FLORIDA, USA — Noting that many Americans and Bahamians struggle with weight loss and exercise, Cleveland Clinic, Florida, announced that it is teaming up with local professionals to host a one-hour health, wellness and fitness seminar free of charge on Saturday, January 23, at 10am.
Cleveland Clinic Florida was recently named the number one hospital in the Miami-Ft Lauderdale area by US News and World Report.
Ana Luisa Uria, director of international business development, said: “We wanted to reinforce the good intentions that so many people have at the beginning of each year.
“We know how easy it is to slip back into old habits so we identified local experts willing to lend their time and knowledge to partner with our own medical experts at Cleveland Clinic, to share key health tips.”
The virtual event will focus on the relationship between diet and specific conditions including high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Factual presentations will touch on the impact of obesity on society, families and individual health.
In addition to discussion including surprising facts about food choices, the webinar will include a workout routine with The Bahamas’ legendary outdoor fitness guru, Craig Walkine, who will invite participants to get up out of their chairs and follow him on the monitor.
Presenters include Dr Susan Williams-Lockhart and Dr Gabriel Gavrilescu.
Williams-Lockhart, MBBS, FRCS, MBA, is an integrative medical and surgical specialist with over 29 years of experience in the fields of medicine, ambulatory care and surgery. She has practiced in The Bahamas, the US, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom; and is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Scotland — one of the few women to hold this distinction.
She was also the first woman surgeon to work as a flight medic in The Bahamas, treating patients on Abaco, Long Island, Eleuthera and Grand Bahama. She operated the private ambulatory clinic on Andros in the early 2000s.
Gavrilescu is a primary care physician, board-certified in internal medicine and geriatrics. He is a graduate of Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania, who completed his residency in internal medicine at Resurrection HealthCare (Melrose Park, Illinois) and fellowship in geriatrics at Loyola University Medical Center (Maywood, Illinois).
He joined Cleveland Clinic Florida in 2007, and specializes in preventative care, hypertension management, hyperlipidemia and diabetes. Gavrilescu is chairman of the Internal Medicine Department at Cleveland Clinic Florida.
Walkine is the owner and lead instructor of Outdoor Fitness Bahamas, a leading fitness organization based in Nassau that offers virtual (online) and in-person group fitness sessions in various locations throughout the island. Since 2010, Outdoor Fitness Bahamas has helped hundreds of clients lose weight, lower their risk of disease and improve their overall health through effective exercise and nutritional programs.
Walkine holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, and is a certified personal and group fitness trainer.
The webinar will be the fifth in a lecture series the research and development institution hosts with Bahamian physicians free of charge for the public.
Uria noted: “The work goes on to learn more every day about causes and treatments of chronic illness and acute diseases, so even in a COVID-19 world where the information must be shared virtually, we wanted to maintain our commitment to continue working closely with Bahamian physicians and the medical community and to partner in the best way possible to share information with the public.”
To register for the webinar, interested individuals may visit Events.DPA-Media.Com. Participants will be able to submit questions ahead of the event or in a chat room that will be monitored during the webinar.
