Neal D. Barnard

Neal D. Barnard is an American physician, author, clinical researcher, and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a national network of physicians and lay supporters who promote preventive medicine, especially good nutrition, conduct clinical research, and promote higher standards in research. He is also president of the Cancer Project, an organization promoting cancer prevention, research, and nutritional assistance to patients. He also heads the Washington Center for Clinical Research.

Barnard grew up in Fargo, North Dakota He received his M.D. from George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. He is now an adjunct associate professor of medicine at GWU and is also a life member of the American Medical Association. He has been the principal investigator of several clinical research trials. In 2003, he was awarded a research grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health to study the effect of a low-fat vegan diet on diabetes. The study results were published in Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association.

Barnard's work has also been published in the the American Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Scientific American, the American Journal of Cardiology, and Preventive Medicine, among other scientific and medical journals. He has written more than a dozen books about nutrition for lay readers. These include The Power of Your Plate (1990), Food for Life (1993), Eat Right, Live Longer (1995), Foods That Fight Pain (1998), Breaking the Food Seduction (2003), and Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes (2007). He is also the editor-in-chief of the Nutrition Guide for Clinicians (2007).

He is a proponent of alternatives to the use of animals in medical education, testing, and research. With colleagues at PCRM, he developed an animal-free insulin assay that is now in commercial use.

He is also a musician (he plays the electric guitar and keyboards) and has released several recordings, including a CD with American and Vietnamese musicians, called Verdun (2004).

Barnard is the partner of PETA president Ingrid Newkirk.