For education only, not medical advice. Ask your doctor before you change your diet or any medication.

Plant based experts

The doctors, researchers and teachers behind the plant based movement: who they are, what they are known for, and what they say, topic by topic, with links to where they said it.

Experts

Medical doctors (MD)

Caldwell Esselstyn MD. Surgeon and researcher at the Cleveland Clinic, author of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.
John McDougall MD. Physician and founder of the McDougall Program.
Dean Ornish MD. Physician, founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute and clinical professor of medicine at UCSF.
Neal Barnard MD. Physician, founder and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).
Walter Willett MD, DrPH. Professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Michael Greger MD. Physician, founder of NutritionFacts.org.
David Jenkins MD, PhD, DSc. Professor of nutritional sciences and medicine at the University of Toronto.
Denis Burkitt MD, FRS. Irish surgeon and researcher.
Walter Kempner MD. Physician at Duke University who created the Rice Diet.
Hana Kahleova MD, PhD. Director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Peter Rogers MD. Physician and YouTube educator.

Scientists (PhD)

Dietitians

Jeff Novick MS, RDN (registered dietitian). Registered dietitian known for teaching calorie density.

Other experts, not medical doctors

What they say, topic by topic

More topics are on the way: fruit, starches, protein, meal timing, sugar, salt and exercise.

How we write these pages

A position is credited to a person only from their own byline, newsletter or voice on video. Organization websites are labelled as such, because several contradict their founders. Where we found no clear statement, we say so instead of guessing.

Each topic compares everyone against one plain statement and marks who agrees, partly agrees or disagrees, with the strength of the evidence behind their advice.

This guide summarizes what each person has said in public; it does not recommend any diet. Every position links to its source, to the exact second for videos. Sources checked 2026-10-10.