Vitae fall/winter 2008, Vol. 31 No. 1 

Mark J. Liponis, MD ’84Liponis

Mark Liponis, MD, uses his medical degree to explore boundaries—those that are too often erected between medical disciplines and philosophies.  As Corporate Medical Director of Canyon Ranch Health Resorts, Dr. Liponis helps patients move from a state of illness to a state of health and employs tools from across the medical and spiritual spectrum—nutrition and exercise physiology, behavioral therapy, acupuncture, massage and more. “The standard medical model of patients seeing different doctors for different issues dissects the patient into pieces and maladies,” said Liponis. “I have the opportunity to look at the whole person and support all of that person’s needs.”

Liponis recalls Alan Michelson, MD, at UMMS, who was the director of the residency in internal medicine at Berkshire Medical Center. “He taught me to think through a patient’s problems and how to read medical literature. This thoroughness of process and philosophy has been the foundation of my work.”

Liponis also values the diversity found at UMMS through not only his classmates—students of all ethnicities and ages and varied life experiences—but also through clerkship and clinical locations and care models. “It gave us exposure particularly in public and community health and how to improve public health one person at a time.” The UMMS philosophy has also had an impact on Liponis’s wife, Siobhan McNally (MD ’84), a pediatrician. Dr. McNally has her MPH and is co-developer of the Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit for use at well-child visits. She is also physician advisor to Healthy Beginnings at Berkshire Medical Center. 

In addition to caring for patients one at a time, Liponis appears on radio and TV programs, such as “The View,” “The Today Show,” “The Rachael Ray Show,” CNN, and “Get a Life with [comedian and motivational speaker] Loretta LaRoche” on PBS.  He is the author of two health-related books, Ultra-Longevity: The Seven-Step Program for a Younger, Healthier You and Ultra-Prevention, and has contributed to numerous magazines including Parade.

Back to contents