John La Puma, MD, is a physician and prinicipal investigator and director of CHEF Clinic Research, a study examining and promoting great flavor, healthy lifestyle, exercise, and mind-body control. The author of three medical books and more than 250 papers, reviews, and book chapters, La Puma also edits Alternative Medicine Alert. The first physician in the country to complete the professional cooking curriculum at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, he has cooked regularly at internationally acclaimed restaurants since 1995.
La Puma graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California in Santa Barbara, received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and trained in internal medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles and at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center.