Excerpt from New York Times article (1998):

"It was almost a matter of happenstance that Dr. Ornish found his calling. It happened in 1972 when he dropped out of Rice University in Houston to recover from mononucleosis and depression. At his parents' home in Dallas, Dr. Ornish met Sri Swami Satchidananda, who had been teaching Dr. Ornish's older sister meditation and relaxation techniques. Dr. Ornish asked the swami to help him, too.

''He said, 'Become a vegetarian.' '' Dr. Ornish recalled. ''I said, 'Fine,' '' He said the swami also told him to meditate, practice yoga, exercise and to ''always do something to help someone.'' The swami ''gave me my program,'' Dr. Ornish said. ''I felt better. I felt peaceful.''

Inspired by this experience, Dr. Ornish began a small study several years later, when he was in medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He would see if the program the swami taught him might reverse heart disease.

He found 10 patients. Half chose to follow his program; the others did not. ''I taught yoga and led exercise sessions. I taught nutrition,'' Dr. Ornish said. And he led the participants in a support group where, he said, they shared what he describes as their pain and loneliness. Dr. Ornish said the patients who followed his program ended up with lower blood levels of cholesterol, less chest pain and improved heart function. He followed with his one-month study of 48 patients.

He wrote a book, ''Stress, Diet & Your Heart'' (New American Library) that was copyrighted in 1982, but came out early in January 1983, at about the same time as a scientific paper describing his findings. In 1984 he started his Preventive Medicine Institute and began another study to see if he could detect an actual reversal of atherosclerosis in patients who followed his program. He published a paper in 1990 while, that same year, he published a book, ''Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease'' (Ballantine Books), which climbed to No. 3 on The New York Times best-seller list."

Dr Ornish: He called me actually, about three or four years ago, at the age of 99. I hadn't heard from him in literally decades. He said, "Hey Dean, this is Mike DeBakey" and he had a very distinctive Louisiana accent. So I recognized it immediately. I said, "What do I owe this great honor?" He said, "Well, those ideas that I used to give a hard time about when you were my medical student." I said, "Yeah, I remember very well." "That's what has kept me alive all these years! I'm 99 years old and I'm about to die. I thought you'd like to know that!"

"I've been following Dr Dean Ornish's program for more than a decade, and I feel younger now than I did ten years ago. Dr Ornish's style of eating and living is always delicious and never boring."

"In 1993, Hillary asked Dr. Dean Ornish to consult with us on improving our health and well-being and to train the chefs who cooked for us at The White House, Camp David, and Air Force One. I felt better and lost weight when I followed his recommendations. As this book illustrates, my genes may have been improving as well! If you want to see where medicine is likely to be five or ten years from now, read this book today."

"I must say I was fascinated to meet, once again, with Professor Dean Ornish and his wife Anne earlier this year at my home at High Grove. They are remarkable leaders in lifestyle medicine and have demonstrated that simple lifestyle changes, improving diet and exercise, reducing stress, and building relationships can not only prevent but even reverse the progression of many chronic diseases."