Lindy Plaza - Lindy Plaza is a current smoker and she is Diversity -EEO Officer of Internal Operations for calPERS Diversity Outreach Program.
Dr. Steven Schroeder - Dr. Schroeder is Distinguished Professor of Health and Health Care, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, UCSF, where he also heads the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center.
Between 1990 and 2002 he was President and CEO, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. During his term of office, the Foundation made more than $4 billion in grants expenditures and it developed new programs in substance abuse prevention and treatment, care at the end of life, and health insurance expansion for children, among others.
Dr. Schroeder graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Medical School, and trained in internal medicine at the Harvard Medical Service of Boston City Hospital and in epidemiology as an EIS Office of the CDC. He held faculty appointments at Harvard, George Washington, and UCSF. At both George Washington and UCSF he was founding medical director of a university-sponsored HMO, and at UCSF he founded its division of general internal medicine.
He has published extensively in the fields of clinical medicine, health care financing and organization, prevention, public health, and the work force. He currently serves on the boards of the Irvine Foundation, the Charles Drew University, the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine, the International Review Committee of the Ben Gurion University School of Medicine (which he chairs), and the Harvard Overseers. He is President of the Harvard Medical Alumni Association, and is past chairman of the American Legacy Foundation and former member of the Council, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences. He has received numerous honors and has been awarded six honorary doctoral degrees.
Nancy Snyderman - Dr. Nancy Snyderman joined NBC News as the chief medical editor in September 2006. Her reports appear on "Today," "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams," "Dateline NBC," MSNBC, and MSNBC.com.
Snyderman has reported on wide-ranging medical topics affecting both men and women and has traveled the world extensively, reporting from many of its most troubled areas. She is on staff in the Department of the Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to joining NBC News, Snyderman served as vice president of consumer education for the health care corporation Johnson & Johnson. There she led the independent educational initiative, Understanding Health, focusing on educating and informing the public about health and medicine.
Before that, Snyderman served as the medical correspondent for ABC News for 17 years and was a contributor to "20/20," "Primetime," and "Good Morning America." Prior to leaving ABC she was a frequent substitute co-host on "Good Morning America."
Snyderman attended medical school at the University of Nebraska and continued with residencies in Pediatrics and Ear, Nose, and Throat Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. She joined the surgical staff at the University of Arkansas in 1983 and began her broadcasting career shortly after at KATV, the ABC affiliate in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Why is it so hard for some people to quit smoking? This conversation will give us a glimpse into the life of a smoker who has tried to "kick the habit" with little success.
The real revelation is that smoking is not simply a "bad habit"; repeated tobacco use is a dangerous addiction more powerful than heroin.
We will examine the complexities and motivations of smoking cessation and tobacco addiction to tackle the big question-why should we collectively pick up the bill for smoking cessation treatment?- The Commonwealth Club of California
Great Panel. I am from San Francisco as well. I have noticed when a person comes into "healing" a "issue" I often know that what they come in for is not always what needs to be worked on. 20 smaller circumstance habits / thoughts need healing, thereby freeing the main habit to be freed relatively easily. Like a Giant being sown to the ground...the Giant cant win, cant move. Then when we free enough of the locking threads...our Giant can get lose nor free, where only struggle existed, now there is space for a free flow movement and special victory.
Having been addicted to soda. I used the above lines of wisdom to free myself of the soda/frapacino/ fu fu expensive drinking habit. Step by step, six months later I was totally free. 5 years later I am even more free about those habits. I can even indulge in those items any time I chose, often I don't even see them on the radar. Once a month I may have one of those taboo items... but its normal closer to once every six months. I feel empowered, non restrained and very satisfied about the change, everybody can do this with the correct formula and the correct formula always feels really good!
Going for smaller change and nonlinear change is the root of easier healing.
I know teach a part of this process to my wellness clients. I will have a book coming out soon called "How To Kick The Soda Habit & More!". Feel free to contact for stimulating conversation.
