raising the standard of care
"The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life."
- Wendell Berry
Ethos Staff
The people who work at Ethos are connected by a shared belief - that food, and the way food is grown is central to determining human health and the health of everything around us. This belief inspires each workday and is the basis for our common endeavor of Tikkun Olam - repairing the world.
Ron Weiss M.D.
Integrative Medicine Doctor
Integrative Medicine Doctor in New Jersey
If you are looking for an integrative medicine doctor in New Jersey, contact our friendly and caring staff, to schedule an appointment with Ron Weiss MD. Our phone number is 908-867-0060. Dr. Weiss offers comprehensive in-person medical examinations at his farm-based practice in Long Valley, New Jersey, and he offers virtual nutrition consultations, to established patients worldwide.
Board-certified in internal medicine, Ron Weiss, MD is an integrative medicine doctor in New Jersey, who serves as Executive Director of Ethos Health and as Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Weiss is not only a physician but also a botanist and farmer, and he offers an evidence-based, food-as-medicine approach to healing from chronic illness and optimizing wellness. To this end, he has presented at national whole-foods, plant-based gatherings including Plantstock and VegFest, and he has been featured in top media, including The New York Times and The Today Show.
A vegan-friendly doctor in New Jersey, Dr. Weiss prescribes the Ethos Diet – an all-organic, ecologically-sustainable, and whole foods, plant-based diet – as the cornerstone of his work with patients. Not only has a growing body of research indicated that a whole-foods, plant-based diet helps patients dramatically heal from chronic illness, but over the years, Dr. Weiss has found the Ethos Diet to have a exceptional success rate in reversing most chronic diseases, with 80% of patients who followed protocol experiencing significant improvement or complete resolution of their illness.
Raising the Standard of Care
Passionate about raising the standard of care in medicine, Ron Weiss MD – an integrative medicine doctor in New Jersey – is the primary care doctor you always wished you had. He offers luxurious appointments that are an hour or two long, depending on your needs; he asks you thoughtful questions, not only about your medical history, but also about your life history – so as to identify and understand all the moving parts of your health concerns; and he listens deeply and compassionately to your answers, helping you connect the dots and design a customized healing action plan. During your appointment, you will sense that Dr. Weiss is fully present with you, not only as your doctor, but also as a fellow human being who genuinely cares about your wellbeing.
As part of caring for the health of his patients, Dr. Weiss cares for the health of the planet. For this reason, his integrative medicine practice in New Jersey is located on a 342 acre farm. Dr. Weiss employs beyond-organic farming methods, to restore the vitality of this historic land, and every week, the farm’s bounty is available to Dr. Weiss’ patients and the local community, through Harvest Good Health. This unique doctor’s farm market not only offers the highest quality of fresh produce but also provides education about which fruits and vegetables are most effective at healing which health conditions. Come to Harvest Good Health on Saturdays from 9:00 am – 2:00 pm, at the Ethos Farm, to get started on your path to excellent health!
"I see this farm as an opportunity for me to take everything I've done all my life - all the biology and chemistry of the plants I have grown and studied - and link it to the human biological system.” – Dr. Weiss
Practicing What He Preaches
Dr. Weiss’s personal journey from practicing conventional medicine to practicing integrative medicine in New Jersey began in 1991, when his own father was diagnosed with end-stage metastatic pancreatic cancer and was given between one and three months to live. At the time, Dr. Weiss had finished all his conventional medical training and had completed his first year as an internal medicine resident. He knew nothing about a whole foods, plant-based diet, because it was not taught in medical school.
Dr. Weiss moved back home to take care of his father, immediately taking his father to the premier medical institute for treating pancreatic cancer. The doctors there informed Dr. Weiss that there was nothing they could do. Following his hunch that there must be a solution, Dr. Weiss headed to the local library in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, and scoured the shelves. That’s where he came across information about Macrobiotics, a whole foods, plant-based diet. Immediately working with two nutritionists, Dr. Weiss put his father on a very strict version of this diet, and within one week, his father sprung to life – getting out of bed, going off all his pain medications, and even heading back to the gym!
Three months after going on this diet, Dr. Weiss’s father received a CT scan indicating that the tumor had shrunk by 33%. Nine months later, he received another CT scan, indicating that the tumor had shrunk by 50%. For end-stage metastatic pancreatic cancer, this kind of change was believed to be impossible. Dr. Weiss’s father went on to live for another year and a half – working, exercising vigorously, and feeling better than he had for most his adult life.
Today there is ample scientific research explaining why a whole foods, plant-based diet is so powerful a tool for healing from chronic illness. In addition, there are an ever-increasing number of case studies of people who were able to reverse chronic illness through such a diet. Armed with this scientific data, Dr. Weiss not only prescribes the Ethos Diet – an evidence-based, organic, whole foods, plant-based diet – to his patients, but he has been eating this way for years, making Dr. Weiss both an experienced guide and an inspirational role model for the Ethos lifestyle.
Passionate about Transformation
For Dr. Weiss' fourth birthday present, Dr. Weiss’ mother gave the young boy a pack of seeds, Four O'clocks, an old fashioned flower that Victorians planted in their 19th century gardens. Mrs. Weiss helped her son delicately deposit the seeds – tiny, inert, brown specs – into the top layer of soil. Over the coming weeks, tiny green sprouts emerged and grew into bushy, green plants, covered with buds that opened into trumpet shaped flowers, each splashed with swirls of bright colors. Better yet, they opened at 4:00 pm every day! The young Dr. Weiss was mesmerized by the magic of it all.
Decades later, Dr. Weiss remains in awe of the transformational power of nature – in particular, how replacing the standard American diet with the Ethos Diet and lifestyle transforms someone’s life, ushering them from a state of debilitating chronic illness to one of optimized health. Like a good farmer, Dr. Weiss supports the process through mindful and patient nurturance. He recognizes, and he helps his patients recognize, that “as in the ground so in the body” – namely, that growth and transformation can take time. A plant may take months or years to blossom., and similarly, depending on the severity of a health condition, optimal health may take months or years to achieve. No matter how long it takes you, Dr. Weiss will be with you throughout the journey, providing customized guidance and heart-centered care.
Degrees and Additional Experience
Dr. Weiss is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine. For two decades, prior to working as an integrative medicine doctor in New Jersey, Dr. Weiss served as an internist for The World Bank and The Medical Group of Beverly Hills, as an attending emergency room physician at UCLA Olive View Medical Center and The General Hospital Center of Passaic, and most recently, as founder of a busy community medical center located in West New York, NJ.
Dr. Weiss received his medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at George Washington University Medical Center. He additionally holds a dual baccalaureate degree in botany and music, from Rutgers University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
If you are looking for an integrative medicine doctor in New Jersey, contact our friendly and caring staff, to schedule an appointment with Dr. Weiss. Our phone number is 908-867-0060. Dr. Weiss offers comprehensive in-person medical examinations at his farm-based practice in Long Valley, New Jersey, and he offers virtual nutrition consultations, to patients worldwide.
Asha Gala
Patient Care Manager
Health Coach in New Jersey
If you are looking for a holistic nutrition coach or holistic health coach in New Jersey, contact our friendly and caring staff, to schedule an appointment with Asha Gala. Our phone number is 908-867-0060. Asha offers comprehensive holistic nutrition coaching and holistic health coaching, in person to those in the tristate area or virtually, to established patients worldwide.
At Ethos Health, we care deeply about our patients. That’s why, as you embark on your journey of eliminating illness and activating wellness, you not only will receive holistic medical guidance from our primary care doctor, Ron Weiss, MD, but you’ll also receive daily or weekly support from our compassionate and nurturing patient care manager, Asha Gala. Over the past decade, Asha has worked as a holistic nutrition coach and holistic health coach in New Jersey. Today she puts these skills to use by supporting you on the day-in, day-out aspects of your healing journey. From designing and teaching holistic nutrition and lifestyle medicine classes, to facilitating support groups for patients healing from chronic illness, to providing one-on-one lifestyle counseling sessions, Asha is here for you – offering not only professional support, but also personal understanding.
When Asha’s daughter was diagnosed with allergies in 1990, Asha and her husband – a PhD in industrial pharmacy – knew that conventional medicine would not help resolve the issue, but rather, would simply cover up the symptoms. The couple was determined to find a way to identify and heal the root problem. Not long after, Asha purchased a guide to buying and preparing natural foods, with the promise of improving one’s health. The book changed Asha’s life and that of her family – among other things, significantly resolving her daughter’s allergies. Asha then went on a mission to learn everything she could about the connections between diet, lifestyle, and health.
Food as Medicine
Years later, Asha had become a certified holistic nutrition coach and holistic health coach in New Jersey, through the Nutrition Education Institute of Joel Fuhrman MD, a doctor who focuses on reversing disease through nutrition. Asha then attended one of Dr. Weiss’s presentations on the connections between our diet, the health of the body, and the health of the planet, and she felt very much in alignment with Dr. Weiss’s vision and mission. Shortly after, Asha began working as the patient care manager at Ethos Health, deepening her work as a holistic health coach in New Jersey.
Asha is excited to ease your path on the journey to excellent health, gently and compassionately helping you put into practice everything she has learned over her decades of study and experimentation. She can relate to your hectic schedule, technological struggles, and other life challenges, having gone through them with her family, and she stands ready to support you as she has so many others – in successfully losing over 50 pounds of weight, getting off all medications, and/or reversing chronic illness.
In her own life today, Asha incorporates not only a whole foods, plant-based diet, but also dance, meditation, music, and hiking, as tools for healthy and harmonious living. In addition, she is now becoming certified as a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher, and she looks forward to incorporating this training into her practice in general and her work with you in particular.
If you are looking for a holistic nutrition coach or holistic health coach in New Jersey, contact our friendly and caring staff, to schedule an appointment with Asha. Our phone number is 908-867-0060. Asha offers comprehensive holistic nutrition coaching and holistic health coaching, in person to those in the tristate area or virtually, to established patients worldwide.
Nora Pugliese
Ethos Farm Manager
Organic Farming
Nora Pugliese is a member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association and has been featured in local media such as New Jersey Monthly. She started off as a backyard gardener, then became an organic farmer in 1994, working at Farmer John’s Organic Produce – the first organic farm in New Jersey. She went on to work with John Canright, who mentored an entire generation of organic farmers in New Jersey, and to run Stone’s Throw Garden CSA for another decade. In 2014, Nora taught a continuing adult education class on organic gardening, and she started working as the farm manager at the Ethos Health farm in New Jersey, utilizing beyond-organic farming methods.. She is passionate about organic farming, in particular, growing healthy food for people, in a way that is environmentally sustainable, and she invites you to taste her produce at Harvest Good Health doctor’s farm market on Saturdays.
Cheryl Kennedy
Healthy Living Associate
Healthy Living in New Jersey
Passionate about healthy living in New Jersey, Cheryl Kennedy assists the Ethos Health team in educating and supporting you, on your path toward optimal health. Whether keeping our kitchen properly stocked with farm-fresh produce, developing the handouts you receive in our healthy living classes, or preparing the dishes you sample in our healthy eating classes, you will feel Cheryl’s behind-the-scenes presence, in both our healthy living programs and patient care..
Over a decade ago, Cheryl worked with a holistic health specialist in New Jersey, who became Cheryl’s mentor – teaching Cheryl about the role of food as medicine, the importance of knowing how food is grown, and the role of yoga and meditation in mind-body medicine. Following this training, Cheryl adopted a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle and never looked back.
Helping People Get and Stay Well
After completing her holistic health mentorship, Cheryl worked as a freelance detox cleanse practitioner, as a floral designer, and as a farm-to-table prep cook for BEX Kitchen. Sometime during this period, Cheryl heard Dr. Weiss give a presentation on food as medicine. She not only resonated fully with his ideas but also was moved by the combination of passion for his message and compassion for his patients. Cheryl immediately began volunteering at Ethos Health and two years later, in 2016, joined our staff, eager to help others on the path to healthy living in New Jersey.
Given her special passion for food, Cheryl spends a lot of time with our patients in the kitchen. She emphasizes simple food preparation techniques – making a whole-foods, plant-based diet appealing and accessible to you, even if you have prepared frozen, boxed, or canned food for most of your meals to date. In addition, she teaches diverse cuisines and cooking styles, to keep your whole foods, plant-based diet exciting. Cheryl knows that getting comfortable in the kitchen is an essential first step in healthy eating, and by extension, healthy living. She is excited to help you find your way around the kitchen, change your thinking about food, and as a result, transform your life.
Karina LaMalfa
Wellness Program Coordinator
Wellness Coach in New Jersey
To get from where you are now to where you want to be in your health, you need a team of experts supporting you along the way, teaching you healthy living skills and helping you overcome bad habits. Karina LaMalfa – a wellness coach in New Jersey for the past 15 years – works closely with Asha Gala, our patient care manager, in developing and facilitating our many wellness programs, including Karina’s signature program on how to turn a basket of produce into a healthy, delicious, and vibrant meal. Do you have a favorite family recipe that you don’t want to give up? No problem! Karina will help you transform it into a healthy dish, while preserving the look, feel, and flavors you love.
Karina’s heartfelt desires include helping people live long and healthy lives, supporting the wellness of our planet, and moving the world toward the ethical treatment of animals. That’s why Karina loves working with patients like you at Ethos Health: She gets to live her values, every single day. A vegan since 2005 and a vegetarian since 1980, Karina particularly enjoys growing plants in superb soil, teaching healthy cooking methods, building a supportive community, and through all this work, witnessing patients like you thrive.
Walking Her Talk
With an M.S. in Applied Psychology and a background in communications and marketing, Karina has decades of experience in designing interactive educational programs. In particular, her path as a wellness coach in New Jersey began 25 years ago, when her son was born, at which time, Karina began researching food as medicine. Over the years, she increasingly added plant-based, whole foods into her family’s diet. Karina got so excited about food as medicine, in fact, that she became certified in plant-based cuisine from the Rouxbe Culinary School and in plant-based nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies.
Not stopping there, Karina also became a certified Food for Life instructor for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine – working with kids, cancer patients, and people interested in healthy living – and went on to work as a healthy eating specialist at Whole Foods Market, designing classes for individuals, urban schools, and corporate wellness programs. At Ethos Health since 2014, Karina has delved even further into her work as a wellness coach in New Jersey, and she looks forward to working with you in this capacity, supporting you every step of the way on your path to excellent health.
Gail Atkinson
Ethos Health Administrative Assistant
Sensitivity to Patient Needs
Millions of Americans with chronic illness have gone undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for years, bouncing around from doctor to doctor without relief or even validation. Many have been told that the debilitating illness they experience is all in their heads – which just adds insult to injury. If you are one of these individuals, you are looking for a primary care practice that has sensitivity to patient needs, not only among the medical staff but also among the administrators who handle all the logistics of your medical care. Gail Atkinson, our friendly administrative assistant, not only encourages you to listen to your body and trust your intuition about what’s going on, but also can relate personally to what you’re going through:
It took 10 months and 14 doctors before Gail received a proper diagnosis of chronic lyme disease and multiple co-infections, and another year and a half before her life started to turn around. Prior to that, doctors told Gail that she was bedridden for months not because of a physical ailment, but because she was experiencing anxiety as the mother of three boys. A full-time mother at the time, Gail realized that she had to become her own patient advocate, in the interest of saving her life. So she began researching the symptoms and the doctors who could help, as well as personally handling all the insurance claims – leading her to develop an interest in medicine and medical administration.
Passionate about Holistic Medicine in New Jersey
Born and raised in Long Valley, NJ, and currently living here, Gail decided to get a job at a local medical office, where she rose through the ranks, from a part-time administrator to a full-time office manager and billing manager. After several years at that office, she decided to pursue working in a holistic medicine practice in New Jersey and was excited to hear about the position opening up at our wellness center on a farm.
From the time they were little boys, Gail’s sons each had different food allergies – leading Gail to practice conscious eating for many years. Among other healthy lifestyle changes, Gail and her husband built a large, raised-bed garden, from which to feed the family. Since then, Gail has grown large quantities of broccoli, tomatoes, squashes, cucumbers, lettuces, and more. So of course, she loved the idea of a farm being at the center of a medical practice! In addition, having gone through healthy diet changes of her own, Gail knew she had a unique sensitivity to patient needs – that she could offer a been-there, done-that perspective and empathy, as patients implemented healthy lifestyle changes of their own.
Gail looks forward to introducing you to Ethos Health, guiding you through our healthy living programs, and supporting you on your path to wellness. To find out more about our practice of holistic medicine in New Jersey, and to get a taste of our sensitivity to patient needs, give Gail a call at 908-867-0060, or email us. She is waiting to hear from you!