Michael Roizen

Michael Fredric Roizen (born January 7, 1946) is an American anesthesiologist and internist, an award-winning author, and the chief wellness officer at the Cleveland Clinic.

Roizen became famous for developing the RealAge concept and has authored or coauthored five number-one New York Times best sellers.

Roizen completed a tour of duty in the Public Health Service and has 165 peer reviewed publications and 100 medical chapters, 14 US patents, started six companies, served on Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committees for 16 years, and chaired an FDA advisory committee.

He also co-invented a drug, methylnaltrexone (MTNX, trade name Relistor), and took it through PHASE 2 trials.

After attending the Nichols School, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College in 1967 with a double major in Chemistry and Economics.

Subsequently, he attended the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.

His residency was at Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

After 9 years on the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, he was the chair of the Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care and Pain Management at the University of Chicago for 16 years.

He then became dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for Biomedical Sciences at SUNY Upstate.

He co-founded RealAge, a service providing personal health tools to consumers.

The idea for RealAge started in 1985 when Roizen convinced a 47-year-old entrepreneur to take his blood-pressure medication by explaining he was living with the body of a 52-year-old by not doing so.

The entrepreneur paid for Roizen to assemble a five-person research team and identify controllable factors that affect length and/or quality of life.

The first RealAge test debuted online in 1998.

In 2004 and was named chief wellness officer and chair of the Wellness Institute in 2007.

Roizen still practices anesthesiology and internal medicine.

He has served on the boards of five non-profit foundations.

Roizen and his wife, Nancy, a developmental pediatrician, live in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Roizens have two children.

He has appeared on various television shows and was featured in various magazines.

and biography.

He and Dr. Oz coauthor a daily newspaper column in a number of newspapers.

Michael Roizen became the Cleveland Clinic's chief wellness officer in mid-2007.

The position was new for the clinic and was notable, as it made Roizen one of the top 12 executives within the health system.

He is also a professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine.

Among his initiatives are starting a farmer's market near the clinic's main campus, mentoring children in the public schools, and starting smoking cessation and weight-loss programs.

He has also encouraged a walking-focused health program

In May 2008, methylnaltrexone received FDA approval for marketing in the United States.

He has been praised for encouraging Americans to exercise and live healthier lives, and he has been an outspoken critic of politicians who use health funds for other purposes – particularly for taking tobacco settlement money and using it for unintended purposes.

Besides advocating for a healthier lifestyle today, Roizen has speculated that by 2023 one of the 14 areas of aging might have a breakthrough that will allow people to live until 160 with the same quality of life as at age 45.

This speculation has been met with both criticism as well as agreement.

Roizen has also been criticized for what has been called his wild exaggerations about the potential payoffs of exercise and healthy eating.