USA.
Her devoted areas in and contributions to Lifestyle Medicine field include(but not limited to): LM Education for medical students, residents, practicing physicians, allied healthcare professionals, health stakeholders/administrators, etc.; LM Research on residents, medical and pharmacy students, general populations, coaching in primary care clinic, and stress management and depression in the context of epigenetics, etc.; and LM Practice, especially using a group medical visit model and health/wellness coaching tools, to address health behavior changes to solve medical conditions and health needs (e.g. physical health, brain health & cognitive fitness, geroscience & well-aging, stress management & resilience, happiness science & positive health, physician wellbeing).
Email :jennycare7@gmail.com
Shagufta Feroz
Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Shagufta Feroz is a clinician specializing in Family Medicine. She has certifications in Lifestyle Medicine, Physician Leadership, and Positive Psychology from Harvard University, USA. She is also a Diplomat of the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine. She is a fellow of the University of Arizona in Integrative Medicine. She has also completed two distance learning doctorates of philosophy in Holistic Nutrition and Integrative Medicine from Clayton College of Natural Health and Quantum University for Integrative Medicine, USA.
Her “SWIPE for HEALTH” program (previously called Synchronized Lifestyle Modification-SLP) does disease prevention, management, and reversal. This program is based on scientific principles of Circadian Rhythms and their role in health and disease. Knowledge of Circadian Rhythms helps in writing Prescriptions for a Personalised Lifestyle Modification Program. Her book titled ‘Living as Nature Intended” explains the scientific background of her program at length and offers comprehensive guidelines for incorporating SWIPE for HEALTH for various aspects of human health. She has been the Founding President of the Pakistan Association of Lifestyle Medicine since 2017 and the Founder of the Happiness Movement in Pakistan. Dr. Shagufta is an Adjunct Professor at the Health Sciences Academy and the Director of RIPHAH Institute of Lifestyle Medicine, RIPHAH University.
Email :drsferoz@gmail.com
Sheela Nambiar
Member of the Board of Directors | Chair, Membership Committee
Dr. Sheela Nambiar, MBBS, MD, is a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist and lifestyle medicine physician with 3 decades of clinical experience. Dr. Nambiar divides her time between Chennai and the Nilgiris in South India. She is also a certified fitness consultant from the National Association of Fitness Certification, USA. As one of the founders of the Indian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ISLM), she has held the office of Secretary (2018-2020) and President (2020-2022). During this time, she has built strong relations for ISLM with ACLM, BSLM, PALM, LMGA, and other lifestyle medicine organizations across the globe.
Dr. Nambiar is on the editorial board of the Lifestyle Medicine Journal, an Advisory Board member of the Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance (LMGA), and a Council member of the Global Positive Health Institute (GPHI). She is passionate about women's health. Dr. Nambiar has published three books on fitness and well-being for women. She conducts workshops and talks at local, national, and international conferences/organizations. Her main areas of interest are fitness and positive psychology.
Dr. Vinu Vij
Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Vinu Vij, MBBS, MD (Physiology), CPS (Diabetology), Dip. IBLM, is an academician and lifestyle medicine physician serving as Additional Professor in the Department of Physiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Nagpur, India. She completed her MBBS at Government Medical College, Nagpur, and her MD in Physiology at KEM Hospital, Mumbai. She subsequently obtained a CPS in Diabetology from Raheja Hospital, Mumbai, in 2011 and became board-certified in Lifestyle Medicine in 2021.
At AIIMS Nagpur, Dr. Vij has played an important role in integrating lifestyle medicine into medical education and clinical services. She has coordinated the Lifestyle Intervention Clinic since its establishment in October 2021 and leads Lifestyle Medicine Electives for MBBS students. She is also Co-Course Coordinator of the Post-Doctoral Certificate Course in Lifestyle Medicine, a collaborative initiative between AIIMS Nagpur and the Indian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ISLM), where she is serving her second term as Treasurer.
Email :vijvinuvij@gmail.com
ALMC Committees
The ALMC committees, comprising Education, Research and Development, Outreach, and Membership, play pivotal roles in advancing the organization's mission. The Education, Research, and Development Committee focuses on shaping ALMC's stance...
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