YOUR CREW
A Professional
Health-focused
Team Working
for a More Vibrant You
At The Healing Table™, we offer a unique approach to health and wellness by connecting you with a dedicated team of professionals, all working together to support your journey towards better health.
Our innovative platform leverages the expertise of:
Get to Know Your Crew
Michael Fenster, MD (Chef Dr. Mike)
CEO of BRIDGMED
Michael S. Fenster
MD, FACC, FSCA&I, FRSM, MIANE, PEMBA, Member FIDES
Michael S. Fenster, MD, is amongst the only Interventional Cardiologists, Professional Chefs, and Professors of Culinary Medicine to be found anywhere. His Culinary Medicine program at The University of Montana is likewise amongst the first of its kind in the United States.
Through his Culinary Medicine university courses, speaking events, articles, books, personal outreach, television, and other media appearances, Chef Dr. Mike has become the voice of Culinary Medicine. He continues speaking worldwide as a recognized expert on food and health and is a sought-after keynote speaker. In addition to innumerable media appearances, Chef Dr. Mike, as he is informally known to friends and fans, has hosted his own PBS television show, House Calls with Chef Dr. Mike, and delivered a TEDx talk on Culinary Medicine.
BridgMed was forged from the vision of Chef Dr. Mike after he faced personal health issues that caused him to re-examine the interaction between food and health through the lens of the individual food experience. Building upon a diverse foundation of information theory and evidence-based study, he formulated an approach that, in many respects, was not only novel but often ran counter to much of the conventional food-health advice being dispensed at the time.
Decades later, Dr. Fenster is now acknowledged as one of the world leaders in the area of food and health. The World Health Organization has recognized him through the FIDES program as a food-health influencer and reliable source of data-derived information. The successes of his patients and other participants encourage him to carry on the further development and sharing of the Culinary Medicine method.
Developments like the NOVA food classification system developed at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, based on the level of food processing and studies from around the world utilizing it, help provide direct and incontrovertible evidence in support of the Culinary Medicine approach to food and health. It was in concert with those events that Dr. Fenster developed the Culinary Medicine program – meeting all the rigors and vettings of a university-level university course – at the University of Montana.
Dr. Fenster has spent the last several years determining the best way to bring the power of Culinary Medicine to the people who need it most. Years in development, the result is The Healing TableTM, a novel, person-centered, Internet-based software solution that gets to the heart of each of our individual relationships between the food we eat and our health, wellness, longevity, and happiness.
Won’t you join us at The Healing Table? It is a far richer feast than you could ever imagine.
Seth D. Weg
WCEC, MWMCS, CNC, CP-FS
Chief Operations Officer & Chief Culinary Officer
Growing up in Brooklyn NY, Chef Seth was surrounded by culinary influences from around the world, all within a stone’s throw away from his home in Sheepshead Bay. After taking some time to travel abroad after high school, he enrolled at The French Culinary Institute on Manhattan’s Lower East Side where he studied Classical French cuisine and did an apprenticeship in molecular gastronomy. After graduation, Chef Seth honed his skills at the ABC Kitchen located in Union Square, then at Eleven Madison Park.
Chef Seth moved to the capital region with his family and shifted his focus on contract food service operations. After being on the road for several years as a corporate executive chef, Chef Seth found his niche in the luxury senior living sector, where he has been able to elevate the senior dining experience. Rooting his own culinary expressions in the fusion of the diverse cultural landscape he experienced through his travels, Chef Seth’s passion for genuine food and hospitality continue to grow with every service. By further adapting the principles of Culinary Medicine to his professional ethos, he is able teach those skills & techniques to his teams to serve nutritionally dense, seasonal, and locally grown foods fostering an overall state of physical and mental wellness for his residents.
Seth D. Weg (Chef Seth)
Chief Operations Officer &
Chief Culinary Officer
April Diederich
April Diederich, RDN
April currently serves as the Assistant Director for The Marilyn Magaram Center for Food Science, Nutrition, and Dietetics at The California State University at Northridge. A lifelong learner and educator, April has played a critical role in helping BridgMed develop the pathways to unlocking the presence of ultra-processed in the average American’s diet.
Shely Salemnia
MS, RD, CLE, MBA – Registered Dietician Lead
Shely is a Registered Dietitian passionate about educating others on nutrition and health. She holds her Master’s in Human Nutrition from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and her Bachelors in Nutrition from New York University, and completed her Dietetic Internship at CSUN with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and WIC. She most recently completed an MBA in Healthcare Innovation. Shely has experience in clinical nutrition, practicing Medical Nutrition Therapy for hospitalized patients from newborns to the elderly. Shely has been teaching the Well-Nourished Nutrition Series through the MMC for cancer patients with Tower Cancer Research where she teaches all about nutrition in relation to cancer.
Specialties: Oncology, Diabetes, Lactation, Sports, Cultural Competency, Plant-based Nutrition
Shely Salemnia
Registered Dietician Lead
Cheyenne Herington
Customer Services Specialist
Cheyenne Herington
Customer Services Specialist
Cheyenne currently serves as the Customer Services Specialist at the Help Desk. She is there to welcome everyone, orient them to the environment, answer questions, and troubleshoot any technical challenges so that each participant can begin their personal Culinary Medicine journey as trouble free as possible.
Dr. Tim Wetherill
MD, FACS Board Certified General Surgeon – Advisor
Trained as a General/trauma surgeon with experience in the public and private sectors, Dr. Wetherill has created robotics, bariatric and breast programs. Shifting to the payer side, he has led initiatives in utilization management, payment integrity and pharmacy. Serving as the principal designer, he partnered with a Silicon Valley start-up to bring HCSC its first AI driven intake platform into operation. As chair of the Medical Policy Committee serving 5 BCBS plans and creator of the Vendor Clinical Validation Committee, he oversees the scientific evaluation of everything from drugs to digital interventions. Experience has provided the opportunity to see wonderful ideas poorly executed and worthless ideas turned into gold. Success in healthcare is much greater with a knowledgeable guide.
Not just an idea person, he founded a rock climbing gym, performed and produced stand-up comedy and instructed effective story-telling workshops around the country.
Dr. Tim Wetherill
Advisor
Dr. Robert Ellis
Advisor
Dr. Robert Ellis
DO, PhD, oncologist – Advisor
Dr Robert Ellis, DO, PhD, is a board-certified medical oncologist, integrative medicine physician and lifestyle medicine expert. In addition, he is trained and certified in plant based nutrition and cooking as well as a certified culinary medicine specialist through the American College of Culinary Medicine. Dr Ellis has earned a doctorate in immunology from the Rosalind Franklin University of Health and Sciences and his degree in osteopathy from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine.
He has practiced clinical oncology for 30 years in a variety of practice settings; including the military, fee for service private practice, tertiary cancer care centers and HMOs. He has been a member of the teaching faculty of several medical schools and post-graduate medical education programs. He established one of the first lifestyle medicine curriculums at a medical school at the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest.
He currently is the CEO and founder of Integrative Cancer care consultation services which specializes in helping patients understand and develop their innate healing capabilities.
Dr Ellis is a former US Army officer leaving the service after 26 years at the rank of Colonel in 2001.
He lives with his wife Nancy in the Pacific Northwest. He spends his free time with his four children and 8 grandchildren.
Leonard K. Fenster
AI/IT systems expert-Advisor
Leonard completed a thesis on neural networks and is an international speaker on quantum neural networks. He has authored various tech articles and books, holds a data science certification from Johns Hopkins, and has served as the Global CTO for Microsoft’s customer success business as well as CTO for Microsoft’s data and AI business. He is currently senior vice president for SaaS innovation and consulting at the Ellucian. Leonard advises on the AI-technology aspects of The Healing TableTM
