Jennifer Trilk is a professor of physiology and exercise science at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville and director of Lifestyle Medicine Programs, which comprehensively trains medical students in curricula and research in nutrition, physical activity, behavior change, self-care, and resiliency to prevent and treat the nation’s top chronic diseases. Professor Trilk also directs the Lifestyle Medicine Education Curriculum (LMEd), which provides open-access LM curricula to medical schools across the globe.   Professor Trilk teaches lifestyle medicine in the classroom and the culinary medicine teaching kitchen. In her free time, she enjoys horseback riding and spending time outdoors and with her loved ones. In addition to LMEd, Professor Trilk also founded and directs Exercise is Medicine Greenville® (EIMG), a comprehensive 12-week medically-based exercise and lifestyle program for adults with chronic health conditions, and for which in 2019 she received the Exercise is Medicine Global Leadership Award from the American College of Sports Medicine. Both of these programs were recognized in 2022 as part of the White House’s national strategy for their Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. In 2024, Professor Trilk presented the rationale for Lifestyle Medicine training in medical school at the Department of Health and Human Services Food is Medicine Summit. In 2025, Professor Trilk received our medical school’s first NIH R01 grant for EIMG. 

Phyllis MacGilvray is Dean of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville, a clinical professor of family medicine, and a Prisma Health family medicine physician. Dr. MacGilvray is the first medical school dean in the country board certified in lifestyle medicine. She is committed to advancing efforts to help prepare future physicians dedicated to improving the health and wellness of communities. Even as Dean, she still teaches lifestyle medicine topics for preclerkship students. When Dr. MacGilvray was first appointed Dean of our medical school in 2024, she launched our new mission statement: Educate. Innovate. Serve. Where Lifestyle is Medicine.  “We are recognized as one of only two medical schools in the nation to earn the ‘Platinum Plus’ certification from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, reflecting our commitment to lifestyle medicine and evidence-based interventions for chronic disease prevention and treatment,” says Dr. MacGilvray. “We strive for the highest standards in all we do to transform medical education, research, and patient care, and foster a culture of belonging and equity, valuing each person's unique contributions.”

Kirsten A. Porter-Stranksy is an associate professor of neuroscience and behavioral health at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. Her research program focuses on medical education, science outreach, and lifestyle medicine and provides research opportunities for medical trainees.  Professor Porter-Stransky believes lifestyle medicine is foundational to brain health and mental health, and she integrates it into her teaching accordingly. She served as a consultant to the American Psychiatric Association’s presidential workgroup on lifestyle psychiatry and continues to teach and research behavioral strategies that promote wellbeing. In her personal life, she strives to model lifestyle medicine principles by following a vegetarian diet, integrating regular physical activity into her life, spending time in nature during all four seasons, prioritizing restorative sleep, and valuing meaningful connections with family, friends, pets, and community as essential to health. By aligning her professional work with her personal practices, she aims to authentically promote lifestyle medicine.

Renee Chosed is a clinical professor of biochemistry and interim chair of biomedical sciences at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. Professor Chosed’s current research focuses on reproductive biology and defining molecular markers of embryo competence. Her lab uses molecular and biochemical tools to identity molecular markers associated with successful IVF implantation outcomes. Professor Chosed primarily teaches biochemistry and genetics in the pre-clerkship MD curriculum at our medical school. She also teaches some nutrition content through lectures on vitamins and sessions on epigenetics, and she co-instructs two LMEd sessions with Professor Trilk called “Lifestyle Medicine and Cancer” and “Ethanol Metabolism, ALD and NAFLD”. On a personal level, Professor Chosed and her family enjoy hiking together and have traveled to many national parks to explore the outdoors. Professor Chosed ran as a hobby for many years but now enjoys a Jazzercise class of cardio and strength-training five days a week. She loves cooking and trying new recipes.

 Casey Wiley serves as the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville’s financial aid manager and one of our founding culinary medicine course instructors. He also serves as Chair of the Financial Assistance Management and Education Committee for the AAMC. Casey’s lifelong love of food began on his grandmother’s kitchen counter, where he first learned the joy of cooking. Today, he brings that passion into medical education, helping future physicians understand the role of nutrition and lifestyle in patient care.   When teaching culinary medicine to our medical students, Casey’s primary focus is the direct application of culinary skills to patient care and a desire to help patients eat healthier while maintaining their culinary cultural identity. Casey also helped lead the Lifestyle Medicine Track of Distinction, reinforcing the connection between food, health, and equity. With years of experience supporting medical students financially, academically, and personally, Casey also integrates culinary insights into a broader wellness and financial literacy mission. His work empowers students to see food as both medicine and connection—a lesson that started in his grandmother’s kitchen.

Krista Blackwell is a clinical assistant professor of biomedical sciences and the course director of culinary medicine electives for first-year and fourth-year medical students at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. This course integrates lifestyle medicine’s optimal nutrition pillar through blending the science of nutrition with the art of cooking, while also being an inter-professional collaboration among students, faculty, staff, dietitians, and chefs.    Professor Blackwell’s culinary medicine elective curriculum highlights experiential learning, including cooking demonstrations and case-based discussions, preparing healthy recipes related to chronic disease management and food insecurity. Through this elective, students can translate nutritional science into practical skills they can use in patient care. As a mom of an outgoing 8-year-old, her family prioritizes home-cooked meals rich in whole foods. She also practices mindfulness and gratitude, often involving her daughter in these rituals to foster emotional resilience and connection. Her commitment to culinary medicine and mindful living is something she embodies both in the classroom and at home.

Jennifer Springhartis a clinical assistantprofessor of emergency medicine attheUniversity of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville,the school’sDirector of Community Engagement, and theDirector of Root Cause, a monthly studentled health fairthat aims to increase access to health care and decrease health disparities within the Upstate. Root Cause provides free meals, wellness information, healthcare resources, CPR demonstrations, blood pressure readings, and more to community members. Dr. Springhart works with students to incorporate each pillar of Lifestyle Medicine into every educational interaction with attendees of Root Cause. She also serves as a liason between our students and Community Partners in Greenville to educate students about the resources available to our patients. In her daily life, she is an avid Barre3 fan who also enjoys running, walking our beautiful city with friends, and practicing yoga.

Benjamin Griffeth is a psychiatrist, an associate professor of psychiatry, and the Clerkship Director for psychiatry/neurology at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. He also serves as Director of Adult Inpatient Services at the Prisma Health Marshall I. Pickens Hospital. Dr. Griffeth specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of mental health conditions, utilizing both medication management and psychotherapy to help patients improve their emotional well-being and overall quality of life. Dr. Griffeth teaches lifestyle medicine because he believes it is the best link to the oldest version of the medical profession; it leads back to the work and writings of Hippocrates, Al-Razi, and Charaka in that balance, food, exercise, and social connection lead to greatest health. His personal practices of sun and surf or pickleball help with both the aerobic health of the body but also the connection to family, friends, and competitors. His time spent in church, singing, and gardening promotes his connection with the fundamentals of that beyond himself; it offers that space of engagement, of flow which loses time in performance.

Stephen Carek is a family medicine physician, the program director for the Prisma Health Family Medicine Residency Program in Greenville, and an associate professor of family medicine at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. He is board certified in family medicine, primary care sports medicine and lifestyle medicine. As a residency program director, he feels it is important to train physicians who are equipped to address the root causes of chronic disease.   Dr. Carek practices lifestyle medicine because he believes the most powerful tools in medicine are often the simplest. He sees daily how nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress management, relationships, and avoidance of harmful substances shape long-term health far more than prescriptions alone. He tries to personally model these principles as well because he wants his counseling to be grounded in lived experience. To Dr. Carek, Movement is not just exercise—it is prevention, therapy, resilience, joy and longevity in action. He teaches lifestyle medicine to residents and students because patients deserve doctors who can confidently prescribe exercise, nutrition, sleep, and behavior change with the same clarity and competence as medications. 

As part of the facilities department at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville, Brian supports lifestyle medicine principles through research and helping to develop and implement exciting projects that assist our medical students in growing their knowledge and practice of lifestyle medicine and sharing that knowledge in our local communities. Brian’s involvement with projects like the mobile teaching kitchen, outdoor garden, and indoor hydroponic garden allow him to play a supporting role in our students lifestyle medicine iniatives. Brian implements several of the lifestyle medicine pillars in his personal life as well. Daily physical activity and healthy eating are consistent in his routines. He works hard at maintaining healthy relationships with family and friends and understand the value and importance of doing so.

Aaron Toro is the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville’s executive director of finance and operations. He earned his bachelor’s degree in athletic training from Eastern Michigan University and master’s degree in Health Services Administration from University of Detroit Mercy. Aaron moved to SC from Detroit in 2014 after spending more than nine years working as an athletic trainer, administrative fellow, and clinical rehab manager for the Detroit Medical Center.  After earning his master’s degree, Aaron focused his career on medical group leadership. Aaron has experience in several specialties, including orthopedics, family medicine, and anesthesiology. As non-faculty, Aaron uses his position to positively influence our school’s faculty, staff, and students with respect to a healthy lifestyle. The most recent example of this is contracting with a local, fresh food vendor to provide healthier meal and snack options to everyone in our school’s community. On a personal level, Aaron stays active in sports, particularly softball. He plays on a Greenville County Rec team called the Hitmen. 

A board-certified specialist in obesity and weight management, Annie brings expertise in nutrition counseling across prevention and chronic disease management. With a master’s degree in food, nutrition, and culinary science, she integrates evidence-based nutrition with hands-on cooking instruction, helping students and patients translate knowledge into real world practice as a culinary medicine instructor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville.   Annie assists with our school’s first-year and fourth-year culinary medicine electives. Both courses cover different medical conditions and nutrition related to these conditions and then have students go into the kitchen to prepare meals themselves, giving them hands-on experience preparing meals that meet the population needs addressed in each module. Annie also helps medical students, residents, and/or fellows deepen their knowledge of lifestyle medicine principles by allowing them to shadow or attend her health coaching sessions, classes, and programs. Personally, Annie aims to include the lifestyle medicine principals daily through healthy diet, exercise, and other healthy lifestyle choices. She strives for progress, not perfection, and aims for 80/20: making active and intentional healthy choices 80% of the time with a little bit of wiggle room and grace for the remaining 20% of the time.

Erin Brackbill serves as clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville and Prisma Health Children's Hospital. She is an attending in the pediatric resident continuity clinic, Center for Pediatric Medicine, and has extensive prior experience at a multidisciplinary pediatric obesity and healthy lifestyles program in Greenville.   Dr. Brackbill became a Diplomat of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine in 2019. In 2024, she was awarded Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), the highest recognition for outstanding achievement and contribution in the field of lifestyle medicine. She serves as co-chair of the ACLM Pediatric and Adolescent Member Interest Group and serves as co-chair of the South Carolina Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics Healthy Lifestyles Committee. Dr. Brackbill helped lead the development of an ACLM toolkit “Beyond the Numbers: A Lifestyle Medicine Approach to Pediatric Obesity.” She has led statewide workshops on pediatric obesity and healthy lifestyles through SC Quality through Technology and Innovation Program and helped create a quarterly state-wide learning collaborative around “Pediatric Metabolic Syndrome and Healthy Lifestyles.” Dr. Brackbill also helped create a Lifestyle Medicine curriculum for the Prisma Health pediatric residency program and a lifestyle medicine approach to obesity for the resident continuity clinic. She has co-authored chapters on pediatric Lifestyle Medicine and health equity in lifestyle medicine. She enjoys teaching and innovation around pediatric lifestyle medicine including community-based initiatives and supporting patients to live their healthiest lives.

Blakely Amati is the medical director of the Prisma Health Bradshaw Institute for Community Child Health & Advocacy and a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. Dr. Amati became board-certified in lifestyle medicine in 2020 and has since been an active practitioner and advocate for pediatric lifestyle medicine, working at the local, state, and national level.   Dr. Amati co-chairs the ACLM Pediatric/Adolescent Member Interest Group and is the co-author of the ACLM toolkit, "Beyond the Numbers: A Lifestyle Medicine Approach to Pediatric Obesity." Her expertise in the field has led her to speak at Annual ACLM Conferences, where she has discussed lifestyle medicine interventions for pediatric obesity and advocacy for the field, and to co-author the pediatric chapter of the new lifestyle medicine textbook Lifestyle Medicine and the Primary Care Provider: A Practical Guide to Enabling Whole Person Care. At the state level, Dr. Amati was instrumental in establishing the SCAAP Healthy Lifestyles Subcommittee. She has also conducted lifestyle medicine Quality Improvement workshops for pediatric practices through the SCDHHS Quality Through Technology and Innovation in Pediatrics (QTIP) program and has been a guest speaker for the SC Pediatric Healthy Lifestyles & Metabolic Syndrome Learning Collaborative. Locally, and in collaboration with Dr. Erin Brackbill, Dr. Amati developed a lifestyle medicine noon conference series for pediatric residents and a bilingual/bicultural pediatric obesity lifestyle medicine program within the Prisma Health Upstate pediatric residency clinic. Together, Drs. Brackbill and Amati are currently working to create a community lifestyle medicine curriculum for youth and a plant-based Hispanic grocery tour video for Upstate families.

 Devin serves as the director of communications at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. As Director of Communications, he shares the expertise of our school’s faculty, staff, and students on the six pillars of lifestyle medicine with external audiences. His role gives him the opportunity to tell our school’s stories and share our passion for training future physicians to bring lifestyle medicine to their patients. Devin’s background prior to a career in higher education was marketing and fan experience in intercollegiate athletics. He played golf in college, and he still enjoys playing in tournaments outside of work and playing recreationally. In his personal life, he and his wife love spending time in nature with their dog, Roux. Additionally, he also enjoys finding mindfulness through yoga and spending time in his vegetable garden. These interests are part of the reason he is passionate about the school's mission and commitment to preventing chronic disease through nutrition, physical fitness, and stress management.

Marisa is the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville’s social media and creative content specialist. Marisa captures our school’s dedication to lifestyle medicine in photos, videos, and the written word and shares it across social media platforms to promote our students’, faculty’, and staff’s efforts to improve patient care and population health. Marisa helped document the 2025 fourth-year culinary medicine elective capstone via video, leading the interview and post-production processes, and promotes student groups such as Root Cause and the RAM free medical clinic.   She advocates for eating disorder recovery and has been invited to speak about recovery at multiple local events, including most recently at the 2024 Hillcrest High NEDA walk. Marisa believes lifestyle medicine’s unique focus on six health pillars of equal importance—including spiritual health, social health, and responsible substance use alongside nutrition and exercise—is key for developing a healthy, happy relationship with food and your body. In her free time, Marisa practices lifestyle medicine by going outdoors and getting away from screens, reading, learning, spending time with her loved ones, tending to her plants and many pets, and cooking.

Simon serves as the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville’s marketing and communications manager. He supports our school's mission by developing communications that promote health, wellness, and evidence-based medical education. Simon helped document the 2025 fourth-year culinary medicine elective capstone via video, and he regularly supports and promotes student organizations and initiatives such as Root Cause, the Art is Medicine student interest group, and more.   Simon assists in sharing stories, programs, and initiatives that highlight the importance of the six pillars of Lifestyle Medicine Education, while fostering engagement among students, faculty, staff, and community partners at our medical school. He works with external advertising partners to help promote and bring positive attention and resources to our school’s lifestyle medicine programs, iniatives, and work in the local community, and he helps tell our school’s lifestyle medicine stories by designing materials, such as the 2026 Research Report, and coordinating project logistics, like the printing process for the Root Cause Lifestyle Medicine Cookbook.

Roger Drouin is the content and public relations manager at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. Roger works closely with our Lifestyle Medicine Education experts to tell the story of the School of Medicine Greenville, “Where Lifestyle is Medicine.” Roger leads efforts to highlight our school’s lifestyle medicine faculty, innovations, community initiatives, and accomplishments in media publications, ranging from The Wall Street Journal to Fox Carolina News to The New York Times.   Our school is dedicated to training doctors in lifestyle medicine, including the benefits of exercise and healthy nutrition, and sleep for brain health and healthy living, helping individuals live their healthiest lives, and Roger is passionate about assisting our team as they carry out this important mission. Roger uses his media and public relations expertise to increase coverage of our students, faculty, and staff and their amazing work. He also co-edited the Root Cause Lifestyle Medicine Cookbook.    Personally, Roger enjoys gardening and bicycling with his son and daughter and exploring the wonders of nature around their home. He believes our next generations can begin to become active participants in their own wellbeing at a young age. 

As Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville, Dr. Emerson provides strategic oversight for medical student education programs, strengthens curricular innovation, and fosters a supportive and inclusive learning environment. Dr. Emerson is board certified in family medicine and trained in Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine. He has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to advancing patient care, education, and population health initiatives.   Dr. Emerson is deeply engaged in curriculum innovation and national educational initiatives, contributing to the development of standardized training programs and publishing extensively in peer-reviewed journals.  He uses lifestyle medicine in patient care and as a philosophy in his own daily life. He believes the best way to approach patients with lifestyle focused care is to be compassionate, have empathy, and work to partner with patients to help them find the motivation to change their behaviors with a goal of achieving a healthier and happier future state. In both patient care and in his personal life, this is an ongoing journey for Dr. Emerson. There’s always room for growth.

Dr. Jonathan Markowitz is a pediatric gastroenterologist at Prisma Health and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville, where he also serves as Vice Chair for Academic Affairs. His clinical interests have increasingly expanded beyond traditional medicine to include the powerful role of food and lifestyle in health. He is currently working toward certification through the American College of Culinary Medicine and enjoys exploring the intersection of Culinary and Lifestyle Medicine in both his professional and personal life. Dr. Markowitz is passionate about helping patients and trainees understand how everyday choices—especially around food—can prevent and manage chronic illness. He believes that empowering people with practical, evidence-based tools is one of the most meaningful ways to support long-term health and well-being.