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“Sorry, Dad, I’ve fallen in love with Valerio and I’m not coming back,” said Marily Oppezzo, then 19, who spent the summer before her junior year of college studying art in Florence, Italy.
“Valerio? That’s absurd,” exclaimed Oppezzo’s father. “You are coming home and finishing college, young lady!”
Oppezzo followed her father’s wishes, kissed Valerio goodbye, and returned to Santa Clara University, where she jumped from one major to the next. Since the age of five, Oppezzo wanted to be a veterinarian, but then, in college, she pursued becoming an FBI agent, switched to art history while doing Pre-Med, and settled on majoring in Health Psychology with a double major in Italian (just in case).
After graduation, she continued her training by earning a master’s degree in nutritional science at San Jose State, working at the Veterans Affairs Hospital, and completing a three-year program to become a registered dietician nutritionist. In 2012, Oppezzo earned a PhD in Educational Psychology at Stanford University, with post-doctoral studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center in Behavioral Sciences.
“Having health information is only half the battle,” said Oppezzo. “I also wanted to learn how to help people incorporate the information into their lives. If you don’t understand the psychology of building new habits, you’re just a walking textbook of information.”
Valerio’s loss was Stanford’s gain, as Oppezzo is now leading the Nutrition Pillar of Stanford Lifestyle Medicine and facilitating groundbreaking research in exercise and nutrition.
An Unexpected Emergency
During Oppezzo’s first year of doctoral studies, an astute nurse practitioner detected a heart murmur during a routine check-up. The following quarter, a Stanford cardiologist discovered several congenital abnormalities that caused her heart to pump most of her oxygenated blood from her lungs back to the wrong side of her heart. Just two weeks after the discovery, Oppezzo underwent open-heart surgery. Although she took only a quarter off from her studies, it took more than two years to recover fully.
“My cardiologist said I was lucky to still be alive at the age of 30,” said Oppezzo. “Now that I’m recovered, I deeply empathize with anyone who has to go through this. Cardiac rehabilitation was so painful.”
Her father was there for her during this arduous, multi-year rehabilitation process. He was a health education teacher and coached football, baseball, basketball, and track at Mountain View High School. He was an inspiration to many students and believed everyone had an inner athlete with the ability to overcome life’s obstacles.
“I owe my full recovery to my family–especially my dad,” said Oppezzo. “He was my support system and my coach through my physical therapy. It was slow progress, and I got frustrated really quickly–but he was so patient and positive the whole time.”
Turning Pain into Purpose
Returning to her doctoral studies at Stanford, she added heart disease prevention and cardiac rehabilitation to her docket of interests. Also, due to her experience of post-surgery depression, she began to study mind-body modalities, such as yoga and lifestyle medicine.
Oppezzo’s holistic–but realistic–approach to health is shown in her research. Her current study on “Exercise Snacks” encourages sedentary office workers to get out of their chairs a few times per day and perform a two-minute exercise (i.e., running up the stairs or jumping jacks at their desks) for both physical and mental health.
Research shows that it only takes two minutes of high-intensity exercise to reverse negative changes found in those who sit for more than three hours at a time. Another similar study showed that running for 10 minutes three times during the day conferred similar VO2 max benefits to running for 30 minutes continuously. In her research, Oppezzo also focused on behavior change and sought to understand how to motivate people to complete these exercise snacks during their work day.
“I like to find ways to support folks who are busy. We get it in our heads that we will go to the gym and do cardio and lift weights for hours; we have these huge goals. And then we get down on ourselves when we don’t do it, and think ‘why bother’ if I can’t do it all,” said Oppezzo. “But research shows that these two-minute exercises do still count—a lot! And the bonuses are that you don’t need a shower after, and you don’t need ‘enough time’ or resources to go to a gym.”
Future Goals
Oppezzo was recently awarded a two-year Clinician Scientist Fellowship at Stanford’s WuTsai Human Performance Alliance, where she will develop and test the “Stronger” program to help menopausal women start a muscle training practice to maintain and grow muscle mass. Oppezzo will also incorporate best behavioral science practices to empower women to start and maintain this as a lifelong “lifestyle” and improve both physical and psychological strength.
“I love working with the WuTsai and Stanford Lifestyle Medicine teams because it’s a chance for health professionals from various disciplines to come together and collaborate,” said Oppezzo. “In the future, I’d love to see more interdisciplinary collaboration in research to promote health in a more holistic way. We are more than our physical bodies—we need to look at the health of our minds and spirits, too.”
On a personal level, Oppezzo is very close with her family, which includes her mother, sister, and nephews, all of whom live in the Bay Area. Unfortunately, her father tragically passed away from a rare disease five years ago. “My dad meant so much to me,” she said. “He beat many odds, went out on his own terms, and lived and passed as a heroic example of someone who not only loved and cared for people deeply, he also embodied and practiced all the pillars of lifestyle medicine his whole life.”
When not working, lifting weights, or hanging out with her partner and rescue dog, Oppezzo loves to escape into the mountains for backpacking trips. “You can’t get closer to capital ‘L’ life than being in the mountains,” she said. “I cherish the enormity, awe, and blissful exhaustion I get to experience there. Hiking while being surrounded by nothing but huge peaks and glass-mirror lakes, I think about my dad and feel grateful for his inspiration and presence, which stay with me, always.”
It was the year 1978 in Fresno, California. A vivacious 15-year-old BJ Fogg biked home after school to put on his white lab coat, pick up his clipboard, and start knocking on doors in his suburban neighborhood.
Knock, knock. “Hello! I’m BJ Fogg,” he said with a big smile. “Usually contact lenses cost $250, but I can sell them to you for just 40 bucks a lens!” Although the typical response was a quizzical look followed by, “Um, no, thank you,” he knew his offer was unbeatable. So he kept on knocking.
BJ Fogg grew up in a Mormon household and is the third of seven children. His father was an ophthalmologist (hence, the contact lens hook-up) and promoted an entrepreneurial mindset among his progeny. From selling cookies or oranges, to washing cars or windows, Fogg and his siblings launched a new small business every summer starting in his elementary school years. These experiences taught him how to think innovatively, take risks and uncertainty in stride, and, most importantly, be resilient and persevere after failure—all attributes that served Fogg well in his illustrious career.
“We had so much fun, and we learned a lot, and I became very comfortable making mistakes,” says Fogg. “I had some pretty notable failures at a young age that seemed crushing at the time, but I just realized, ‘the world goes on.’ You go to bed, wake up the next morning, and move on. Because of these experiences, I became less afraid of failure, which served me later in life.”
Discovering Purpose
After high school, Fogg spent two years as a Mormon missionary in southern Peru. Not only did he run local congregations at age 19, he also offered health education and strategies for locals to stop smoking and drinking—an experience that piqued his interest in behavior change.
“I loved seeing the world in a whole different way. For a while I lived in the remote Peruvian rainforest and didn’t always have running water. I grew a lot during this time,” says Fogg. “In the Mormon culture, being of service is important, and this part of my life inspired me always to ask the question, ‘How can I help people?’”
Fogg attended Brigham Young University (BYU), earning undergraduate and master’s degrees. After graduate school, Fogg lived in France for a summer, intensively studying the French language and Aristotle’s book, Rhetoric, which opened his eyes to the discipline of persuasive communication. During this time, in the early 1990s, he had the novel insight that technology would be used to persuade human behavior in the future, and he decided to pursue this concept in his doctoral studies.
Stanford as a Safe Place
Fogg came to Stanford in 1993 to earn a PhD in Communication Research and began conducting experiments to explore the influence of technology on human beliefs and behavior. Additionally, events that occurred at Stanford at that time impacted Fogg on a personal level.
“As a young man at BYU, slowly realizing I was gay, I felt very alone and afraid,” says Fogg. “Somehow, I felt that if anyone discovered, I would be kicked out of the University, and then my academic career would be ruined.”
During Fogg’s first year as a doctoral student, Stanford football players vandalized the gay liberation statue on campus. Fogg wasn’t fully “out” at that time and sat quietly while listening to his professors (all older, straight men) denounce the football players’ actions.
“I was stunned. I could not have imagined that these professors, who didn’t know me or who I was, would take such a strong public stance to defend gay people,” says Fogg. “That day I had an overwhelming feeling and realization–I am safe here. Stanford is the first place I felt safe and accepted as an adult.”
Not Your Traditional Academic
Since that first year, Fogg has considered Stanford his “home.” After earning his PhD, he became a Consulting Assistant Professor and began teaching for the Computer Science department. In 2000, he started a research lab, where he worked with students investigating how computers influence attitudes and behaviors. In 2002, Fogg published his first book, Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do, which explains how technology has the potential to promote positive change in health and well-being.
Fogg has served in various positions as a teacher and researcher at Stanford, but he never lost his entrepreneurial spirit. As a child, he learned how to step up and take risks with his siblings, which he now brings to the academic setting. For the last 20 years, Fogg has taught a new course each year where he takes students on an uncertain journey, providing them the opportunity to step up, take risks, and learn from mistakes.
“On the first day of class, I say, ‘This is a new topic; nobody has taught this before, and it’s a guarantee that we will make mistakes. This class is like a start-up with many twists and turns, so if you don’t like uncertainty, feel free to drop the class’,” says Fogg. “What I’ve found is that most students love it. They think, ‘This is why I came to Stanford, to take these types of risks.’ So, the class attracts innovative students who want to try new things and break new ground.”
From Renegade Professor to World-Renowned Expert
In 2010, Fogg concentrated his lab’s research focus on how human behavior works, especially habits. Outside of Stanford, just for fun and to be helpful, he started coaching people in a new way to create habits, using a 5-day program he developed. Fogg ended up coaching people around the world week after week for over eight years. At last count, he has personally coached more than 60,000 people. In 2020, he wrote the book Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything, which became a New York Times bestseller and put Fogg on the map as a leading behavior change expert on the global scale.
One way that Tiny Habits differs from other habit formation methods is that it does not emphasize increasing motivation. Instead, the focus is on making the habit extremely easy to do and linking it to a routine one already does during the day. For example, suppose one wants to read more. In that case, Fogg suggests creating a “tiny” version of that habit – read one paragraph — prompted by an existing routine, such as sitting down for a morning cup of coffee. The Tiny Habit recipe then becomes: “After I sit down with my morning coffee, I will read (at least) one paragraph.”
Fogg explains why simplicity matters. By making the habit super easy to do, people can be consistent, day after day. There is no need to rely motivation or willpower. And the key to making a habit form quickly is the feeling of success, an emotion Fogg calls “shine.”
“Even though we are talking about habits that are tiny, this process is transformative,” says Fogg. “Feeling successful shifts how you think about yourself and provides the confidence to take on bigger challenges in life. Once people realize they can change their habits, all sorts of doors open, giving them hope. At the end of the day, Tiny Habits is really about giving people hope.”
Bruce Feldstein, MD, BCC, is a distinguished chaplain, physician, and educator at Stanford, renowned for his unique influence in healthcare that bridges the realms of spirituality and medicine. His work is motivated by a desire to inspire a more holistic and compassionate approach to healing. Presently, he serves as a guiding light for the Stanford Lifestyle Medicine Gratitude and Reflection pillar, seamlessly integrating the essence of human existence into the broader field of lifestyle medicine.
“Within healthcare, I see lifestyle medicine as a pathway to recognize the human dimension of living that reflects the essential nature of being human itself,” says Dr. Feldstein. “Through this perspective, we appreciate the human experience with a more comprehensive embrace.”
One of the remarkable aspects of Dr. Feldstein’s work is the emphasis on an individual’s humanity. As an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Medicine at Stanford, he surpasses the boundaries of traditional medical education by bringing forward an understanding of human beings as biological, linguistic, and historical beings who are fragile, interdependent, and mortal. His educational focus includes caring for structural human concerns such as meaning, purpose, connectedness, belonging, and dignity.
At Stanford, he has taught courses that encompass these principles, such as “Spirituality and Meaning in Medicine” and “Physician Self Care and Well-being.” He also teaches “The Healer’s Art,” created by Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and “Reflection Rounds,” in which medical students, physicians, and chaplains gather to reflect on their inner life experiences. “Reflection Rounds” is now a subject of doctoral dissertations supervised by Dr. Feldstein. He also mentors students, residents, physicians, and chaplains across the country, as well as teaches and gives talks on spirituality and medicine globally.
Humble Beginnings
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Dr. Feldstein’s journey has taken him through diverse experiences in music, medicine, and spirituality. He reminisces, “I’ve been in medicine since I was 2 years old, when my father’s drug store burned down and he went to medical school. As a child, I would join him on countless house calls and hospital rounds.”
Dr. Feldstein attended the University of Michigan, taking advanced pre-medical courses while earning a Bachelor of Science in music focused on theory, analysis, and history.
“Experiencing music can bypass our intellect and touch the core of our meaning and being. There is a healing power in music,” he says. This deep connection to music resonates in his life today as a chaplain, incorporating singing into his spiritual care for its healing energy, meaning, and ritual.
He completed his undergraduate education in just two years, earning membership in Phi Beta Kappa and receiving numerous awards. Remarkably, he was accepted into medical school at the University of Michigan at the age of 20.
His childhood experience of religion, like many assimilating immigrant Jewish families, was oriented around private family gatherings rather than lived publicly or professionally. Yet, Dr. Feldstein was drawn to spiritual and religious experiences throughout his medical education and clinical practice. As a medical student, he witnessed a Christian physician in a small Michigan town emergency room who offered a prayer from his pocket-sized Bible while caring for his long-time patient. Initially, Dr. Feldstein was taken aback, but soon understood the immense comfort this act provided to the patient. Through many moments such as this, he began to recognize the spiritual dimensions of medicine.
Emergency and Disaster Medicine Physician
After graduation from medical school, Dr. Feldstein volunteered as a physician in the pediatric ward of a Cambodian refugee camp on the Thai border. It was the winter of 1979 – 1980, in the aftermath of the genocide and famine that killed one-quarter of the Cambodian population by the country’s Prime Minister, Pol Pot. There, he saw indescribable suffering and horror, as well as the unforgettable human will to live. He also witnessed equanimity and power among the people due to their Buddhist practices. Unavoidably, he began to recognize the crucial importance of the spiritual-humanistic dimensions of human life and how they were missing in Western medicine.
Upon returning to the US, Dr. Feldstein practiced emergency and disaster medicine for 19 years. During this time, he spent a two-year sabbatical with Fernando Flores, PhD, who introduced him to the essential nature of language in medicine, helped him appreciate what it is to be human (ontology), and the power of incorporating these understandings into healthcare, clinical medicine, and everyday life. Flores remains one of Dr. Feldstein’s lifelong teachers.
Shifting from Physician to Chaplain
In 1998, he faced a life-altering injury that rendered it impossible to carry on as an emergency physician. Exploring different career avenues, he became a visiting scholar at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, mentored by Ernlé Young, PhD. He also ventured to Jerusalem to study Jewish religion and ethics, then returned to Stanford where he discovered a deeper sense of his life’s work as a chaplain.
He completed the residency program in Clinical Pastoral Education to become a spiritual care professional in 2000. He was still serving those in pain and suffering, but now offering comfort and healing from an emotional and spiritual perspective. As a chaplain who was previously an emergency physician, “I had the distinct impression I was bridging two worlds.”
In 2000, he also established the Jewish Chaplaincy Services (JCS), a program dedicated to providing spiritual care and guidance to hospital patients, their families, and caregivers at Stanford Medicine. This involved training spiritual-care volunteers and, as a physician who is a chaplain, contributing to the integration of spirituality into the practice and profession of medicine through education.
Since 2001, as an Adjunct Clinical Professor at the School of Medicine, Dr. Feldstein has developed and taught an award-winning curriculum on spirituality and well-being for medical students and faculty. He received the John Templeton Spirituality and Medicine Curricular Award and was the first recipient of the Isaac Stein Award for Compassionate Care presented by the Stanford Health Care Board of Directors. He is recognized as a Board Certified Chaplain by Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains, the professional association for Jewish chaplains worldwide, where he was a past president.
In his multifaceted roles as a leader in lifestyle medicine, chaplain, professor, and director of JCS, Dr. Feldstein remains dedicated to nourishing the souls and minds of the Stanford community.
“Stanford’s commitment to including the spiritual dimension of medicine resonates with my core belief that understanding the essence of being human enhances the ability to address pain and suffering and promote healing in a more profound way,” he says.