Symposium for Metabolic Health
Held at The Boca Raton Marriott Hotel

Dr. Cywes is Dual Board Certified in General Surgery and in Pediatric Surgery. He specializes in Pediatric and Adult obesity, diabetes and metabolic management including bariatric surgery.  His focus is on helping people understand and treat the true cause of obesity and diabetes.  He has been doing bariatric surgery for 19 years and has performed around 7000 surgeries.  Despite this, Dr Cywes firmly believes that obesity and diabetes are not treated by surgery, however, surgery may be a invaluable tool along the journey of becoming carbohydrate-free.

His medical training began in Cape Town, South Africa where he received his medical degree from The University of Cape Town training with Prof Tim Noakes amongst others. In 1989, Dr. Cywes moved to North America and completed a year-long residency in pediatric surgery at Ohio State University’s Columbus Children’s Hospital before moving to Canada where he completed his general surgery residency and specialized in minimally invasive surgery at the University of Toronto.  Dr. Cywes also earned a PhD in liver transplant immunology and the effect of glucose metabolism on vascular endothelium injury, working with Dr David Jenkins, the father of the Glycemic Index.

After completing his paediatric surgery fellowship at the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Dr. Cywes was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Paediatric and Fetal Surgery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee where he did hepatic stem cell research.  During this time, Dr. Cywes became increasingly interested in adolescent obesity and the impact of carbohydrates on the liver and metabolic syndrome in young patients. Dr. Cywes’ research led to a comprehensive understanding of the toxicity of chronic excessive carbohydrate consumption as the primary cause of obesity and so-called obesity-related co-morbidities. In the late 1990s Dr Cywes understood that the prevailing treatment of obesity using a Calories in, Calories out (CICO) model was erroneous, and he developed the Carbohydrate Insulin Model of Obesity and Diabetes (CIMOD). Using this model in combination with his understanding of the psychology of addiction, he developed a clinical program to treat obese adolescents using this approach. Dr. Cywes relocated to Jacksonville, Florida where he joined the Department of Pediatric Surgery at the Nemours Children’s Clinic and Wolfson Children’s Hospital. This led to a national meeting in Jacksonville where guidelines for adolescent obesity surgery were established.

In 2004, Dr. Cywes established Jacksonville Surgical Associates to continue his work in both adolescent and adult obesity treatment and surgery, and in 2013 opened a practice in West Palm Beach, Florida.  He now works with a highly experienced team of professionals from a variety of medical sub-specialties to better care for obese patients.  He has developed the practice into a nationally recognized Center of Excellence for obesity surgery. The practice uses a cognitive behavioral therapy approach that addresses carbohydrate addiction, along with bariatric surgery, to help patients manage the cause of their obesity long term. Based on his extensive clinical research and observations, Dr. Cywes lectures internationally regarding the physiological impact of carbohydrate consumption as the primary cause of the current Chronic Non-Communicable Disease (CNCDs) epidemic.  He also lectures on the behavioral aspects of carbohydrate addiction as the cause of obesity and obesity-related co-morbidities and the use of substance abuse methodology, rather than a diet and exercise approach, to the effective long term treatment of obesity.

Dr. Cywes is a member of ASMBS (American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery) and is a member of the ASMBS Childhood Obesity Committee. He is also a member of APSA (American Pediatric Surgery Association). He has earned a Centers of Excellence designation by the Surgical Review Corporation. Dr. Cywes trains other surgeons to perform bariatric surgery as well as developing an aftercare model to help patients maintain weight loss.

Dr. Cywes and his team are active in obesity research, including an ongoing Adolescent Bariatric Surgery trial. He has become one of the foremost authorities in the treatment and management of obesity in adolescents. He recently co-authored a book, Diabetes Unpacked outlining an effective approach to understanding and treating diabetes into remission. Dr. Cywes’ vast experience in pediatric and general surgery serves him well in using bariatric surgery to treat obesity in both adults and children.

Dr Cywes maintains an active clinical practice in Palm Beach Gardens and in Jacksonville as well as being active on conveying the CIMOD message on social media and through his websites – Obesityunderstood.com and diabetesunderstood.com.

Dr. Ben has been at the forefront of health and wellness for nearly 50 years. As a clinician in the fields of fitness and health he has initiated and promoted behavioral interventions that have proven to be effective in the treatment and management of the degenerative diseases that plague our public health.

Dr. Ben’s philosophy states that on the continuum of illness to wellness, our collective health plans should attempt to drive the needle towards wellness and away from illness through scientifically sound and safe applications of behavioural endeavors.

Dr. Ben has applied his extensive, recognized background and experience in diet and exercise as the basis of his intervention protocol. Initially (1974), he introduced slow resistance training to the exercise world in a successful attempt to provide safe, high intensity exercise to all populations.

He was the first practitioner to include resistance training to phase II cardiac rehabilitation in 1982. It is now accepted, standard protocol. He pioneered high intensity exercise for high endurance athletes in the mid 1980’s. Lastly, he introduced high intensity exercise for weight loss and management programs including the Opti Fast protocol used by the first popular bariatric physicians (Opti Fit).

Furthermore, Dr. Ben has exposed the paucity of legitimate science supporting conventional medical and governmental practices in treating and managing the aforementioned health dilemmas. He contends that a singularly pharmaceutical oriented solution as currently applied has failed individually and on an international basis.

Dr. Ben provides a simple history of the escalation of degenerative diseases (diabetes, obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, cancer etc.) that correlates, at an inordinate level, with behavioral changes in physical activity and dietary preferences.

Lastly, Dr. Ben offers a simple, sound and scientifically based plan that incorporates a universally applicable system that directly addresses the alarming, current state of public health. Topics included are: Diet, exercise, disease treatment and management options and cost analyses of these.

Dr. Ben Bocchicchio has published more than 200 articles and study reports in the fields of Fitness, Health and Exercise. His work includes his acclaimed book “15 Minutes to Fitness” and the sale of more than 300,000 SMaRT DVD’s in 31 countries. He is continuing work as an investigator and consultant to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, ASU and a number of academic and corporate health institutions.

Dr. Lily Johnston, MD, MPH, is the associate medical director for Nexus Healthspan, and is board-certified in both vascular and general surgery. Dr. Johnston received her MD from the University of California, San Diego; she completed her residency in general surgery at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and then completed a fellowship in vascular surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Dr. Johnston also has a Masters in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, MD. She has authored over 25 peer-reviewed studies in cardiovascular disease, and has given numerous talks on topics ranging from vascular and metabolic health to cognitive biases in physicians.

After several years of practicing vascular surgery full-time, she witnessed too many people losing their lives and limbs to preventable and reversible diseases. She has now dedicated her career to addressing the root cause of cardiovascular disease, and is passionate about bringing the principles of whole person medicine and metabolic health to her patients. Dr. Johnston is an expert in complex cardiometabolic therapy including cardiovascular testing and imaging, lipid management, therapeutic nutrition protocols, and hormone replacement therapy.

Dr. Johnston is the founder of the Vascular Health Institute, and is a member of the Society for Vascular Surgery. She is an accredited metabolic health practitioner with both the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners and the Nutrition Network, and she is currently pursuing additional training in functional medicine.

Dave is a senior software engineer and entrepreneur.   He began working with programming and system engineering at a very young age and has always enjoyed learning new mechanistic patterns and concepts.

After starting a low carb diet, Dave found his cholesterol numbers increased considerably.  He then began reverse engineering the lipid system through self-experimentation and testing, finding it was very dynamic and fluid.  He has now demonstrated this phenomenon multiple times by moving his cholesterol up and down substantially in a matter of days.

Dr. David Nabert grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers College. After Medical School and his residency in Internal Medicine, he entered the Air Force as a flight surgeon; he holds multiple pilot and instructor certificates and instructed civilian pilots during that time. This brought him to the South, and he never left. He continued his training in Cardiology at Ochsner in New Orleans and then Cardiac Electrophysiology at University of Louisville. He then joined the faculty at the University of Florida in Jacksonville, FL where he taught young cardiologists how to perform electrophysiology procedures.  He moved to the college town of Statesboro Georgia in 2011.  As a Cardiologist and heart rhythm doctor. He brought with him new procedures at East Georgia Regional Medical Center for the treatment of arrhythmia, including cardiac ablations and implantation of advanced devices such as biventricular defibrillators. Dr. Nabert is a published author and Fellow of the American College of Cardiology as well as Fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society, which is the organization of Heart Rhythm Specialists. He is also a board-certified Nuclear Cardiologist. He always had an interest in metabolic health but it was Dr. Nina Teicholz’s book that started his metabolic health journey. He has been “Low Carb” since 2021 and was the first Cardiac Electrophysiologist (EP doctor) to become a Metabolic Health Practitioner. 

Arthur Agatston is an internationally recognized pioneer in coronary disease prevention.  Dr. Agatston worked with Dr. Warren Janowitz to develop the Agatston Score (the Calcium Score), a method of screening for coronary calcium as an indicator of atherosclerosis.  Used throughout the world, it is considered by most experts to be the single best predictor of a future heart attack.

Dr. Agatston is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and a clinical professor of medicine at Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.  He is a member of the American College of Cardiology Nutrition Committee and maintains a private practice in Miami Beach with a focus on preventing heart attacks in high-risk patients.  This is also the focus of his continuing research.

Dr. Agatston has published more than 200 scientific articles and abstracts and frequently lectures around the U.S. and internationally on diet, cardiac imaging and heart disease prevention.  He was named as one of the “Time 100” most influential people of 2004.  Among many television appearances, Dr. Agatston was featured along with President Bill Clinton on Sanjay Gupta’s 2011 CNN special, “The Last Heart Attack.”  

Known as the author of the best-selling book The South Beach Diet, Dr. Agatston created his approach to healthy eating to help his patients improve their blood chemistries, lose weight, and prevent diabetes and heart disease. Today, The South Beach Diet and its companion books have more than 23 million copies in print worldwide. His latest book The Keto Friendly South Beach Diet  was just released in paperback, and incorporates new discoveries from the original principles of the famed low-carb diet.

Siobhan Huggins is an independent researcher with interests in cholesterol metabolism,
inflammation, and metabolic diseases. She first went on a ketogenic diet for
weight loss in August of 2016, and found that it resulted in numerous physical
and mental health benefits for her. Only after losing 80 pounds was she
referred to a lipedema specialist for a possible diagnosis, which sparked her
interest in the condition as a whole and the people it affects every day.

Dr. Dominic D’Agostino is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida (USF) Morsani College of Medicine and also a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). The primary focus of his laboratory is directed towards understanding the physiological effects of hyperbaric oxygen and developing and testing metabolic-based therapies, including ketogenic diets, ketone supplements and drugs that target specific metabolic pathways.

His research explores the use of these therapies for a broad range of disorders linked pathophysiologically to metabolic dysregulation, including seizures, neurodegenerative diseases, genetic diseases and cancer. D’Agostino’s laboratory uses in vivo and in vitro techniques to understand the physiological, cellular and molecular mechanism of metabolic therapies. His research is supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Department of Defense (DoD), private organizations and foundations.

Dr. Caitlin Prickett is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician, and founder and medical director of Concierge Medicine of Boca Raton, a premier concierge medical practice in South Florida.  With a focus on personalized, patient-centered care, Dr. Prickett is dedicated to advancing wellness through prevention, lifestyle optimization, and innovative medical therapies.

Dr. Prickett specializes in metabolic health, integrating cutting-edge diagnostic tools and evidence-based treatments to optimize patient outcomes.  Her practice emphasizes proactive heart health management using AI-driven imaging, early cancer detection, and customized nutritional therapies, including IV infusions and personalized supplements, to address micronutrient deficiencies and enhance overall well-being.

Passionate about empowering her patients, Dr. Prickett combines her expertise in metabolic health with a holistic approach to care.  She advocates for clean-living principles and has been seed-oil free for several years, an approach she incorporates into her practice to inspire and guide her patients toward healthier lifestyles.

Dr. Prickett’s commitment to delivering high-quality care and fostering strong patient relationships makes her a trusted leader in her field.  She is honored to participate in the Symposium for Metabolic Health and share her insights on improving metabolic wellness