Skip to main content
Explore URMC

menu
Lifestyle Medicine

Simple changes today can lead to a healthier tomorrow.

Call (585) 341-6775

Lifestyle Medicine at Highland Hospital

Highland Hospital’s Lifestyle Medicine program encourages and helps our patients to make simple changes in their everyday lives to improve their health.

Lifestyle Medicine is a primary therapy for the treatment and reversal of chronic disease by using:

  • A whole food, plant-predominant dietary lifestyle. Learn how to provide your body with the building blocks for health through the decisions you make about what to eat.

  • Physical activity. Regular exercise decreases the risk of many chronic diseases, makes it easier to do daily activities, makes you stronger, and improves your mood.

  • Restorative sleep. A good night’s sleep promotes health and resilience.

  • Stress management. Learn how to cope with stresses to enable you to live a happier, healthier life.

  • Avoidance of risky substances. When you stop smoking, you will improve your breathing, and reduce your risk of heart disease, many cancers, and other serious chronic conditions. We will also talk with you about the impact that alcohol has on your chronic diseases.

  • Positive social connection. Maintaining strong connections can help address feeling down or anxious and can benefit your health and well-being.

 

In addition to Lifestyle Medicine consultations, we offer referrals to programs at the Rochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute. These programs help to support you and to build needed skills on your journey to a healthier you:

15-Day Jumpstart Program

Focused on nutrition and based on a whole-food, plant-predominant diet, this online program helps you make simple changes over two weeks that will improve your health. This dietary lifestyle has helped patients lose weight, sleep better, improve blood sugar, lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and even reverse heart disease. There is a fee for this class, and a discount is available with a referral from Highland Lifestyle Medicine.

Learn More about the Jump Start Program

 

The Lift Project

The Lift Project helps you focus on –and improve– your mood and overall wellbeing. The Lift Project delivers 10 weekly lessons through online meetings that incorporate entertaining videos and live discussions. Each lesson introduces a method to lift your mood using insights from Neuroscience, Positive Psychology, and Lifestyle Medicine. There is a fee for this class and a discount is available with a referral from Highland Lifestyle Medicine.

Learn More about the Lift Project

 

The Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP)

CHIP is an evidence-based program that has helped over 65,000 participants in the last 30+ years. It can help you lower your cholesterol, normalize your blood pressure, lose weight, manage and reverse type 2 diabetes, and more. CHIP participants attend 19 online facilitated sessions that incorporate videos and small group discussions. There is a fee for this program.

Learn More about the CHIP program

Meet our Providers

Photo of Susan Friedman, M.D., M.P.H.

Susan M. Friedman, MD, MPH

Lifestyle Medicine Director

Highland geriatrician, internist, and University of Rochester Professor of Medicine.

Dr. Friedman is board certified in Lifestyle Medicine. Dr. Friedman’s consultation services are available for outpatient appointments at the GAMA (Geriatrics and Medicine Associates) clinic and physicians can request that she consult on patients hospitalized at Highland Hospital.

 

View Profile

 

 

Photo of Sandra Sarnoski-Roberts, M.D.

Sandra Sarnoski-Roberts, MD

Internist, University of Rochester Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine

Dr. Sarnoski-Roberts is board certified in Lifestyle Medicine. Dr. Sarnoski-Roberts' consultation services are available for outpatient appointments at the GAMA (Geriatrics and Medicine Associates) Clinic.

 

View Profile

Our Location

Lifestyle Medicine
at Highland Hospital

990 South Ave
Rochester, NY 14620

Get Map and Directions

Call Us (585) 341-6775