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About Elizabeth Klodas, MD FACC & Preventive Cardiologist

Dr. Elizabeth Klodas is a practicing preventive cardiologist. She developed Step One Foods to help her patients. Trained at Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins, Dr. Klodas saw that no matter how many medications she prescribed, no matter how perfect she got her patients’ “numbers”, none of them looked or felt any better. In fact, many were telling her that all the drugs they were taking were making them feel worse.

What Dr. Klodas realized is that much of what she was treating (high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high blood sugar) was caused in part or in whole by food. So instead of doing what she was taught to do - just throw more pills at the problem - she set out to help her patients address the root cause of their health issues and looked to nutrition instead. And if that sounds logical to you, believe it or not, she had to go up against nearly every part of the healthcare system to accomplish this.

Undaunted, she worked to combine the right cardioprotective food ingredients in the right amounts to yield rapid, measurable cholesterol reductions. The efficacy of her approach was confirmed when Dr. Klodas subjected Step One Foods to the highest levels of scientific scrutiny, validating them through a randomized controlled clinical trial performed at Mayo Clinic and University of Manitoba.

Founder and CMO of Step One Foods

To date, Step One Foods has helped tens of thousands of individuals lower their cholesterol, improve cardiovascular health, and feel better. Dr. Klodas considers Step One Foods one of her most rewarding and impactful professional accomplishments. In addition to her role as Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Step One Foods, Dr. Klodas is an author, a nationally sought out expert on heart disease prevention, and Founder of Preventive Cardiology Clinic in Minneapolis, MN.


EDUCATION

Accelerated Pre-Med Curriculum

University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Doctor of Medicine

University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Faculty of Medicine

POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING

Comprehensive Medicine Internship
Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Internal Medicine Residency
Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota
Cardiovascular Diseases Fellowship
Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota

Specific Interests: Non Invasive Cardiology

Cardiovascular Diseases Fellowship
John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland
Specific Interests:  Echocardiography Research
Cardiac MRI Fellowship

Royal Brompton Hospital, London, England

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND SOCIETIES

  • Member, American College of Lifestyle Medicine
  • Member, American Heart Association
  • Fellow, American College of Cardiology
  • Member, American Society of Echocardiography

LICENSURES AND CERTIFICATIONS

  • Licensee, Medical Council of Canada
  • Licensee, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario
  • Licensee, Minnesota State Board of Medical Examiners
  • Diplomate, American Board of Internal Medicine (Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease) 
  • Testamur, American Society of Echocardiography
  • Diplomate, Certification Council of Nuclear Cardiology


EDUCATION

Accelerated Pre-Med Curriculum

University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Doctor of Medicine

University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Faculty of Medicine

POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING

Comprehensive Medicine Internship
Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Internal Medicine Residency
Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota
Cardiovascular Diseases Fellowship
Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota

Specific Interests: Non Invasive Cardiology

Cardiovascular Diseases Fellowship
John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland
Specific Interests:  Echocardiography Research
Cardiac MRI Fellowship

Royal Brompton Hospital, London, England

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND SOCIETIES

  • Member, American College of Lifestyle Medicine
  • Member, American Heart Association
  • Fellow, American College of Cardiology
  • Member, American Society of Echocardiography

LICENSURES AND CERTIFICATIONS

  • Licensee, Medical Council of Canada
  • Licensee, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario
  • Licensee, Minnesota State Board of Medical Examiners
  • Diplomate, American Board of Internal Medicine (Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease) 
  • Testamur, American Society of Echocardiography
  • Diplomate, Certification Council of Nuclear Cardiology

Professional Positions

President, Preventive Cardiology Clinic, Edina, Minnesota

Founding Editor-in-Chief, www.cardiosmart.org

Contributing Medical Editor, WebMD

Founder and Chief Medical Officer, Step One Foods, Minneapolis Minnesota

PUBLISHED WORKS

BOOKS

Klodas E:  Slay the Giant:  The Power of Prevention in Defeating Heart Disease, American College of Cardiology, 2008.

BOOK CHAPTERS

Klodas E, Weiss JL:  Noninvasive approaches to the evaluation of left ventricular function; in: Lima JAC, ed: Diagnostic Imaging in Clinical Cardiology, Martin Dunitz, London, 1998, pp1-23.

 

SELECTED JOURNAL ARTICLES

  1. Kopecky S,  Alias S, Klodas E, Jones P: Reduction in Serum LDL Cholesterol Using a Nutrient Compendium in Hyperlipidemic Adults Unable or Unwilling to Use Statin Therapy: A Double-Blind Randomized Crossover Clinical Trial. J Nutr. 2022 Jan 26.
  2. Reddy, K., Freeman, A. M., Ostfeld, R., Aspry, K., Allen, K., O’Keefe, J., Ornish, D., Batts, T., Aggarwal, M., White, B., Patel, H., Klodas, E., Levin, S., Lee, D. H., & Williams, K. A. Dietary Protein and Its Associations with Cardiovascular Health. ijdrp 2022, 4, 15 pp.
  3. Dong I, Klodas E: Healthcare Cost Implications of Utilizing a Dietary Intervention to Lower LDL Cholesterol: Proof of Concept Actuarial Analysis and Recommendations. Curr Cardiol Rep. 2020 Sep.

  4. Auseon AJ, O'Gara PT, Klodas E, Holmes DR Jr, Jackson MJ, Green JS, Konstam MA, Nishimura RA. The Essential Role of Educator Development: 10 Years of the ACC Emerging Faculty Program. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2016 May

  5. Walsh MN, Bove AA, Cross RR, Ferdinand KC, Forman DE, Freeman AM, Hughes S, Klodas E, Koplan M, Lewis WR, MacDonnell B, May DC, Messer JV, Pressler SJ, Sanz ML, Spertus JA, Spinler SA, Teichholz LE, Wong JB, Byrd KD. ACCF 2012 health policy statement on patient-centered care in cardiovascular medicine: a report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation Clinical Quality Committee.J Am Coll Cardiol. 2012 Jun 5.

  6. Klodas E. Unintended consequences of healthcare reform--patients beware. Am Heart Hosp J. 2010 Summer.

  7. Enriquez-Sarano M, Klodas E, Garratt KN, Basiley KR, Tajik AJ, Holmes DR Jr:  Secular trends in coronary atherosclerosis- analysis in patients with valvular regurgitation. N Engl J Med 1996.

 See more published journal articles by Elizabeth Klodas, MD 

SELECTED NEWS PUBLICATIONS


Is a Snack a Form of Medicine? This Cardiologist Thinks So. - Daily Beast, Mar 2022 

This Cardiologist Created a Food Brand To Make Eating for Heart Health and Longevity Fuss-Free - Well+ Good, Aug 2021

Why A Cardiologist Became A ‘Food-As-Medicine’ Entrepreneur - Forbes.com, Jan 2020

One Cardiologist's Mission to Reduce Statin Use for Cholesterol - CNN.com, Jan 2019

Doctors Turning to Healthy Foods as Medicine - Chicago Tribune, Dec 2016

Cardiologist Building Better Snacks - Minneapolis Star Tribune, Mar 2014