Meet the team that is Moving Medicine Forward​
Michael Klaper, MD, DipACLM
Executive Director
Michael A. Klaper, M.D. is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. He has practiced acute care medicine in Hawaii, California, Florida, Canada and New Zealand and for the past 35 years, has been focusing upon health-promoting food and lifestyle choices to help reverse disease and prevent the need for hospitalization and surgery.
Dr. Klaper is board-certified by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and has served as nutrition advisor to NASA’s programs for space colonists on the Moon and Mars. He recently joined the staff of Aroga Lifestyle Medicine Clinic in Victoria, B.C and continues his work with the non-profit “Moving Medicine Forward” initiative that teaches medical students about reversing chronic disease utilizing plant-predominant nutrition.
Zach Burns, DO, MPH
Associate Director
Dr. Zach Burns gravitated to Moving Medicine Forward after hosting Dr. Klaper to speak on his medical school campus in 2019. He has since partnered with hundreds of medical, health professional and undergraduate students to cultivate a generation who is prepared to tackle the chronic disease burden. Alongside Moving Medicine Forward, Dr. Burns practices family medicine in Rochester, New York. Favorite foods include healthy pesto and black raspberry nice cream.
Alese Jones
Communications Director
Alese Jones brings her 30 years of experience and communication skills as a yoga teacher and musician to expertly function as the Communications Director for Moving Medicine Forward (“MMF"). Her role is a vertical one. She fields questions from physicians and the public seeking nutritional guidance to managing complex travel arrangements. Regardless of level or scope, Alese keeps the communication lines open with a smile and a song. In her spare time, Alese fosters kittens from animal shelters and is a jazz singer. She was previously a staff member at True North Health Center in Santa Rosa, CA and currently on the staff of PlantStrong Immersions.
Steve Kehoe
Member, Board of Directors for MMF
Steve Kehoe serves as Treasurer for Moving Medicine Forward. He became very interested in using a WFPB diet to help his wife, Sue, overcome Stage 4 breast cancer in 2011. He attended a presentation by Dr. Klaper that really inspired him and Sue to go full force into a WFPB diet and other healthy lifestyle changes. With the incredible results (Sue is still cancer free), they became more active in promoting the healing benefits of a WFPB diet in their own community. They hosted monthly WFPB potlucks with numerous guest speakers for 7 years. Dr. Klaper was one such speaker and when he started Moving Medicine Forward in 2017, Steve was an enthusiastic supporter and helped set up several of the initial medical school speaking tours for Dr. Klaper. Steve has since become a Board member and continues to support Moving Medicine Forward’s goal of educating medical students about the critical role WFPB nutrition and lifestyle play in healing.
Jacinda Shapiro, RN, BSN, CDCES, DipACLM
Member, Board of Directors for MMF
Jacinda is a Registered Nurse, Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CDCES), Diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (DipACLM), and founder of EmpowerMe Diabetes Health, LLC. With more than 30 years of clinical experience, she is dedicated to transforming the prevention and treatment of diabetes and other chronic diseases through evidence-based lifestyle medicine.​
Jacinda believes that caring for human health and caring for the planet go hand in hand. She is passionate about protecting the environment and all sentient beings while advancing a healthcare system that prioritizes prevention, root-cause treatment, and the power of food as medicine.​​
Outside of her professional work, Jacinda enjoys running, listening to music, spending time in nature, and planting seeds of change—one person, one meal, and one community at a time.