John La Puma

Who is John La Puma?

John La Puma is an Italian-American internist, professionally trained chef and author.

La Puma was born in New York, received his undergraduate degree from the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, earned an MD from Baylor College of Medicine and trained in internal medicine in Los Angeles. He completed the first U.S. postgraduate fellowship for physicians in clinical ethics at the University of Chicago, became a Clinical Associate Professor there and founded the Lutheran General Center for Clinical Ethics, pioneering hospital clinical ethics consultation in the U.S. He later graduated from the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, part of Le Cordon Bleu and became a Professor of Nutrition at Kendall College School of Culinary Arts. He cooked with Chef Rick Bayless at Topolobampo in Chicago weekly for nearly four years before founding CHEF Clinic, the Cooking, Healthy Eating and Fitness program to prevent and treat obesity, maintain weight loss and measurably promote wellness.

La Puma is co-founder of ChefMDᴿ, a health and media company, is founder of CHEF Clinicᴿ and GlutenFreeQuiz for celiac disease screening.