Hello! I am Dr. Columbus Batiste, the Healthy Heart Doc. I entered this world as “a pleasant surprise.” I was born the 6th child of parents, from New Orleans, Louisiana, who migrated to Compton, California.

Growing up I remember my parents working night and day, going without necessities to see us succeed. Their support continued when I chose to attend a Historically Black College and University, Oakwood University, and later when I returned to California to attend Loma Linda Medical School. When I graduated from medical school in 1998 that degree was as much their accomplishment as it was mine.

I have been fortunate to reach my goals of becoming an Interventional Cardiologist completing my training in 2006. Since that time, I have literally performed thousands of heart procedures and interpreted thousands of heart related tests.

My biggest challenge came on August 12th, 2010 at @ 2:30 pm when I watched my father pass away from ill effects of Diabetes, eight months after my wife’s father passed away from kidney failure as a result of high blood pressure. In both instances I realized the two role models in my life not only had their lifespan cut short but their healthspan as they spent the years leading up to their death a shell of themselves. They became another victim of the persistent health disparities and a statistic in the larger war against lifestyle mediated chronic disease.

I decided that their death would mean something to me and to the patients I treat. I learned through research about the power of lifestyle to treat chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke the leading causes of death in the United States and disproportionately in African Americans.

Through the support of many giants in the field of lifestyle medicine I embarked on a crusade to educate and empower patients to enact change and defeat these defeat-able diseases thereby extending their health-span. Since 2010 I have lectured across the United States, held local community health initiatives, cooking classes, and one-on-one coaching apart from my practice.

My sole goal is the educate so that “each one can teach one” about the power of health promoting foods in the form of plant based natural food sources combined with activity, sleep, and gratitude. Join me in this crusade by becoming a member of the Healthy Heart Nation.