Martha’s Lecture on Diet and Hypertension for Novartis in Chicago
I just got back from Chicago where I lectured on diet to lower blood pressure. The lecture was held at the Swissotel and was sponsored by Novartis. The program was called Recipes for Hypertension Management.
The program was great! Both the participants as well as the presenters really enjoyed the evening. I don’t know of any other program sponsored by a pharmaceutical company that includes a lecture on diet/lifestyle, a cooking demonstration by a famous chef, a great meal as well as education on a new medication. Most pharmaceutical companies have educational programs that include a talk by a physician (and a meal of course) … but I’ve never heard of a program that included a nutritionist and a chef!
The evening consisted of:
1. Cocktails and dinner at a beautiful hotel. Hotel Executive chef, John Seagro prepared a delicious meal for the attendees.
2. My lecture on Nutrition/Lifestyle for Hypertension Management. (I think it went pretty well if I do say so myself!).
3. Lecture by well known physician Dr. George Bakris (who was also very entertaining) who discussed Novatis’s new medication for hypertension called Exforge
4. Cooking demonstration by well known chef, Rick Tramonto . 
Check out his new book that just came out yesterday - Fantastico. His farro, ceci bean salad and marinated fish dishes were delicious! I will be posting these recipes in a day or so. His sous chef, Chris Pandel also did a great job with the preparation.
5. Lastly, there was a Q & A panel discussion.
Novartis is piloting this program”Recipes for Hypertension” in LA and NYC next week. I will be participating in the NYC program on Nov. 15 at the W Hotel in Union Square. Hopefully the program will be worthwhile for them to continue. It’s a great (and fun) way to educate physicians on the importance of lifestyle as well as medication when it comes to treating high blood pressure. It also shows them that tasty meals can be healthy and low in sodium.
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April 14th, 2008 at 1:13 am
[...] week I made a trip to Detroit to lecture on Diet, Lifestyle and Hypertension for Novartis. (I did the same series of lectures last year - see my posts). I flew on Northwest [...]