Robert Kushner, MD
Medical Director, Diet.com Premium Membership

Professor of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Clinical Director, Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity
Editorial Board: Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Obesity and Obesity Management
Past President, The Obesity Society
Past President, American Board of Nutrition Physician Specialists


Board certified in internal medicine and nutrition, Dr. Kushner is nation’s top lifestyle medicine expert. Dr. Kushner has studied in-depth the Lifestyle Patterns (personality-based) approach to behavior change and weight loss, which is based on more than 25 years of clinical experience and supported by evidence-based research.

Dr. Kushner’s Lifestyle Patterns Quiz helps people identify their lifestyle habits – from the way one deals with food and eating, to how she fits in exercising and handles coping. The Lifestyle Patterns Approach also offers individuals a weight loss program to match their individual needs and personalities. An online version of the Personality Diet program is being offered to Premium members on Diet.com as well as through organizations such as Wal-Mart Store Inc., Gold’s Gym, and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

Dr. Kushner has been listed in the Best Doctors in America Database since 2001, and is a reputed national and international speaker. He is frequently quoted in the media and has appeared on such national television programs as Good Morning America, CNN and the Today Show, Weekend Edition.

Dr. Kushner received his medical degree from the University of Illinois Medical School in Chicago. He completed his internal medicine training at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and received a fellowship and master’s degree in clinical nutrition from the University of Chicago. Dr. Robert Kushner has published more than 140 scientific articles on nutrition, obesity, and lifestyle medicine.

Dr. Kushner is also the editor of American Medical Association's Obesity Treatment Guide for Physicians and is author of the Personality Type Diet, Counseling Overweight Adults: The Lifestyle Patterns Approach and Toolkit (published by the American Dietetic Association) and Fitness Unleashed: A Dog and Owner's Guide to Losing Weight and Gaining Health Together.