Betty Kovacs-Harbolic, MS, RDN, CDN, BCC, ND
Founder
Betty Kovacs-Harbolic is a registered dietitian nutritionist and a board-certified coach with over twenty years of experience working with thousands of clients. She holds a Master’s from New York University (NYU) in Clinical Nutrition, a Bachelor’s in Foods and Nutrition and an Associate’s in Business Administration. She completed her internship at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Bronx NY.
Betty was a medical writer for WebMD, a CO-Principal Investigator for a multi-million dollar federally funded study, worked as a clinician on several large research studies, and returned as a professor to two colleges she’d previously attended.
She is an educator to her peers, speaking annually at the Columbia University Obesity: Etiology, Prevention, and Treatment Course, presenting at conferences and grand rounds, and serving on advisory panels. Her career goals outside of weight loss are to bring an understanding and excitement to aging healthfully.
Betty was recognized as a leading registered dietitian in Manhattan in Quest Magazine’s Annual New York Resources issue. She has appeared on WNBC news, WABC Eye Witness News, New York 1 News, and News 12, and she has been interviewed by numerous magazines and newspapers, including Woman’s World, Glamour, Newsday, LA Times, Daily News, and Travelers Magazine.
Richard Weil, M.Ed., CDE
Founder
Rich is an exercise physiologist and has been the director of the weight loss program since its inception in 2004, when he and Betty Kovacs designed and created it. He has worked in weight loss programs, weight loss clinics, and diabetes centers in New York City for 37 years.
He has written dozens of articles on exercise, diabetes, and obesity, which have appeared on websites including WebMD and MedicineNet, and he has contributed to the exercise chapters of several books. He has also appeared numerous times in print media, television, and on radio, and he speaks locally and nationally about exercise, obesity, and diabetes to health professionals and the general public. He is on the editorial board of Diabetes Self-Management Magazine, and he was previously a consultant to the Centers for Obesity Research and Education, a national, multi-center course to educate physicians and other health professionals about treating obesity.
He is a faculty member at the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University Medical Center, and he has done research and published in peer-reviewed journals in a wide range of areas, including exercise and prevention of type 2 diabetes in teenagers, exercise program design, body composition in adults, telephone-based weight loss interventions, control and reduction of food cravings, associations of body mass index (BMI) to biomarkers of metabolic syndrome, use of shoe orthotics in adults with BMIs greater than 35, weight loss and idiopathic intracranial hypertension, and psychological predictors of weight loss in adults.
Michael de Vihil, PsyD
Michael is a licensed clinical psychologist. He earned his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. His background includes extensive experience in the space of emotional intelligence. Michael maintains a private practice and has facilitated many groups inside and outside of Mount Sinai’s weight loss research center. He also has a degree in International Business and Marketing from NYU’s Stern School of Business. He completed a study abroad in Japan and lived and worked in Paris, France for four years. His passion is in helping people go from insight to accountability with their life goals, and he focuses on the relationship between thoughts, behaviors, and feelings.
Amanda Hannon, Ph.D.
Dr. Hannon is a Licensed Psychologist in the state of Georgia working in private practice. In individual sessions, she enjoys helping clients work towards their personal, interpersonal, and professional goals by encouraging them to explore and express their vulnerabilities and needs in session and outside of session. Dr. Hannon also provides group psychoeducation and support for individuals seeking to modify their relationships with food, themselves, and their bodies. Dr. Hannon’s therapeutic style incorporates interpersonal, person-centered, and cognitive behavior therapy with an emphasis on personal strengths and resilience.
Dr. Hannon obtained her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and Human Systems from Florida State University after receiving her Master of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology at Western Kentucky University. Her experience prior to starting her own practice includes working in college counseling centers with both students and staff. Dr. Hannon specializes in issues related to adjustment, sexual orientation and gender identity, depression, and anxiety, and has experience providing support to individuals struggling with self-esteem, relationship concerns, and academic and professional difficulties. She also has extensive experience conducting psychological testing and assessment, including evaluations of parenting capacity, trauma and other psychological concerns, substance abuse, academic concerns, learning disorders, and attention deficit disorder.
Shahla M. Wunderlich, PhD, RDN, FACN
Shahla Wunderlich is passionate about enabling people to improve their overall well- being through better nutrition. She specializes in teaching practical nutrition guidance throughout the life cycle. She has taught extensively in private and university settings to undergraduate and graduate students in Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Science majors. Dr. Wunderlich’s research findings in the areas of nutrition and good health have been widely published and she regularly presents her research findings at national and international conferences.
Dr. Wunderlich delivers seminars, counseling and workshops to individuals, groups and corporations. She received and managed a multiyear grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to help seniors to stay healthy through improved eating habits and exercise programs. She has been recognized by the American Dietetic Association with an Outstanding Dietetic Educator Award. Dr. Wunderlich earned her Ph.D. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Nutritional Biochemistry and Metabolism.
Kristin Carlino, RDN
Science in Food and Nutrition from The College of Saint Elizabeth. For nearly a decade, she has counseled patients one-on-one to meet their individual health and weight goals, spending six of those years at the New Jersey Bariatric and Metabolic Institute specializing in bariatrics and weight loss/management. In 2021, she was tasked with starting and managing a new Food FARMacy program through Jersey City Medical Center/RWJBarnabas Health, which aims to address food insecurity and improve chronic disease states by increasing access to food and nutrition counseling. Her passion for education led her to create Good Food Bad Doodles, an initiative focused on making science and nutrition easy to understand via simple explanations and colorful visuals.
Mary Lou Pompeii, RDN, CDN, CDE
Mary Lou has been with Mount Sinai Morningside for two years as the registered dietitian/nutritionist (RDN) co-leader. She brings to the program many years of clinical work as an RDN with a focus on obesity, diabetes, and kidney diseases.
In addition to working at Morningside, Mary Lou is employed at New York University (NYU) Langone Health, where she holds the role of interventionist for three randomized clinical trials involving technology to engage clinical populations in both weight loss and lifestyle change. The research includes mHealth and Social Cognitive Behavior of Change as tools to achieve weight loss. The intent is to diminish disease complication. At NYU, Mary Lou has also been working with obese individuals with underlying diseases such as T2DM, chronic kidney disease, and World Trade Center Associated Lung Injury.
Previously, Mary Lou worked for Compass-USA in the Morrison Health Care Division in the role of Regional Clinical Nutrition Manager. The position included teaching in an accredited Diabetes Education Program where she utilized her Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) credentials. To complement her full-time work, she spent several years working part-time as a Certified Renal Specialist in a Hemodialysis Clinic. (Fresenius, US Renal Care, Inc.)
Mary Lou was educated at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg VA and then furthered her education at the University of Albany School of Public Health. She enjoys spending time with her daughters and grandson of 15 months. She also enjoys biking, swimming, gardening, and cooking vegetarian style meals.
Bonnie T. Jortberg, PhD, RD, CDE
Dr. Jortberg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine (CU-SOM). She holds a PhD in Human Nutrition, is a Registered Dietitian and a Certified Diabetes Educator. Dr. Jortberg has been at CU-SOM since 1995, starting in the Department of Preventive Medicine as one of the study coordinators for the Diabetes Prevention Program. She has devoted her professional career to doing translational research in disease prevention, specifically, diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.
She has been the Principal Investigator or co-investigator for numerous obesity and diabetes grants where innovative evidence-based implementation strategies have been implemented within primary care practices. Specifically, Dr. Jortberg was a co-investigator for an NIH-NIDDK study that developed a web-based patient self-management support system for patients with type 2 diabetes that was delivered in 36 primary care practices in Colorado and California. She also developed and was the program director for the CU-SOM weight management program for over five years. Dr. Jortberg is an international expert in lifestyle management for type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease and has presented on these topics at conferences across the globe.
Tammy Russell, MS, RD
Tammy Russell, MS, RD has a long history as a dietitian, an integrative nutritionist and a functional medicine-based counselor. She has worked in the fields of inpatient and outpatient nutrition, clinical research, health coaching, private counseling and teaching. She has a bachelors and Master’s degree in Nutritional Science from Rutgers University, and completed her dietetic internship at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. Tammy trained in functional medicine with the Institute for Functional Medicine, Functional Medicine University, Apex Energetics and Metagenics. Additionally, trained in motivational interviewing and health coaching through the WellCoaches program. She maintains a private practice where she caters to a cohort of GI, cardiovascular, autoimmune and other chronic disease patients. In her free time, Tammy enjoys hiking, walking, reading, creating new recipes in the kitchen, and spending time with her family.
Jason W. Harbolic
Managing Director
Jason W. Harbolic is the Managing Director of FitsMe Health™, Inc. Jason brings over two decades of experience in Information Technology and exceptional customer service. In addition, Jason has worked with all aspects of numerous new business startups, including website development, logo creation, billing management, and marketing. He has been an integral part of FitsMe Health since inception and is credited with developing the amazing logo! Jason is the lead contact person for clients, colleagues, and media.