Oprah Loves This Doctor
by Heidi Brown

4 August 2008

Mehmet Oz, relaxed and casual in a button-down shirt open at the neck, has just downed a salad of nuts, feta cheese and cranberries in the atrium cafeteria of a midtown Manhattan office building.

As he's leaving, two bubbly women in their mid-40s stop him, one with a camera in hand. "Can you take a picture with us?" she asks, practically grabbing the 48-year-old by the arm. He positions himself between the two and flashes a smile.

A renowned heart surgeon who is also a pal of Oprah Winfrey's, Oz has made it his mission to try to persuade lazy, overweight Americans to take control of their health, and he has become a celebrity in the process. In his time off from his three days a week performing heart transplants and mitral valve repairs at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, he has co-authored, with Michael Roizen, four bestselling books, and he has three more on the way. He has appeared on the Discovery Channel for five years, hosts a five-day-a-week radio show on XM Satellite Radio and has shown up regularly on The Oprah Winfrey Show since 2004. He commands a $100,000 speaking fee. ...

In his first year at medical school he met his future wife, who, he says, changed his life. Lisa Lemole, whose father was on the team that performed the first heart transplant in America, came from a family that subscribed to the teachings of Swedish scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg, who maintained that spirituality is as important as material life. They used alternative medicines, like arnica gel for sore muscles. "I began to see why healing required more than my 11-blade," Oz says.

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