Dr. David Katz, Globally-Renowned Lifestyle Medicine Expert, Joins Virgin Pulse Science Advisory Board

FRAMINGHAM, MA--(Marketwired - April 27, 2017) - Virgin Pulse, the leading global provider of technology-enabled employee engagement and wellbeing solutions, today announced that Dr. David Katz, a leading global expert in lifestyle medicine, nutrition, weight management, and preventive care, will join the company's Science Advisory Board, a renowned group of global experts, scholars, and researchers in the fields of wellbeing and engagement. As a Science Advisory Board member, Dr. Katz will provide specific leadership and guidance on lifestyle medicine -- dietary guidelines, physical activity suggestions, and tips for weight loss. He will also contribute his wealth of expertise in this area to the company's future product and content development.

"We have always incorporated the tenets of lifestyle medicine into Virgin Pulse's technology and programs," said Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Chief Medical Officer of Virgin Pulse and President of the Virgin Pulse Institute. "Now we're excited to take our commitment to lifestyle medicine to the next level with the help of the world's foremost expert, Dr. David Katz."

In addition to his role as founding director of Yale University's Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, Dr. Katz is the Immediate Past-President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and Founder/Director of the True Health Initiative, which was established to help convert knowledge about lifestyle medicine into actionable advice. Dr. Katz holds five U.S. patents and has published roughly 200 scientific articles and textbook chapters, and 15 books to date. This extensive work and depth of knowledge will inform a range of Virgin Pulse's offerings, ensuring that the information and technology provided to the company's 1.9 million members around the world is optimized to help them achieve their short and long-term lifestyle goals.

"Some of the most effective interventions for sustained wellbeing are lifestyle changes -- better nutrition, physical activity, stress management, and adequate rest," said Dr. David Katz. "Virgin Pulse has had great success helping employees improve their lives and performance through healthy habits. I'm excited to partner with an organization that has had such a profound impact on so many lives, and I look forward to advancing the application of lifestyle medicine within the workplace."

Dr. David Katz will keynote the Virgin Pulse Thrive Summit, taking place in Scottsdale, Arizona, from May 31 - June 1, 2017. His talk, "The Basic Care & Feeding of Homo Sapiens: Are We TRULY Clueless?" will discuss the impact of nutrition on overall health, drawing fresh conclusions from decades of peer-reviewed research on the optimal diet and its significant effects on wellbeing. Additional members of the Science Advisory Board will bring a range of perspectives on critical wellbeing topics, spanning emotional resilience to habit formation, to hundreds of HR leaders attending Thrive, including:

• David Batman, MSc, MB.ChB., D.R.C.O.G., D.I.H., MFOM, FFOM: Batman has been a registered medical practitioner in the UK for over 40 years, and spent 20 years as Head of Occupational Health, Safety, and Employee Wellbeing for Nestle in the UKE and Ireland. He is an expert in mental health, risk assessments, rehabilitation, and resettlement of employees, and has been a part of several UK Government employee health committees. Watch Dr. Batman's webinar, "Building a Workforce That Bounces Back."
  
  
• Susan David, Ph.D.: David is one of the world's leading management thinkers and an award-winning Harvard Medical School psychologist. Her research has been heralded by the Harvard Business Review as a "Management Idea of the Year," and she has been included in the Thinkers50 Radar list of people most likely to shape the future of organizations.
  
  
• B.J. Fogg, Ph.D.: Fogg directs the Persuasive Tech Lab at Stanford University. He is a leading researcher on behavior change and habit formation, and his breakthrough work has led to a new field called Behavior Design. Watch Dr. Fogg's webinar, "Designing Environments to Sustain Wellbeing."
  
  
• Ron Goetzel, Ph.D.: Goetzel is a Senior Scientist and Director of the Institute for Health and Productivity Studies (IHPS) at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Vice President of Consulting and Applied Research for Truven Health Analytics. He is a nationally recognized and widely published expert in health and productivity management (HPM), return-on-investment (ROI), program evaluation and outcomes research. Read Dr. Goetzel's white paper, "The Dos and Don'ts of Workplace Health and Wellbeing Programs: Why Building a Culture of Health is a Ture Differentiator."

To attend Dr. David Katz's keynote at the 2017 Thrive Summit, register for the event at www.thrivesummit.com. For more information on Virgin Pulse, its Science Advisory Board, and to learn how about the company's science-backed approach to wellbeing, employee engagement and organizational success, visit www.virginpulse.com.

About Virgin Pulse
Virgin Pulse, the leading provider of technology solutions that promote employee engagement and wellbeing and part of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, helps employers create workforces that are happier, healthier and ultimately more productive. The company's modern, mobile first platform delivers a personalized user experience that utilizes gamification to engage users in building habits that inspire meaningful and measurable change across individuals and the businesses they serve. By helping employees thrive at work and in all aspects of life, Virgin Pulse is helping change lives and businesses around the world for good. More than 2,200 global organizations representing many of the Fortune 500 and Best Places to Work, have selected Virgin Pulse's solutions to engage their workforces and drive their businesses forward.