Dr. Ian Smith

For the past six seasons, Dr. Ian Smith has been the medical/diet expert on VH1’s highly-rated “Celebrity Fit Club.”   The creator and founder of The 50 Million Pound Challenge and The Makeover Mileä, he is also a medical contributor on the nationally syndicated television show “Rachael Ray.”   Dr. Smith is also the host of his own nationally syndicated radio show “HealthWatch” on American Urban Radio Networks.

He is the former medical correspondent for NBC News network and for NewsChannel 4 where he filed reports for NBC's "Nightly News" and the "Today" show as well as WNBC's various news broadcasts.  As a well respected medical/diet expert, Dr. Smith has appeared extensively on various broadcasts including The Oprah Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, The View, The Talk, The Doctors, Dr. Oz, Anderson Cooper 360o, and Showbiz Tonight.  Dr. Smith was recently appointed by President Obama to a second term on the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition. Dr. Smith has also written for various publications including Time, Newsweek, Men’s Health, and the New York Daily News, and has been featured in several other publications including, Publisher's Weekly, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, People, Essence, Ebony, University of Chicago Medicine on the Midway, Cosmopolitan, and Black Enterprise.

A highly-sought after speaker, Dr. Smith's work has been honored by several organizations including the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, for his coverage on the momentous events beginning on Sept. 11, 2001.  Dr. Smith is very active in charitable causes and is currently a national advisory board member for The Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity.  He has served on the boards of the American Council on Exercise, the New York Mission Society, the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and the New York Council for the Humanities.

Dr. Smith received an A.B. degree from Harvard College in 1991, and received a master’s in science education from Teachers College of Columbia University. He attended Dartmouth Medical School and completed the last two years of his medical education, and graduated from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.

Dr. Smith is the author of ten books; the #1 New York Times Bestsellers Extreme Fat Smash Diet, The Fat Smash Diet, the New York Times Bestseller The 4 Day Diet, the critically acclaimed The Blackbird Papers (2005 BCALA fiction Honor Book Award winner). His most recent book, SHRED: The Revolutionary Diet, is also a #1 New York Times Bestseller.  His books have been translated into 20 languages.

Thomas M. Menino
Mayor of Boston

Mayor Menino has put Boston at the national forefront of healthy, livable cities by reducing ethnic health disparities, combating substance abuse, and promoting healthy nutrition for children and adults alike.  Under the Mayor’s leadership, the city’s affordable housing supply has increased dramatically, and in the face of the foreclosure crisis, Boston has become a national model for foreclosure prevention and responsible homeownership opportunities. 

A national leader on neighborhood issues, Mayor Thomas M. Menino believes that government is about helping people.  Elected five times as Mayor of Boston and five times as a City Councilor from Hyde Park, he has spent a lifetime building a better Boston for residents and businesses.  A graduate of the University of Massachusetts Boston with a degree in community planning, Mayor Menino and his wife, the former Angela Faletra, have two children, Susan and Thomas, Jr. and six grandchildren.