Thursday, October 18, 2018

2:00 - 2:45 PM

Track II: The Personal Food & Wellness Lifestyle, Herscher Hall, Guerin C

Food as Medicine: Food for the Body – Food for the Soul - Food as a Creative Experience

Serena Poon, Nutritionist and Celebrated Chef

Richard Ayoub, Executive Director, Project Angel Food

Chef Debbie Lee, Culinary Visionary and Author

Dr. Patricia Wynnjones, MD, Expert in Epigenetics

Dr. Philip Oubre, MD, Oubre Medical, Moderator

Serena Poon, Nutritionist and Celebrated Chef: Based out of Los Angeles, California, USA, Serena Poon is a successful entrepreneur established in the culinary, health and wellness community. Doubling as a classically-trained chef and nutritionist to her clientele, she is known for curating healing and wellness programs using integrative health, holistic nutrition and culinary alchemy. Her passionate focus on the importance of whole body and mind wellness is inspired by the profound effect of cancer on her family when both her mother and father were diagnosed within two years of each other. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, she went on to pursue an education in the culinary arts at the esteemed Le Cordon Bleu, graduating at the top of her class. Serena began her culinary career working for Hugh Hefner and Playboy Enterprises at the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills. She took that exposure into the world of fine dining and started her own personal chef

and private catering business. Serena has established herself as a top high-profile personal chef and nutritional consultant in Los Angeles and has built a strong clientele strictly by referral. From the likes of Steve Bing, to Sean “P. Diddy” Combs to Jerry Bruckheimer, her clients span the globe and her travels expose her to new methods and sources of nutrition to add to her customized techniques. Serena’s philosophy for living an optimal healthy lifestyle can be achieved by integrating nutritional and physical therapy, focused mindfulness and balancing the body’s support system. With the launch of her health and wellness line Just Add Water™ in 2018 and the ceaseless expansion of her lifestyle brand Serena Loves, Serena has truly brought her philosophy to life and continues to build on her mission to help others live their best life through new methods of self-care and wellness.

Chef Debbie Lee, Culinary Visionary and Author: Chef Debbie Lee is a culinary visionary who gained a legion of fans as she reached the top three in Season 5 of “The Next Food Network Star.” She scored notoriety as the queen of modern Korean gastro-pub fare with “Ahn-Joo,” her clever fast-casual model of a Korean Drinking house. Lee was also the first chef from a food truck, The Poutine Truck, to be heralded as one of the top ten restaurants of the year by The Huffington Post in July 2001. Lee’s first cookbook Seoultown Kitchen, began a path to expanding her gastronomic versatility. The cookbook received critical acclaim, making The New York Times’ most notable cookbooks of the year list. Further accolades include a spot on the Details Magazine top 10 of the year and a first-time nomination from the International Association of Culinary Professionals in the international cookbook category. Her user-friendly, effortless approach to breaking down Korean flavors have been featured on “Fox Morning News,” “Martha Stewart Living,” Sunset Magazine, The Food Network Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, Maxim, Zagat, Urban Daddy, Food Republic, Thrillist and more. In 2013, Lee created the sustainable meal delivery service Mind Body Fork.  After a personal struggle with Type II Diabetes, the classically trained chef took a conscious look at how look at how saturated fat, sugar and unnecessary carbohydrates were used to create a dish. Filling a gap in the meal delivery industry, Lee created Mind Body Fork as a sustainable service that focuses on conscious cooking while providing top shelf cuisine. Living true to her motto “if I don’t eat it, I don’t expect my clients to either,” Lee keeps the integrity of the meals to that of upscale restaurant dining, creating a product that satisfies all palates from her celebrity and top athlete clients to her friends and family.  Mind Body Fork offers a one of a kind sustainable daily meal service using local farmers, ensuring that it is truly a “farm-to-table” movement, while keeping all the flavor to satisfy everyone. Lee is always in the kitchen creating new menu items and new concepts, including going back to her Korean roots for her next project. Mind Body Fork is available for local delivery throughout the Southern California, and their Bone Broth program soon to be available nationwide at www.mindbodyfork.com. Chef Debbie Lee lives in Orange County, CA where she cooks and manages the production kitchen.

Dr. Patricia Wynnjones: Dr. Wynnjones is an anesthesiologist/pain management expert, author and healthy living consultant. An internationally recognized expert in Epigenetics, the science of how perception of the environment affects health. She has revolutionized techniques to help patients and celebrity clients alleviate pain. She speaks professionally to HealthCare providers, promoting healthier and happier lives. Current medical services are unable to restore health because they do not address root causes. Most illnesses are caused by lifestyle choices. Epigenetic* based treatment modalities, (*perception of the environment affects health) provide economic, safe and effective techniques, putting the control back in the hands of patients.

Richard Ayoub, Executive Director, Project Angel Food:  Richard Ayoub brings 20+ years of management and leadership experience to Project Angel Food. While having a rich and thriving career in television and digital media, Richard has always juggled his entertainment work with his passion to help the underdog. Richard has always led with his heart. He began his philanthropic activities at the age of 19, when he led a fundraising effort in his hometown of El Paso to send a local elite level gymnast to the Olympics. Through the years, he was a top fundraiser for APLA’s AIDS Marathon and was on the board of The Trevor Project for seven years helping grow the annual budget from $600,000 to $6 million. In 2001, Richard founded Friends of Lockwood, a grassroots group of friends that adopted an elementary school in an economically depressed area of Hollywood. Richard’s entertainment career is capped by two Emmys and multiple other awards for journalistic excellence. He’s run newsrooms in Texas, Arizona, Florida and Los Angeles, California. Richard has also developed tremendous celebrity relationships and has provided media coaching for many TV personalities. As Senior Supervising Producer of the entertainment news show “Extra” for seven years, he developed several series that later turned into successful TV shows. Richard is also a master at startups and is excellent at creating a cultural shift. He was lured to ManiaTV!, the world’s first live online TV network, to serve as Executive Vice President of Programming, he is the founder of the successful TV brand “CyberGuy,” he and partnered with Jay McGraw (Dr. Phil’s son) to start the anti-tabloid entertainment website, RumorFix. When asked why Richard would step away from entertainment to lead Project Angel Food as Executive Director, he said, “I received the call. And I answered it.”

Dr. Philip Oubre, MD, Oubre Medical: Dr. Oubre is a functional medicine doctor who is passionate about spreading the knowledge of reversing disease using food and supplements. Based in Austin, Texas, Dr. Oubre focuses on the root cause of disease, and foster healing and wellness using Nutrition, Movement, Hormone Balance, Digestion, and Stress Management. His practices utilizes a team-based approach that includes a physician, nutritionist, mental health counselor and much more. Beause humans are a complex construct of mental and physical changes, his practice addressies the entire human as a system to help people reverse their disease. He is a Board Certified in Family Medicine, and sees patients of all ages. He is trained to care for infants, children, adults, elderly, and pregnant patients and has been a Certified Functional Medicine Provider since 2017.  His certification is through the Institute for Functional Medicine and he is licensed to prescribe CBD in the state of Texas.