MONICA AGGARWAL graduated from the University of Virginia in 1996 with a major in religious studies and a minor in biology and from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, in 2000 with a degree in medicine. She did her internal medicine residency at Tufts University Hospital from 2000 until 2003. Subsequently, she went on to do her cardiology fellowship at the University of Maryland in Baltimore from 2003 until 2006. She also did an integrative medicine fellowship at the University of Arizona Integrative Medicine center. She is board certified in cardiology, echocardiography, and nuclear cardiology.
Dr. Aggarwal is now clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Florida Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, where she also serves as the director of integrative cardiology and prevention. In her clinic, she emphasizes plant-based nutrition and often performs multiple mind-body techniques with her patients, including yoga and meditation. She has instituted a new nationally acclaimed plant-based menu at the Shands Hospital of the University of Florida, along with new discharge education that empowers patients to heal their bodies with their lifestyles. She was recently named Florida’s “Cardiovascular Researcher of the Year” by the Florida chapter of the American College of Cardiology, which provided her with a grant to conduct important research needed on nutrition. She speaks nationally on deficits in nutrition education and how to implement healthy lifestyle into clinical practice.
JYOTHI RAO graduated from Rutgers University in 1990 with a major in biology and from New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey, in 1994 with a degree in medicine. She did her internal medicine residency at Tufts-New England Medical Center from 1994 until 1997. She has worked in clinical practice since 1997. She completed her medical acupuncture training at the Helms Institute of Acupuncture in UCLA in 2000. She completed her fellowship in functional medicine from the American Academy of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine in 2013. She is also an instructor at the Maryland University of Integrative Health. She is currently the medical director of the Shakthi Health and Wellness Center. She is board certified in internal medicine and antiaging and regenerative medicine.
Jyothi Rao (left) and Monica Aggarwal (right)