Greenville, N.C. – The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) has named ECU Health the recipient of the 2026 Special Recognition Award for Health System Innovation. The award recognizes organizations that are advancing the practice of lifestyle medicine through visionary leadership, innovation and a commitment to transforming health care delivery.
“In eastern North Carolina, we see every day how conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease affect the health and quality of life of our patients and communities,” said Dr. Dave Michael, medical director, ECU Health Lifestyle Medicine. “Lifestyle medicine gives us an opportunity to address those challenges more holistically by looking beyond a diagnosis to the factors that influence a person’s overall health to help patients make meaningful, sustainable changes that improve their health and, in many cases, reduce the impact of chronic disease. We are honored to be nationally recognized for the important work our teams do every day to meet ECU Health’s mission to improve the health and well-being of eastern North Carolina.”
ECU Health’s Lifestyle Medicine program helps patients build healthier lives through six pillars of healthy living: healthy eating that emphasizes whole, plant-based foods; increased physical activity; stress management; avoiding risky substances; improved sleep; and forming and maintaining relationships. Each care plan is shaped around the individual patient’s goals and needs, with support from a multidisciplinary team.
In selecting ECU Health, ACLM cited ECU Health’s emergence as a national model for integrating evidence-based lifestyle medicine within a large health system through multidisciplinary care, innovative programming, strategic technology integration and a steadfast focus on patient outcomes. As a founding member of the ACLM Health Systems Council, ECU Health helps bring health systems together to share implementation strategies, best practices and scalable approaches for integrating lifestyle medicine throughout patient care.
ACLM highlighted ECU Health’s partnership in its Lifestyle Empowerment Approach for Diabetes Remission (LEADR) initiative, in which ECU Health helped pilot and refine a scalable diabetes remission model designed for real-world clinical settings. The health system has also integrated lifestyle medicine tools and assessments into its Epic electronic health record workflows, creating practical pathways for clinicians to bring behavior-change support into routine patient care. ACLM also recognized ECU Health’s exploration of artificial intelligence and clinical informatics as a forward-thinking approach to advancing care delivery while remaining grounded in the core principles of lifestyle medicine.
“We are incredibly proud of this team and the thoughtful, compassionate work they do to support patients across eastern North Carolina,” said Brenda Leigh, director of Lifestyle Medicine at ECU Health. “This award reflects years of collaboration and a shared commitment to making lifestyle medicine practical, accessible and meaningful for the people we serve. Most importantly, it recognizes a team that comes to work every day focused on helping patients achieve their health goals.”
Dr. Michael accepted the award on behalf of ECU Health during Lifestyle Medicine 2026, ACLM’s annual conference held Nov. 8-11 in Orlando.