Fall 2026

Lianna Levine Reisner

Presenter

Lianna Levine Reisner, MSOD, is building a multicultural movement for health as President and Network Director of Plant Powered Metro New York, an organization she co-founded in 2019 to empower local communities to prevent and reverse chronic disease through evidence-based, plant-based nutrition. To address her family’s health challenges, Lianna had been searching for clear, evidence-based nutritional guidelines that made sense for her family. The writings of T. Colin Campbell, PhD, and his colleagues made a compelling case for whole food, plant-based nutrition, helping her to lose 20% of her body weight, reverse endometriosis and hormonal imbalances, and heavily reduce her allergies and skin issues, among many other benefits. Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center honored Lianna as a 40 Under 40 Rising Star in Food Policy in 2022. Lianna holds a certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and eCornell, and she is a certified Vegan Lifestyle Coach and Educator through Main Street Vegan Academy. She is also a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

With a Master’s from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management, Lianna previously worked as an independent coach and consultant serving UJA-Federation of New York, providing organizational change support to Jewish nonprofit organizations in the New York metropolitan area. She lives in the Upper West Side of Manhattan with her husband and three children.

Brandy Cochrane

Culinary Educator

Brandy Cochrane is a culinary educator for PPMNY, a licensed Food for Life Instructor through the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and a chef, recipe developer, and author. She is also the co-founder of Plant Candy, a food company committed to getting you just as excited about plants as you are about candy. Her fascination with plant-based living came after reading The China Study and converting one of her grandma’s cake recipes with butter beans and dates. Once she saw that it worked, she went down a rabbit hole exploring ways to leverage the textures of plants and building in familiar flavor profiles to create food that anyone could enjoy. A graduate of Rouxbe’s Plant-Based Culinary Program, Brandy has used her knowledge to introduce this healing lifestyle in a way that’s fun, accessible, and creative. Her cookbook, Plant Candy Gathering, shares simple recipes that can be enjoyed by the plant-committed and plant-curious alike. Her latest book, The Plant-Based Handbook, which simplifies the benefits and resources for sustaining a plant-based lifestyle, was released in 2024. Brandy wants to create a narrative that a splash of creativity, a dash of openness, and a lot of spice can make plant-based living enjoyable and fun!

Laurie Courage

Culinary Educator

Laurie Courage presents Food for Life nutrition and cooking classes for PPMNY while also working as a health educator, coach, and chef through her business, Encouraging Greens. She has helped hundreds of people on the brink of a health crisis restore their health by helping them understand what and how to eat and to make lifestyle changes that last. Laurie was never a foodie. Her family tree had a legacy of those lost too young or living with many chronic conditions. By her early 50s, she decided to take back control of her health by learning what and how to eat. Laurie holds a certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies, she is a licensed Food for Life instructor with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a Starch Solution Certification Course Graduate from Dr. McDougall’s Health and Medical Center, and is a certified Diet and Lifestyle Intervention Practitioner. Laurie has also completed several courses in the Nutrition Educator Program through the Wellness Forum Institute for Health Studies, is a graduate of the Rouxbe Professional Plant-Based Chef Certification Program, and is a certified Health and Wellness Coach with over 20 years of coaching and mentoring experience. She is also a Whole Kids Foundation Healthy Teachers Program instructor, a Whole Food Plant-Based Certified Provider via WFPB.org, a certified Professional Never Binge Again Coach, and is also a member of the American College for Lifestyle Medicine. Laurie loves to share how each of us can find the good, better, and best ways to take back our health and fit this lifestyle change into our life rather than the other way around.

Marty Davey, RD

Presenter

Marty Davey, RD, CDN, joined PPMNY’s core team in 2025 to manage some of our educational partnerships and research projects. She has been plant-based since 1980 and plant-exclusive since 2002. After decades in the film and TV business, Marty decided to change her occupation and become a dietitian, earning a Master’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics. She launched her own dietetics practice and developed a business as a nutrition contractor. That contract work included seven years as a facility dietitian assisting teens in lockdown learn culinary skills and build a school garden with an herbs CSA. Marty has produced over 80 cooking videos.

Her early work as a nutrition researcher led her to be an intervention member for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s GEICO study. She became a senior research team member creating and implementing the NEW Soul Study and the DG 3-diet study interventions at the University of South Carolina. In 2024, she completed collaborating with the Food Revolution Network, developing curriculum for their Plant-Based Coaching Certification Program. Currently, she is an adjunct professor at Mercy College and maintains her faculty position with the Main Street Vegan Academy. Otherwise, Marty and her husband can be found kayaking in Yonkers or camping in some quiet spot.

David M. Dunaief, MD

Presenter

Dr. David Dunaief is an internist specializing in integrative medicine. He focuses on reversing, treating, and preventing chronic diseases with a nutrient-dense diet, fitness, and stress management. Practicing for over 10 years, with offices in Brooklyn Heights and Setauket, NY, he has guided over 2,000 patients to optimal health. Dr. Dunaief has published several peer-reviewed journal studies and 250 research articles in two newspaper chains. A graduate of Stony Brook University Medical School, Dr. Dunaief completed his residency at University of Maryland’s Mercy Medical Center and a three-year fellowship with Joel Fuhrman, MD, the New York Times bestselling author of Eat to Live.

Leigh Ettinger, MD, MS, ABOM, FAAP

Medical Partner

Dr. Leigh Ettinger is a triple-board certified pediatrician currently practicing in Kingston, New York, at The Children’s Medical Group. There, he shares his expertise in general pediatrics, pediatric nephrology, and obesity medicine with the community. He first learned about plant-based eating in 2014. Changes in his own eating yielded great results. He earned a certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies (CNS) and eCornell in 2016. Dr. Ettinger enjoys being a moderator of the Whole Communities online plant-based forum for CNS. He also gets immense satisfaction from helping families change course to a healthier path in his practice.

Sherry Jarrett, DHEd, MSEd, CWP

Presenter

Dr. Sherry Jarrett is PPMNY’s Network Training Organizer, overseeing our mentorship program and contributing to many aspects of the Plant Powered Jumpstarts. Dr. Jarrett, a former teaching professor and leader in higher education for 18 years, has uniquely blended her experience in Early Childhood Teacher Education and Health Education. She served as Early Childhood Teacher Education Chair, First Year Studies Program Director, and as Public and Community Health and Professional Internship professor. Concurrently, she consulted with schools and communities in developing and mentoring teachers, and in health and wellness programming. Dr. Jarrett’s credentials include a doctorate in Health Education from A.T. Still University, a Masters of Education Early Childhood Education from the City College of the City University of New York, a B.S. in Elementary Education and Psychology from Nyack College, and a certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and eCornell. She is also a Certified Wellness Practitioner through the National Wellness Institute, a licensed Food for Life instructor through the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

Rebecca Johnson

Culinary Educator

As Partnerships Manager, Rebecca Johnson leads our restaurant initiatives, culinary education programs, and programming that highlights African heritage and foodways. She cultivates relationships with faith-based organizations, government leaders, and schools to advance plant-based nutrition and works as a plant-based chef and chef instructor. In her previous position, she contributed to expanding and enhancing plant-based options within the NYC Department of Education’s Office of Food and Nutrition Services, working with food service staff, children, and families. Her personal journey of overcoming health challenges through adopting a whole food, plant-based diet inspired Rebecca to deepen her expertise, eventually earning a certification in Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and eCornell. She is also a licensed Food for Life instructor through the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Rebecca continues to share her knowledge by teaching plant-based cooking classes and performing live and virtual demonstrations for nonprofit organizations and educational institutions. Rebecca is a native of Philadelphia who lives in the village of Harlem in Manhattan.

Jessica J. Krant, MD, MPH

Presenter

Dr. Jessica Krant is a board-certified medical and cosmetic dermatologist as well as a Lifestyle Medicine physician certified by the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine. Having graduated with high honors from Harvard and Columbia, where she also obtained her Master’s Degree in Public Health, she currently sees patients in private practice in Manhattan and teaches dermatology residents at SUNY Downstate Medical Center as an Assistant Clinical Professor. Dr. Krant loves to talk about and teach all of the ways that our lifestyle choices affect our health from the inside out and the outside in, and how living healthy keeps us resilient and not only looking young, but feeling young too.

Suzanne Reuter, RPAC, DipACLM

Medical Partner

Suzanne Reuter is a physician assistant who is board certified in Lifestyle Medicine and works in corporate medicine for Premise Health. She has built and runs multiple eight-week lifestyle change programs with her corporate clientele.

Claudine Smith, MD, MPH

Medical Partner

Being exposed at an early age to how diet could treat illness in her family, Claudine Smith, MD, MPH, was interested in diet and lifestyle as a means to prevent and manage chronic disease. She is a family medicine physician who is championing lifestyle medicine as one of the most promising management tools to date to help ease the disease burdens of chronic illness on patients and society as a whole. She brings experience with faith-based health leadership in her local congregation with health promotions, health fairs, and wellness awareness walks. Dr. Smith has conducted direct health instruction on various aspects of behavior, diet, and exercise in managing health. She joined the Plant Powered Metro New York team to broaden her reach in helping communities and hence the nation in achieving better health.

Jim Spellos

Presenter

After experiencing a tremendous health transformation through whole food, plant-based nutrition, Jim Spellos supports our team with his expertise in technology and data systems, especially in the production of virtual events, addressing data security, and researching or adopting new tools to support our internal operations. He is also a licensed Food for Life instructor through the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Jim is the President of Meeting U., a company specializing in helping people become more productive and comfortable with technology. Jim delivers over 100 seminars annually on how to use technology more efficiently, and how it is altering the nature of business. He is certified as a Microsoft Office Specialist. He was a faculty member at New York University, teaching in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies for over 25 years and was honored with both their Award for Teaching Excellence and their Outstanding Service Award. Jim serves on the Board of Directors for Rock and Wrap It Up, an anti-poverty, anti-hunger think tank, which supports food recovery for over 43,000 agencies in North America by recovering excess food from events and facilities. He co-created their Whole Earth Calculator app which helps organizations identify the quantity of food donated and carbon footprint reduced in helping to recover excess food from events. Jim is also an accomplished musician and songwriter and released his first solo recording, Stroke of Genius, at the end of 2019.