The Epiphany Project - Interview with Mehmet Oz, M.D.

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is the Professor and Vice Chairman of Surgery at Columbia University, the Director of the Cardiovascular Institute, the Founder and Director for the Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital and is the health expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show. He hosts the daily syndicated television show, Dr. Oz, and contributes regularly to O (Oprah) and Esquire magazines. He is the author of over 400 original publications, book chapters, and medical books, including the award-winning Healing from the Heart and best-selling books, YOU: The Owner's Manual, YOU: The Smart Patient, YOU: On a Diet, YOU: Staying Young, The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty and YOU: Being Beautiful. Dr. Oz is also one of the founding members of the non-profit organization, HealthCorps, which was created in 2003 in response to his concern about the increasing need to perform heart procedures on 30 year olds with arteries clogged from poor diets and sedentary lifestyles - lifestyles that seemed to be reinforced in American schools. HealthCorps mission is to educate and empower young people toward health awareness and advocacy for themselves and their communities. www.HealthCorps.net.

the interview

Dr. Oz was my first recorded phone interview. I am one of the producers on his YOU fitness videos (yes, he is as handsome and cool in person as he is on Oprah and his wife, Lisa, is even cooler!) While I was in New York a couple of months after our first shoot together, we had this phone conversation while he was at the hospital. We did the interview in 10 minutes. Later, it was a bit surreal to me to listen to the recording of our conversation when he said, "Oh, I'm sorry, they need me now in the O.R.," and he had to rush off the phone. It just struck and touched me to think that after talking to me about his epiphany, he went into a room and saved a life, and for him, that is just a normal day..