James M. Rippe - Heart Disease For Dummies

Dr. Rippe is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School with postgraduate training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is the founder and director of the Rippe Lifestyle Institute in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts and Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts.

Dr. Rippe is founder and director of the Rippe Health Assessment at Florida Hospital Celebration Health. This is a series of comprehensive health evaluations for high-performance individuals conducted at the state-of-the-art medical and fitness facility of Celebration Health in Orlando, Florida.

Dr. Rippe is regarded as one of the leading authorities on preventive cardiology, health and fitness, and healthy weight loss in the United States. Under his leadership, the Rippe Lifestyle Institute has conducted numerous research projects on cardiovascular risk-factor reduction, fitness walking, weight loss, running, basketball, bodybuilding, cycling, rowing, cholesterol reduction, and low-fat diets. Laboratory members have presented more than 120 papers at national, medical, and scientific meetings in the last ten years. Dr. Rippe has written more than 200 publications on issues in medicine, health and fitness, and weight management. He has also written or edited 30 books, including 18 medical texts and 12 books on health and fitness for the general public, including Fitness Walking (Perigee, 1985), The Sports Performance Factors (Perigee, 1986), and Fitness Walking for Women (Perigee, 1987). Both walking books were recipients of National American Health Book Awards. His book on executive fitness, Fit for Success, was published by Prentice Hall Press in June 1989. His book on walking and weight loss, The Rockport Walking Program, was published in fall 1989. Another one of his books, The Complete Book of Fitness Walking, was published by Prentice Hall Press in June 1990. His book, The Exercise Exchange Program, combining exercise and proper nutrition, was published in February 1992. Fit Over Forty, published in 1996, explores lifestyle issues related to cardiovascular health, particularly for individuals older than 40, and focuses on motivating people to take simple steps to take charge of their health and lives. The Joint Pain Prescription, published in 2001, gives practical advice about preventing arthritis.

Dr. Rippe also edits a major textbook that teaches physicians about diverse aspects of cardiovascular medicine and the impact of lifestyle decisions on good health. This textbook, Lifestyle Medicine (Blackwell Science, 1999), is the first textbook to guide physicians in the diverse aspects of how to incorporate lifestyle recommendations into the practice of modern medicine. His intensive-care textbook, Irwin and Rippes Intensive Care Medicine (5th edition, 2003; co-edited with Dr. Richard Irwin), is the worlds leading textbook on intensive and coronary care.

Dr. Rippe has developed corporate fitness programs for a variety of companies, including Allstate Life Insurance and The Shimizu Corporation. He serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Healthy Growing Up program a curriculum linking health and fitness for children that was made available free of charge to every U.S. school system in 1992.

Dr. Rippes work has been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, PBSs BodyWatch, CBS Morning and Evening News, CNN, and in a variety of print media, including The New York Times, New York Times Magazine, L.A. Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many monthly publications. He comments regularly on health and fitness for USA Today, American Health, and Prevention. He served for three years as medical editor for the Television Food Network (TVFN).