Michael S. Fenster MD, MBA, FACC, FSCA&I, FRSM, MIANE, PEMBA

Michael S. Fenster, MD, is amongst the only Interventional Cardiologists, Professional Chefs, and Professors of Culinary Medicine to be found anywhere. His Culinary Medicine program at The University of Montana is likewise amongst the first of its kind in the United States. Through his Culinary Medicine university courses, speaking events, articles, books, personal outreach, television, and other media appearances, Chef Dr. Mike has become the voice of Culinary Medicine. He continues speaking worldwide as a recognized expert on food and health and is a sought-after keynote speaker. In addition to innumerable media appearances, Chef Dr. Mike, as he is informally known to friends and fans, has hosted his own PBS television show, House Calls with Chef Dr. Mike and delivered a TEDx talk on Culinary Medicine.  

BridgMed was forged from the vision of Chef Dr. Mike after he faced personal health issues that caused him to re-examine the interaction between food and health through the lens of the individual food experience. Building upon a diverse foundation of information theory and evidence-based study, he formulated an approach that, in many respects, was not only novel but often ran counter to much of the conventional food-health advice being dispensed at the time.

Decades later, Dr. Fenster is now acknowledged as one of the world leaders in the area of food and health. The World Health Organization has recognized him through the FIDES program as a food-health influencer and reliable source of data-derived information. The successes of his patients and other participants encourage him to carry on the further development and sharing of the Culinary Medicine method.

Developments like the NOVA food classification system developed at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, based on the level of food processing and studies from around the world utilizing it, help provide direct and incontrovertible evidence in support of the Culinary Medicine approach to food and health. It was in concert with those events that Dr. Fenster developed the Culinary Medicine program – meeting all the rigors and vettings of a university-level university course – at the University of Montana.