WELCOME TO THE

• Ozark Center for Lifestyle Medicine •

The Ozark Center for Lifestyle Medicine (OCLM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, professional healthcare organization helping people in Arkansas improve their health through effective, lifestyle-related therapeutic modalities.

Our Mission

Our mission is to promote the health of people in Arkansas by empowering individuals and communities to prevent, treat, and reverse disease through personal, effective, and sustainable lifestyle practices.

OCLM is committed to:

Empowering patients and communities to improve their health in personally defined, culturally sensitive, and contextually relevant ways
Drawing from a diverse palate of healthy lifestyle choices
Providing a receptive space in which patients feel seen and heard
Going deeper than symptom management to address the root causes of disease

Working cooperatively with local health care systems and other organizations and institutions to effect change
Choosing evidence-based, scientifically proven therapeutic lifestyle practices
Aiming for outcomes that will last.

Support Us

Lifestyle Medicine

Lifestyle medicine uses evidence-based therapeutic approaches, such as a whole-food, plant-predominant dietary lifestyle, regular physical activity, adequate sleep, stress management, avoiding the use of harmful substances and pursuing other non-drug modalities to treat, reverse and prevent chronic disease.

WHY IS LIFESTYLE MEDICINE IMPORTANT?

In the United States today…

6 out of 10 adults have a chronic disease
4 out of 10 have two or more chronic diseases
34 million Americans live with type 2 diabetes
88 million have pre-diabetes

Unlike the infectious diseases that killed most of our ancestors, Americans are now dying primarily of noncommunicable chronic diseases that are largely the result of the dramatic changes that have occurred in our environment over the past 70 years.

This is most clearly seen in:

The nature of the food we eat and think of as healthy
Our lack of adequate physical activity

Arkansas ranks among the top five states in the U.S. in the prevalence of:

Obesity
Heart disease
Diabetes
Kidney disease

With new discoveries in the realm of epigenetics, we now know that our genes no longer need define our destiny: healthy lifestyle choices can turn unfavorable genes off! Lifestyle medicine can not only prevent new diseases, but when applied as a front-line treatment, can at times even reverse established disease states. By embracing the tenants of lifestyle medicine, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes can all become a thing of the past— given a chance, your body can heal.

Our Team

Karen Gros

Karen Gros is the Executive Director of the Ozark Center for Lifestyle Medicine, a nonprofit dedicated to helping people prevent, halt, and reverse chronic disease through the six pillars of Lifestyle Medicine: nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances, and positive social connection.

A graduate of Loyola Marymount University, Karen holds a Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and eCornell, a Wellness Counseling Certificate from eCornell, and is a Certified Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach and Plant-Based Coach through the Food Revolution Network.

Karen brings over 20 years of hands-on experience translating nutrition science into everyday practice — first as a cooking instructor in Northwest Arkansas, and, after her own health transformation following The Game Changers, as a plant-based educator and coach. She has led wellness cooking classes, immersive lifestyle-medicine retreats, and free community potlucks connecting people to support and each other.

As Executive Director, Karen is committed to expanding access to lifestyle medicine in Northwest Arkansas — building community partnerships, developing programs that reach patients and physicians alike, and continuing the Center's mission of patient-centered, whole-person care.

Our Founder
Cynthia L. Morgan, MD, MPH, FACPM, DipABLM

Cynthia L. Morgan, MD, MPH, founded the Ozark Center for Lifestyle Medicine on Labor Day in 2020 and served as its Executive Medical Director for five years. After having served thirty years as a Preventive Medicine and Public Health specialist in Bangladesh, she was eager to bring the power of prevention to northwest Arkansas to avert needless suffering there as well. To that end, in 2019, she was among the first physicians in Arkansas to become board certified in Lifestyle Medicine and she then started OCLM as a nonprofit organization to bring the good news of the power of Lifestyle Medicine to not only prevent, but to also manage, and even reverse chronic disease.

Dr. Morgan provided intensive lifestyle medicine therapeutic care for patients from March 2021 until December 2025. Her initial patient visits lasted 2-3 hours, and follow up visits were 60-90 minutes to allow ample time for in-depth discussion, follow-up, and motivation. She ran monthly Whole Food Plant-Based (WFPB) potlucks from February 2023 until June 2026, and ran WFPB retreats in Eureka Springs with Chef Karen Gros from April 2024 - April 2026.

Dr. Morgan is deeply grateful that the mission and vision of OCLM will continue under the competent guidance of Karen Gros who had been serving as her Associate Director of Education and who became the Executive Director of OCLM in July 2026.

More about Dr. Morgan

Board of Directors

Callie Embry, MA

Chair
Callie is a graduate student and political science instructor at the University of Arkansas. She is working on a PhD in public policy. She is married to Dr. Travis Embry, and they live in Huntsville where they raised their four children. Callie has a long history of community involvement. She has worked with and for the Madison County Community Coalition, Komen Ozark, Single Parent Scholarship Fund and local public schools and libraries. She has served on the board of directors for the Arkansas Prevention Network and the Madison County Child Development Center. She has also written and received a number of grants related to community development and substance abuse prevention.
Jane Steinkraus, MSN, CSM

Vice-Chair
Jane Steinkraus is a Fayetteville-based healing arts practitioner. She holds a master’s degree in nursing from Yale University and brings decades of experience in gynecological nursing, midwifery, and energy work. In recent years, she has expanded her healing work to focus on ecosystems. She and her husband are currently turning a 40-acre farm into a nature preserve.
Rev. Dr. Georgia Senor

Secretary/Treasurer
Rev. Senor is the Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Bentonville, Arkansas. She holds a bachelors degree in Health Education, and taught high school before entering the ministry. She has served as a hospital chaplain in addition to her work as a pastor. She received her Master of Divinity degree from Phillips Theological Seminary, and her Doctor of Divinity degree from McCormick Theological Seminary. Rev. Senor enjoys spending time in nature and time with her grandchildren.