Aging Expert
Dr. Walter M. Bortz is one of America's most distinguished scientific experts on aging. After training at Williams College and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, he has spent his career at Stanford University, where he holds the position of Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine.
Journalist
His research has focused on the importance of physical exercise in the promotion of robust aging. Dr. Bortz has written 150 scientific articles for research publications such as JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, The New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, and Journal of Biological Chemistry, as well as articles for lay publications such as The New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Town & Country.
Author on Future of Medicine, Aging & Diabetes
Dr. Bortz is the author of seven books. His lastest book: Next Medicine > is his description of how medicine has gone off the tracks and what should be done to recover the grand ambitions of Bortz's beloved profession. Four of his books are on aging: Dare To Be 100, Living Longer for Dummies, The Roadmap to 100and We Live Too Short and Die Too Long his precepts for successful aging: exercise, a natural diet, sleep and rest, a sense of humor and optimism, challenge and creativity, mastery and independence, involvement in life, and maintaining energy. And his 2 books on diabetes: Diabetes Weight Loss System, andDiabetes Danger: What 200 Million Americans At Risk Need to Know.
Medical Community Leader
Dr. Bortz has been president of the American Geriatric Society and co-chair of the American Medical Association's Task Force on Aging. Additionally, he is chairman of the board of directors of Fifty-Plus Lifelong Fitness and is the Founding Chair of the Medical Advisory Board of Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation. Believing that geriatric medicine is the job of nearly all physicians, Dr. Bortz was active in establishing a common geriatrics exam for internal medicine and family practice. The recipient of numerous academic and literary awards, Dr. Bortz has made appearances on CNN and many daytime interview programs. His life work involves both the scientific and personal demonstration that growing older can be a good news story.
Marathon Runner
An avid runner, this septarian has completed 35 marathons, including the 2005 Boston Marathon, and is a columnist for Runner's World magazine. Dr. Bortz has written, "The most important organ in older people is not their heart, lungs or kidneys, but their legs." He runs - and ages - with the same level of determination that drives his quest to inspire the sedentary to start and stay moving. As a prolific and highly expressive writer, his own words can best describe his life work: "Living longer is a choice, not fate. Living longer is active, not passive. You create your own destiny."
Next Medicine:
The Coming Revolution That Will Save American Healthcare
(Based on his 2009 Winter book release from Oxford Press)
Every year, the average American spends about $7,300 on medical expenses. The typical Canadian pays $2,700, the Briton only $2,000. And yet, according to the World Health Organization, our healthcare system, in terms of total quality, ranks thirty-eighth in the world, right between Costa Rica and Slovenia. Not only do 40 million Americans lack health insurance, but more than 200,000 die each year because of medical mistakes. Our average life expectancy is lower than Cuba's.
In his program, Next Medicine, Walter Bortz, MD shows how the defects of American healthcare threaten the stability of our entire nation. He argues that the financial interests of biotech and drug companies have eroded the values of the medical profession and placed profit before human wellbeing.
Heart disease, for example, is widely treated with drug interventions and invasive surgery--both of which are extravagantly profitable for pharmaceutical giants and hospitals. But daily exercise and a healthy diet can prevent heart disease altogether, and can be obtained by patients essentially for free.
As such, the medical-industrial complex has a vested interest in keeping Americans sick, and until that changes medicine will fail to effectively address the leading cause of disability and mortality today: chronic diseases like diabetes that are largely preventable.
Dissecting these and other symptoms of our ailing healthcare system, Bortz prescribes a potent therapy: a radical new approach to medicine that emphasizes personal responsibility and provides incentives for healthy lifestyle choices, along with a new class of medical professionals trained to promote health rather than to treat disease. Nothing less than a paradigm shift, Bortz's proposal goes far beyond the administrative tinkering proposed by politicians and special interests.
His program is filled with a lively narrative full of personal anecdotes, bold ideas, and jarring statistics, Bortz makes a powerful case for a new kind American healthcare
Health Wealth: 99 Ways to Maximize Bottomline Corporate Performance
Dr. Bortz' newest book comes to the platform in his LIVE presentation by the same title. With a baby boomer turning 60 every ten seconds, we are rapidly becoming an aging society. But cutting-edge research on the connection between age and disease shows us that many of the preconceptions we had about how to grow old need a second look. This groundbreaking program is full of take-away prescriptive advice which the nearly 75 million boomers in this nation will value. Top gerontologist and Stanford medical school professor Dr. Walter Bortz draws on new science and a 30-year longitudinal study of centenarians.
We Live Too Short and Die Too Long
Old age is the ultimate epidemic. While there are now over 3 million people in the United States over the age of 85, Dr. Bortz, one of the world's foremost authorities on aging, estimates that in reality, our potential life expectancy is 120 years. Based on his book We Live Too Short and Die Too Long: How to Achieve and Enjoy Your Natural 120-Year-Life Span, Dr. Bortz amply substantiates his theory by sharing both the latest research, as well as his own findings gleaned while serving as a primary care physician for dozens of 100-year-old patients. A past president of the American Geriatric Society, Dr. Bortz contents that our primary goal should not be to simply achieve a maximum lifespan; it is to understand that old age can be good, and its goodness depends on individual commitment to cultivating a healthy lifestyle. With his honest, direct, pull-no-punches style, he offers unique insights into how to get the most out of our bodies for 120 years of life.
Dare To Be 100
A bestselling expert on aging and geriatric care, Dr. Bortz offers his prescription for achieving longevity and preserving the quality of life, explaining how and why we should all strive to be centenarians. Based on his book Dare To Be 100, Dr. Bortz presents an interesting and informative talk overturning the myths of aging, arguing that its negative effects are due to disuse, not disease. Supported by his lifelong research, this unique and practical program explains his breakthrough 99-step plan for keeping active physically, mentally and sexually - exercising the muscles, the heart and the brain every day. With his trademark sense of humor, he shares an effective plan for living long, healthy - and just as importantly - fulfilled lives.
Diabetes Danger: What 200 Million Americans Need to Know
A catastrophic healthcare inferno caused by diabetes now threatens to engulf 200 million Americans. And with healthcare costs related to diabetes now approaching $200 billion per year, businesses, governments, and individuals will soon no longer be able to afford treatment of this disease. Dr. Bortz, one of the world's foremost authorities on aging, is sounding the alarm on this diabetes firestorm. Demonstrating the steps that should be taken to quench the fire of diabetes, he also provides potential strategies to reverse diabetes' symptoms once the disease has struck. Finally, he explains how personal health maintenance, rather than the medical system, is more effective at reining in this growing problem. With hope and humor, Dr. Bortz shines the light on the challenges we now collectively face - both for public policy and for our own healthy futures.
