Rochester VegFest

August 24th at Parcel 5 in Downtown Rochester, 10AM-4PM

2024 Speakers:

Rochester VegFest 2024 - Guest Speakers; Dr. Kerry Graff

Dr. Kerry Graff, Medical DirectorRochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute

11:30 am

Dr. Kerry Graff is board-certified in family and lifestyle medicine, spending the first half of her career treating patients with medications and procedures and now dedicating the second half to helping patients adopt healthier habits to address the underlying causes of most chronic disease. She is the co-author of The 4Leaf Guide to Vibrant Health, Using the Power of Food to Heal Ourselves and Our Planet. She is the Medical Director at the Rochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute and provides lifestyle medicine consultations through Love.Life Telehealth.

Sarina Farb, Born Vegan

1:00 pm

Sarina Farb is a holistic vegan educator, TEDx Speaker, and liberation activist working to make the world a better place for all beings. Being born and raised vegan in Kansas taught Sarina to think for herself stand for justice even when it’s unpopular. Today she focuses on combining heart and science to empower people to think critically, see past corporate propaganda, and to live ethically. Sarina is co-founder of the International Vegan Earth Day March, and has given hundreds of lectures and spoken at numerous universities while traveling the country in her vegan camper van. As a former science teacher with a biochemistry and policy studies degree, she is deeply passionate about bringing nuance, ethics, and social justice into conversation about science in society. Her videos and content have reached over million people and been featured in numerous publications and books.

Rochester VegFest 2024 - Guest Speakers; Jim Hicks

Jim Hicks, Planetary Heath Advocate

2:30 pm

In 2004, Jim began referring to our food choices as the most important issue in the history of humanity — having concluded that our future as a species was riding on those choices. In 2009, he earned a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from eCornell and the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies, where he served on the board of directors for six years. Jim realized that in order to preserve the fragile ecosystem that sustains us, we must also begin urgently addressing many other human endeavors that now threaten our civilization and even our long-term survival as a species. His long-term vision began emerging in three books that he has authored:

Healthy Eating, Healthy World (2011)
4Leaf Guide to Vibrant Health (2015) – co-authored with Dr. Kerry Graff
OUTCRY, Urgent Alarms from Our Planet and What We Can Do About Them (2020)

Jim’s work has primarily been aimed at waking up the leaders of the world to the fact that animal agriculture is the leading driver of climate change – and that it is the only driver than can be easily disabled by individual citizens who simply begin choosing plant-based foods that promote both physical and environmental health.

2019 Speakers:

11 am: Dr. Chris Hirschler, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Health and Physical Education at Monmouth University. Chris founded Plants for Peace.
“The Dimensions of Wellness: Lessons from a 20-year vegan journey”
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