American Council on Exercise (ACE) has named Natalie Digate Muth, MD, MPH, RD, FAAP, to the position of Healthcare Solutions Director. Dr. Muth will bolster ACE’s efforts to help make health coaches, personal trainers, group fitness instructors and advanced health and fitness specialists play a more central role in a healthcare system that is increasingly focused on cost-effective primary prevention. Dr. Muth joins ACE as a full-time senior-level employee following years of service to the organization as a consultant and subject-matter expert.
“ACE is very serious about securing an invitation for the professionals we certify and serve to the broader healthcare table,” said Scott Goudeseune, the president and CEO of ACE. “Dr. Muth will play a critical role in our efforts to prepare well-qualified, ACE-certified health and fitness professionals to contribute to the prevention and treatment of obesity and its co-morbidities. And she’ll be pivotal to our work to evolve the systems and environments that are shaping the nation’s response to the obesity epidemic so that our profession may contribute in a far more integral, substantive way.”
“As the medical community and the U.S. healthcare system shift towards the delivery of value-based and patient-centered care, NCCA-certified health and fitness professionals can play an important role in helping patients live their most fit, healthy lives,” said Dr. Muth. “Too often, our professionals are missing from the prescription for better health. ACE intends to change that.”
Dr. Muth is a board-certified pediatrician at Pediatric Medical Associates in Vista, Calif., a registered dietitian, board-certified specialist in sports dietetics and an ACE-certified health coach. The author of “Eat Your Vegetables!” and Other Mistakes Parents Make: Redefining How to Raise Healthy Eaters, she is widely recognized for her expertise in nutrition, fitness and obesity prevention and treatment. Dr. Muth has been an ACE-certified professional since 1998 and was a senior healthcare strategist for ACE prior to her promotion.
