Dr. Blair O’Neill, MD
Dr. Blair O’Neill, MD, is part of the Diet Doctor low-carb expert panel.
Dr. O’Neill has been a practicing cardiologist since 1990. Health care leadership experience includes Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory of the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax. He went on to become Chief of the Division of Cardiology at the QEII Health Sciences Centre. In 2008 he was recruited as Division Director for the University of Alberta, Division of Cardiology and for the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute. In 2012, he became Senior Medical Director for the Cardiovascular Health and Stroke Strategic Clinical Network for Alberta Health Services, and in 2015 became the Associate Chief Medical Officer for all Strategic Clinical Networks in the province of Alberta.
Nationally, he served on Council of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) from 1995 until 2000, and on its Executive from 2008-2012, serving as President of the Society between 2010-2012. He served as Chair of the Access to Care Committee for the CCS and was instrumental in setting the targets for cardiovascular services and procedures, which have been adopted nationally. He also chaired the CCS’ Quality Initiative, which established common data-definitions for cardiovascular registries in Canada, as well as the initiative to define national quality indicators for cardiovascular conditions. He also served as Chair of the Quality Collaborative for the Canadian Medical Association.
Always physically active as a runner and “bootcamper”, Dr. O’Neill has practiced a low carbohydrate lifestyle for 3 years, losing and easily sustaining a 25 lbs. weight loss. He has become a member of the Obesity Medicine Association in the USA and is a regular at many of the low carb-high fat diet meetings. He has researched the literature and is convinced that our dietary guidelines have lead to the pandemic of obesity and diabetes around the world. Fat has never been proven to be harmful. However, sugars and highly processed foods are the culprit. Dr. O’Neill has become medical advisor to a company dedicated to helping patients adopt a low carb lifestyle, Ketocule Health Coaching, based in Edmonton, Alberta.
Potential conflicts of interest
Dr. Blair O’Neill is a medical advisor to Ketocule Health Coaching.