Meet Dr. Campbell
Physician, Author, Plant-Based Nutrition Expert
at My Plant Based Program
A graduate of Cornell University and SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine, Thomas M. Campbell, MD is a board certified family physician and obesity medicine specialist. He is an assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, where he is founder and co-director of the UR Medicine Nutrition in Medicine Research Center. He previously was medical director of a hospital-based weight management program and has run a variety of other clinical programs focused on weight management and prevention and treatment of lifestyle-related conditions. He has extensive experience creating and running plant-based programs for motivated individuals and groups. He also has experience with more traditional low-calorie meal replacement programming.
Dr. Campbell has been learning, writing, presenting, or practicing in the area of nutrition and lifestyle for 20 years. He is co-author, with his father T. Colin Campbell, PhD, of The China Study, The Most Comprehensive Study Ever Undertaken of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Starting Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-Term Health, published in 2005. The book has been a worldwide bestseller, having been translating in dozens of languages and sold throughout the world. It has inspired politicians, professional athletes and millions of others to consider plant-based nutrition. In 2015, he published The Campbell Plan (hardcover), which is called The China Study Solution in paperback. This is a practical "how-to" guide to implement a whole-food, plant-based diet, including over 50 recipes.
He has had a richly rewarding experience helping many patients reclaim their health from the ravages of chronic disease using diet and lifestyle changes. But while his passion is lifestyle medicine, he fully embraces an "all of the above" approach for his patients, which includes advocating for and prescribing conventional medications, procedures, and diagnostic tests as indicated by accepted guidelines. While he honors patients' personal experiences with alternative treatments like herbal products and supplements, he does not prescribe these himself, as his expertise lies in evidence-based nutrition and lifestyle changes, along with traditional medical/procedural interventions.
Dr. Campbell has been involved for many years in the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies, a nonprofit organization that promotes optimal nutrition through science-based education, advocacy, and research. He is currently a board director (unpaid). With his father, he is a co-author of, and lecturer in, the Nutrition Studies/eCornell plant-based nutrition certificate program. This is one of the most popular certificate programs offered at eCornell, Cornell University's online arm.
Dr. Campbell co-directs the Nutrition in Medicine Research Center with his wife, Erin Campbell, MD, MPH. They run clinical trials investigating the effect of nutritional intervention in patients with various chronic diseases like breast cancer, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes. He has been a presenting panelist for the United Nations International Youth Day and published articles in BMJ Case Reports, Journal of Geriatric Cardiology, Nutrients, The Permanente Journal, Primary Care Reports, Integrative Medicine Alert, and the Israel Medicine Association Journal. He has lectured widely on the topic of plant-based nutrition and health and been interviewed in a variety of print and TV media.
Dr. Campbell is married to Erin Campbell, MD, MPH, a preventive medicine physician who has been working alongside him in creating and managing their various lifestyle medicine endeavors. He has two kids, who are his most important projects, and has hopes to complete his 10th marathon at some point in the future when life might slow down a bit.