The 2011 Bravewell Leadership Award

Any successful transformation requires champions who are willing to undertake the risks and sacrifices necessary to catalyze the change. This is especially true in health care. To encourage and sustain leadership in the field of integrative medicine, The Bravewell Collaborative created the Bravewell Leadership Award.

On Thursday evening, November 10, 2011, The Bravewell Collaborative honored Mimi Guarneri, MD, as its third recipient of the Bravewell Leadership Award.  Nearly 400 people joined Bravewell members at the Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City to celebrate Guarneri’s accomplishments and the advancement of integrative medicine. The event was hosted by Christy and John Mack, with Mehmet Oz, MD, acting as Master of Ceremonies.

Christy Mack, President of The Bravewell Collaborative, presented the $100,000 award to Dr. Guarneri.

“Dr. Mimi Guarneri is a true leader in integrative medicine,” said Christy Mack.  “In addition to caring for patients, throughout the years she has worked hard to help other doctors and nurses gain proficiency in integrative medicine by putting on national educational conferences for caregivers, by directly mentoring other practitioners in her center, and by serving various association in the field, such as the American Holistic Medical Association and the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine, for which she is now president.  She stepped up to the plate for Bravewell over and over again, serving — without any financial reimbursement — as the head of the Bravewell Clinical Network for more than nine years, on the planning committee and as faculty for the IOM’s Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public, and by speaking at special briefings on integrative medicine that Bravewell helped organize on Capitol Hill and at the Pentagon.  And somehow in the middle of all this, she found time to write a best-selling book that is touching the hearts of millions — The Heart Speaks.”

Mimi Guarneri, MD

Board-certified in cardiology, internal medicine, nuclear medicine and holistic medicine, Dr. Erminia (Mimi) Guarneri is the founder and medical director of the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine. She received her medical degree from SUNY Medical Center in New York, graduating number one in her class, and completed her internship and residency at Cornell Medical Center, where she became chief medical resident.

Dr. Guarneri served as an attending physician in interventional cardiology at Scripps Clinic, placing thousands of coronary stents. Recognizing the need for a more comprehensive and holistic approach to cardiovascular disease, she pioneered the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine where she uses state-of-the-art cardiac imaging technology and lifestyle change programs to aggressively diagnose, prevent and treat cardiovascular disease. She is a fellow member of the American College of Cardiology, Alpha Omega Alpha, the American Medical Women’s Association, and a diplomat of the American Board of Holistic Medicine. In 2009, Dr. Guarneri was honored as the ARCS scientist of the year.

The author of The Heart Speaks, Dr. Guarneri’s work has been featured on NBC Today, on PBS’s To the Contrary and Full Focus, and in a two-part PBS documentary, The New Medicine. Dr. Guarneri serves as chair of the Bravewell Clinical Network. Most recently, she was elected president of the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine.