Meet the Team

Ted Barnett, MD, FACLM
Founding President and Board Chair
Full-time unpaid volunteer

  • Dr. Barnett is the “High-Tech Doctor with Low-Tech Solutions”

  • BS from Yale University (1976), MD from Tufts University (1980)

  • Board Certified in Diagnostic Imaging (1984) and Vascular and Interventional Radiology (inaugural exam 1995) and has practiced Radiology in the Rochester area since 1986.

  • Board Certified in Lifestyle Medicine (inaugural exam 2017)

  • Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (FACLM) and former board member.

  • Partner, Borg and Ide Imaging, Rochester, NY

  • He, his wife and three children have thrived on an exclusively plant-based diet since 1991.

Susan Friedman, MD, MPH, FACLM
Director of Clinical Studies and Board Vice Chair

  • Trained at Northwestern and Johns Hopkins Universities

  • Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester

  • Board certified internist and geriatrician

  • Lead author of the White Paper on Healthy Aging published in 2018 by the American Geriatrics Society.

  • Board Certified in Lifestyle Medicine, having passed the inaugural examination given by the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine in October 2017.

  • Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (FACLM)

  • Completed eCornell Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate at T. Collin Campbell Center for Nutritition Studies.

  • Special interest in healthy aging

  • Recipient of numerous research grants

  • At home, she is happy to find new plant-based recipes for her husband, and 3 boys.

Carol H. Barnett, PhD, JD
Content Expert and Board Secretary/Treasurer
Full-time unpaid volunteer

  • BA from St. Bonaventure University (class Valedictorian); PhD in English Language and Literature from Yale University; Law degree (JD) from Yale Law School

  • Co-Coordinator with husband Ted D. Barnett, MD of the Rochester Area Vegan Society since 1995

  • Vegan since 1991; raised three vegan children

  • Curriculum development for 15-Day Whole-Food Plant-Based Jumpstart Program

  • Curriculum development for CME program “Jumpstarting Health”

  • Curriculum development for alumni program “Plant-Based Together.”

  • Involved in town governance and green space protection, most recently as a founding member of the Rush Recreation and Park Association

  • Lain Kahlstrom

    Director of Operations

  • Robert Franki

    Communications Director &
    Jumpstart Program Director

  • Kerry Graff, MD

    Medical Director

  • Deborah Chielli

    Director of Membership &
    Community Development

  • Bruce Pollock

    Community Engagement & Data Management

  • Marion Treece

    Director of Education &
    Programming

  • Kim Taylor

    Program Facilitator & Health Coach

  • Brian Bell

    Operations

  • Bubbie Staron

    Program Facilitator & Cooking Instructor

  • Jane Dorsey

    Health Coach - Sleep Specialist

  • Sarina Farb

    Membership & Facilitation Specialist

  • Tobi James

    Health Coach & Program Facilitator

  • Peg Haust-Arliss, LCSW-R, DipACT, CHHC

    Program Facilitator