Mark Liponis, M.D. Appointed To Newly Created Position Of Canyon Ranch Corporate Medical Director

TUCSON, AZ - June 20, 2003 - Jerry Cohen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Canyon Ranch, the leading operator of health resort properties, announced the promotion of Mark Liponis, M.D. to the newly created position of Canyon Ranch Corporate Medical Director. Dr. Liponis has been serving as co-medical director of Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires, the company’s health resort located in Lenox, Massachusetts, since 1995. Dr. Liponis will continue to serve as co-medical director at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires. He will be based in Lenox.

According to Jerry Cohen, the Corporate Medical Director position was developed to further expand and advance the company’s cutting edge health and medical offerings at Canyon Ranch Health Resort properties in Tucson and Lenox, as well as future Canyon Ranch health and medical facilities.

“Canyon Ranch has always been dedicated to giving people a healthy, active vacation experience that rejuvenates their mind, body and spirit, and gets them started on a healthier lifestyle track,” said Jerry Cohen. “We do this by offering a comprehensive curriculum of services and activities that promote and inspire healthy living. While our Health Resorts have been offering health and medical services since we opened in 1979 -- we also offer fitness and spiritual fitness classes and seasonal outdoor activities such as hiking, biking, tennis, swimming, canoeing and skiing. We serve the finest, freshest cuisine that is low in fat and calories and moderate in portion sizes. We offer dozens of therapeutic body and skin care treatments, and we have a medical team second to none.”

“The medicine practiced at Canyon Ranch is above and beyond what any other wellness clinic or health spa in the world offers,” says Dr. Liponis. “This superior quality is a result of the exceptional talent and dedication of the doctors and nurses at Canyon Ranch and our integrated approach of treating the entire person, not just their symptoms. Canyon Ranch’s educational component is top-notch. We have an array of health and wellness workshops, classes and consultations all designed to help our guests take what they learn here home with them. I’m very enthusiastic about the additional momentum this new position will provide to Canyon Ranch’s Medical Department and to Canyon Ranch as a whole as we work to establish the nation’s finest ‘healthy living university.’”

Unmatched in depth and scope, Canyon Ranch has assembled the finest medical professionals all in one setting. These experts are highly trained, board-certified, skilled practitioners, specializing in a wide variety of preventive and diagnostic medicine in areas including women’s health, sexual health, internal medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, psychoneuroimmunology, musculoskeletal/sports medicine, weight loss, stress reduction, genomics, cardiovascular disease, gerontology, functional and sleep medicine, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, behavioral modification and lifestyle intervention.

Canyon Ranch’s distinguished physicians work closely with staff Ph.D. clinical psychologists, master’s-level nutritionists and exercise physiologists, movement and neuromuscular therapists, registered nurses, physical therapists, chiropractors, podiatrists and specialists in holistic and complementary medicines to combine the best of Western and non-Western medical practices.

Canyon Ranch is the only facility of its kind to be accredited for continuing medical education for physicians and nurses. Medical professionals from all over the world come to Canyon Ranch to learn the latest in preventive and integrated health care. Canyon Ranch has a proven track record of helping people overcome health problems by promoting healthy lifestyle choices and habits. This approach continues to produce positive results for conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and asthma.

Dr. Liponis is Board Certified in Internal Medicine. He holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and a Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Liponis completed his specialty training in Internal Medicine at Berkshire Medical Center, where he focused on critical care medicine, cardiology and gastroenterology.

Prior to joining Canyon Ranch, Dr. Liponis worked for four years in emergency medicine. Before that, he founded and developed a successful preventive health and weight loss program at his private practice in Internal and Critical Care Medicine in Butte, Montana, which he directed for seven years.

Dr. Liponis and co-medical director at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires Mark Hyman, M.D. are the authors of the soon to be released book, “Ultraprevention: The Six-Week Plan That Will Make You Healthy for Life;” (Scribner/September 2003.)

Mel and Enid Zuckerman founded the original Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Tucson, Arizona in 1979. Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires Health Resort opened in Lenox, Massachusetts in 1989. Canyon Ranch SpaClub, a 65,000-square-foot health spa, wellness and fitness facility, opened at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1999. In 2001, Canyon Ranch announced it will design and operate a Canyon Ranch SpaClub facility on board the Queen Mary 2. In 2002, Canyon Ranch opened a SpaClub facility at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Kissimmee, Florida.

> Back to Press Releases