Lifestyle Medicine is the new global medical discipline considered the seventh era of public health ^{(1) (2)}. In 2004, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in the United States of America (https://www.lifestylemedicine.org/) was founded. In Europe, the European Organization for Lifestyle Medicine was created (https://www.eulm.org/). Since 2014 the Latin American Association of Lifestyle Medicine (http://lalma.co/) has been working in more than 12 countries in the region. Currently, Lifestyle Medicine is present in the five continents.

The need to generate programs and educational models in Lifestyle Medicine, according to the advances in the USA and Europe, arises in Latin America.

Ricardo Palma University is a pioneer and leads the educational and research activities in Lifestyle Medicine in Peru and Latin America. Several events, symposia, national and international congresses, conferences and workshops have been organized for the medical and health sciences community.

In this context, we developed a visionary proposal for the creation of the Chair of Lifestyle Medicine at the Ricardo Palma University, with the aim of strengthening educational and research activities from the university, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and aimed at improving the health and quality of life of university students, teachers and workers, as well as programs aimed at the community.

In October 2019, the Ricardo Palma University, creates the first Chair of Lifestyle Medicine in Peru and possibly Latin America, by University Council Agreement: No 2384-2019.

The importance and significance of the First Chair of Lifestyle Medicine lies in the fact that it takes an innovative concept in medical sciences: Lifestyle Medicine, as a scientific approach (evidence-based medicine), takes the best of Preventive Medicine and brings it closer to the clinical reality and decision making in public health in a practical way, changes the paradigm of advanced disease and symptom management and directs it to the prevention and treatment, control and reversal of the disease ^{(2) (3)}. The concept of "disease reversal" breaks previous paradigms and opens enormous possibilities to attack and reverse the real causes of diseases: the habits and environmental factors ^{(3) (4)}.

Two additional features are fundamental, Lifestyle Medicine, grows as a solution to drastically reduce the growing and unviable costs of the health system, offering a sustainable approach, cost effective, and without the adverse effects of Library of the United States, we can find more than 60,000 scientific articles product of investigation, published in the best magazines ⁽⁵⁾. The Ricardo Palma University, leading this initiative, promoted the "Consortium of Latin American Universities with Lifestyle Medicine", to date two universities in coordination and following our example are creating their own chairs, the Autonomous University of Baja California in Mexico and the Inter-American Open University in Argentina.

Other universities such as the University of Montemorelos and UAP have already incorporated specific subjects of Lifestyle Medicine into their study programs. There is still a long way to go, we will continue to work from the universities and together with the scientific societies to improve the health of the Peruvian and Latin American population, as well as the incorporation of Lifestyle Medicine in the curricula of undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical education.


Recommended link: https://youtu.be/2x-eZZXpBSU

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Correspondence: Jhony A. De La Cruz Vargas.
Address: INICIB, Facultad de Medicina Humana, Edificio I-208. 2do piso. Avenida Benavides 5440, Surco, Lima-Perú.
Phone: 708-0000 / Annex: 6016
Email: hony.delacruz@urp.edu.pe

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