Dr. Robert E. Graham, MD

Dr. Graham is a Harvard trained physician, Board Certified in both Internal and Integrative Medicine and 20 years of clinical experience.  Dr. Graham received his medical degree from the School of Medicine at Stony Brook University Medical Center, Stony Brook, NY and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where he received the Community Service Award and subsequently the prestigious “Attending of the Year” award.  

Dr. Graham received a Master’s of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health while completing three additional fellowships in General Internal Medicine and Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies at Harvard Medical School as well as Medical Education at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also completed course-work in Mind/Body Medicine, Positive Psychology, Lifestyle Medicine, Culinary Medicine, Botanical and Traditional Chinese Medicine.  In 2018, Dr. Graham became one of less than twenty doctor/chef’s worldwide, as he obtained his culinary degree from the Natural Gourmet Institute. A very common question he gets: Why would a doctor become a chef? The short answer is an oldie but goodie: “Let food be thy medicine.” This motto has gained him the nickname, Dr. Rob, the Chef.

In 2010, Dr. Graham was featured in the Wall Street Journal in an article titled, “Teaching Healthy Ways to Doctors in the Kitchen.” Since then, he has taught over 1000 healthcare workers, mostly doctors, how to prepare healthy and delicious plant-based meals at the Natural Gourmet Institute.   

In June 2012, the "Lenox CHill Initiative" was born with the mission to bring yoga and meditation into the hospital setting to offer healthcare workers tools to better manage work-related stressors, and positively impact their health and wellness. 

In June 2013, Dr. Graham created “Victory Greens,” the first educational and edible rooftop garden at a hospital in NYC. The Lenox Hill Hospital cafeteria and patients have been eating the fruits of his labor. He believes, “improving hospital food is good medicine,” and expanded this “Rooftop to Bedside” services-for patients. 

Dr. Robert Graham Speaking @ TEDxManhattan

“Dr. Graham will tell you what to eat to be healthy, (he prescribes food), but also how to grow it and how to cook it.” -Swami Ramananda, Integral Yoga Institute 

In March 2015, Dr. Graham presented at TedxManhattan, “FAREWELLNESS: Back to Our Roots” where he described one doctor’s attempt to incorporate his roots in integrative and traditional medicine into our modern healthcare system, with an emphasis on having greater respect for food, cooking, farming and their healing properties.  

In the summer of 2016, Dr. Graham started FRESH MED, an integrative health and wellness center, where he currently sees patients. Healthcare needs a FRESH approach to health. FRESH is an INTEGRATIVE HEALTH practice that represents a paradigm shift, from the conventional approach of "a pill for an ill" to one that "addresses the root cause of disease."

The FRESH model of healthcare combines the best of conventional medicine including diagnostic testing, tools and technologies, as well as clinical nutrition, functional medicine, health coaching (grounded in positive psychology), complementary therapies, extensive and innovative testing. Dr. Graham believes healing should be a fully collaborative meaningful partnership between the doctor and the patient, and believes wellness is just as important as treatment. 

FRESH is an acronym for the five ingredients in their recipe to health: Food, Relaxation, Exercise, Sleep and Happiness. Dr. Graham prescribes the "FRESH 5" for health and healing and has witnessed many patients get off their medications and live happier, more fulfilling lives. Clinically, he is an international expert in gut health and testing (SIBO, IBS, GERD, Leaky Gut), chronic disease (high blood pressure, diabetes, depression/anxiety, obesity) prevention and autoimmune disease management. He believes in food AS medicine, is trained in herbs and dietary supplements and when needed prescribes medications.

In 2018, Dr. Graham became a chef and earned his Culinary degree from the Natural Gourmet Institute in Manhattan. When not seeing patients, he trades his white lab coat for chef’s whites with the goal of expanding his toolkit both for use as a healthcare provider and as an advocate for a new model of integrative, “food-first” lifestyle-focused healthcare model, called Culinary Medicine.

Dr. Graham serves as the first Chief Health Officer of a food company called Performance Kitchen where he not only advises but also designs medically tailored meals for patients with chronic diseases. This allows doctors to prescribe meals, or “food as medicine” which are covered by Advantage Medicare Plans and hopefully Medicare under Bill H.R.5370 - Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meals Demonstration Pilot Act.

In 2019, he and Julie launched an online self-care "university," called FRESH MED U. FRESH MED U allows people and companies to learn remotely, on their own time, using their intrinsic motivation to achieve their FRESH goals and live healthier and happier lives. They currently consult with multiple Fortune 2000 companies as corporate employee wellness vendors.

In the fall of 2021, Dr. Graham was asked to be part of NYC Mayor Eric Adams Food Transition team, focusing on institutional foods, a true honor for a native New Yorker. 

In the summer of 2022, Dr. Graham became the inaugural wellness doctor at the AMAN New York. There, he designs immersive wellness experiences within the setting of a 25,000 square foot Spa. He offers integrative medicine consultations for AMAN members and hotel guests. Additionally, in August 2022, he consults with The Blue Zones as their National Food Policy Expert within the Blue Zones Community Well-Being Program. The programs create sustainable, system-level solutions that improve population health and economic vitality.

 On September 28, 2022, Dr. Graham, was asked to participate in-person in Washington, D.C. at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.  It has been more than 50 years since the first White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health was held in 1969. “The 2022 White House Conference will catalyze the public and private sectors around a coordinated strategy to end hunger, improve nutrition and physical activity, and close the disparities surrounding these issues.” He continues to be humbled by the opportunity to serve. He believes “we are all here to serve others—our neighbors, our communities, and even complete strangers.”

Although the modern Hippocratic oath does not mention “service” by name, it makes clear the commitment we all share: “I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug…”

A member of several medical associations, Dr. Graham has authored various publications, including a 2005 seminal article in the Journal of the National Medical Association on the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in racial and ethnic minority populations.

Dr. Graham is recognized as a national leader in the fields of Complementary and Alternative/Integrative Medicine, Nutrition, Urban Farming, Culinary Medicine, Food Policy, Health Disparities and Cultural Competency and has spoken extensively about his research endeavors throughout the world.   

Dr. Graham has appeared on NBC Today Show, Fox 5 News, ABC Eyewitness News, CBS News, NY1 and is regularly quoted in the Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Newsday, Daily News, NY Post, Health Day, Prevention, Yahoo News, HuffPost and WebMD. Follow his work @FRESHMEDNYC on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.