Reversing Diabetes, Obesity & Obesity Seminar
Feb. 16-18, 2008  - Pacific Palms Conference Resort

Lorayne Barton MD, MPH

Dr. Lorayne Barton is a practicing physician at the Los Angeles County Women's & Children's Hospital. She received her medical training at the Univ. of Calif., Irvine; internship at Glendale Adventist Medical Center; and her residency and fellowship at the L. A. County Hospital in Pediatrics/Neonatology. She earned her Master's in Public Health from Loma Linda University, where she is currently completing a Preventive Medicine residency.

Dr. Barton has had a deep interest in prevention and reversing of chronic health problems, from both a spiritual and practical standpoint. She believes that everyone should understand the basic principles of healthy living and study it for themselves. She has taught in the Reversing Diabetes Seminars for Weimar Institute's three-day programs and is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

Currently the president of Power for Life, a nonprofit wellness & philanthropic organization, Dr. Barton is also a board member of AMEN (Adventist Medical Evangelism Network). 

George E. Guthrie MD, MPH, CDE, CNS

Dr George Guthrie received his MD degree from Loma Linda University in 1981. The high incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in his patients led to a growing interest in the effective lifestyle treatment of the disease.He has practiced medicine in Micronesia, California Sierra Nevada Mountains, Lifestyle Center of America (Oklahoma), and is currently the assistant director of the Florida Hospital Family Practice Residency. He also served for a time as medical director of Canvasback Missions, Inc., a unique health ministry conducted in the Marshall Islands. Dr. Guthrie has had extensive in community medicine and lifestyle health education and has made lifestyle presentations in the U. S. and overseas. He and his wife, Dena, successfully piloted and ran annual seven, week-long, community based programs designed to lower the risk of heart disease using lifestyle principles.

Dr Guthrie has sought to maintain excellence in nutritional knowledge and its application to the treatment of disease.  This led him to obtain and maintain certification from the Certification Board of Nutrition Specialists (CBNS) and as a Certified Diabetic Educator (CDE).

In his current position at the Florida Hospital, he is focusing on guiding medical residents in community and lifestyle medicine. George and Dena Guthrie have no children of their own but had the unique responsibility of guiding a Marshallese islander, Heidi, through her teenage years. Both enjoy making music, with Dr. Guthrie being adept at interpreting gospel songs and hymns on keyboard instruments.

James L. Kyle, II, MD, M.Div.

Dr. James Kyle is currently the Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science and served as the Dean of the Loma Linda University School of Public Health, until July, 2006. Prior to this he served as Vice President for the California market for Schaller Anderson, a health care management and consulting firm based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Dr. James L. Kyle, was the founder and Chief Operating Officer of Genesis Healthcare Strategies, a full-service healthcare consulting. In 1994 Dr. Kyle became a Vice President at Sharp Healthcare in San Diego and later became CEO of the Sharp Health Plan. He also served for 3 ½ years as medical news analyst for KUSI television’s News at Ten, and their Morning Show.

He is a graduate of UCLA School of Medicine (1987) and completed his Internal Medicine residency there in 1990. His health care career has afforded him broad experiences in clinical practice, health care administration and academic administration. Dr. Kyle served his country as a Captain in the US Army Reserve Medical Corp. and was decorated with the two Army Commendation Medals and a service award for his work in the former Republic of Yugoslavia.

Dr. Kyle takes his life and work seriously. For him medicine is but a complementary form of true ministry. He has focused his consulting to improve the ability of well-intended, quality organizations to effect measurable outcomes in their mission to relieve suffering and perpetuate a caring safety net for indigent populations.

James and Joyce Kyle have two sons, James III, and Christopher.

Richard L. Neil, MD, MPH

Dr. Richard Neil is a native of Columbus Ohio and a graduate of the Ohio State
University in Columbus, where he obtained his Bachelor's degree. He was granted the MD
degree in 1964 by Loma Linda University in Loma Linda CA, and a Masters’ Degree in Public Health in 1977.

Dr. Neil has practiced Preventive Medicine in a variety of communities in the
United States and is currently practicing in the Loma Linda and Victorville,
California areas. He is certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine and
Public Health and from 1979 to 1990 was a full-time faculty member in the Loma Linda University School of Public Health at Lorna Linda University. He has also held an appointment as Clinical Associate Professor of Health Promotion and Education in that university’s schools of
Medicine and Public Health.

Other professional activities have included seminar presentations for a variety of organizations and speaking to other groups—religious, secular and governmental. His areas of interest have included health and lifestyle as well as the relationship between religion, spirituality and health. He maintains a continuing interest in research and methods for enhancing human potential and performance.

Richard and Verlene Neil have three adult children residing in various parts of the United States.

Sally Christensen, BA

Sally Christensen is an experienced cooking-class instructor who has served as a NEWSTART cooking school instructor for Weimar Institute, Weimar, Calif., since 1990. She has helped with many Reversing Diabetes Seminars and teaches community classes from time to time. She has a B. A. in Home Economics.