Our Get Fit San Francisco Experts

Aleah Mainzer is a physical therapist and fitness health coach for the Personal Health Coach Program in the Health Education Department at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco. She works collaboratively, designing personalized coaching plans to help people meet their fitness, weight loss, and wellness goals. Mainzer is also a certified comprehensive pilates instructor and offers an introduction to pilates in the Personal Health Coach Program.

Ashley Fortenberry is a registered dietician and health educator at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco, providing nutrition education to individuals and groups, including nutrition education for physicians, work-site wellness, pediatrics, oncology, pregnancy, diabetes, renal disease, mindful eating, and eating disorders. She enjoys working with people to effectively motivate behavioral change, taking into account individual needs and equipping them to make informed nutritional choices and build their own path to wellness.

Brian Soo is a senior physical therapist at the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center who works inpatient, outpatient, and in sports medicine.  A recreational runner for many years, Brian also bicycles, plays racquetball, and most importantly, paddles on a 20-person Dragon Boat team that competes internationally and practices three times a week. He also enjoys active video games and believes they can be an excellent complement to an overall fitness regime.

Heather D'Eliso Gordon is a Nutrition Health Coach and Sports Dietitian in the Health Education department of Kaiser Permanente San Francisco. A certified specialist in sports dietetics, Heather works with both recreational and competitive athletes to create optimal nutrition plans that support their fitness goals. She also provides nutrition coaching to Kaiser Permanente patients pursuing weight loss goals or coping with diabetes, high cholesterol, celiac disease, and other conditions.

Veteran marathon runner Jodi Thirtyacre works for Kaiser Permanente as the manager of the Department of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology at the San Francisco Medical Center. Jodi began running when she was only nine and ran track in high school. She kept up her regimen in college and ran her first marathon at 21. Jodi is the captain of Kaiser Permanente's teams for the Half Marathon and 5K.

Kristine Lee, MD, is Assistant Chief of Medicine, Population Care and Chief of Chronic Conditions Management at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center. Her special interests are health maintenance and disease prevention. A mother of two, Dr. Lee prioritizes the health and fitness of her family by making sure they do plenty of outdoors activities together. Her fitness activity of choice is Les Mills BodyPump workout classes. Born and raised in Honolulu, Dr. Lee attended medical school at the University of Hawaii and trained part-time at Kaiser Permanente Honolulu before joining the staff of Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center.

Linda Shiue, MD, is a primary care doctor and professionally trained chef who believes that the best medicine is prevention, based upon a healthy lifestyle. As Director of Culinary Medicine at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, she is developing a teaching kitchen to empower patients with a new set of skills and knowledge to improve their health and wellness--nutrition applied through cooking skills. Classes are offered through the Health Education Department at (415) 833-3450. In addition to seeing patients, Dr. Shiue offers cooking demonstrations and hands-on workshops in which students learn to prepare seasonal produce lavishly flavored with spices and fresh herbs. Her food writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Remedy Quarterly, Salon, Culinate, and online editions of The New York Times and Smithsonian Magazine. She also has her own website, Spiceboxtravels.com.

Lisa Chui, MD is the program director for Physician Health and Wellness and is an internal medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco.  A native San Franciscan who attended Lowell High School and the University of California at Berkeley, she graduated with honors from medical school and residency and currently resides in San Francisco with her husband. Dr. Chui keeps fit with the Bar Method, relaxes by playing the piano, and encourages her patients to make choices that maximize their health and wellness.

Melanie Haiken writes about health, wellness and fitness for national magazines and websites. She specializes in discovering and reporting the latest research on diet, nutrition, fitness, weight loss and other health-related topics. Her award-winning stories have appeared in Fitness, Shape, Health, Forbes, and other respected magazines. She also contributes health stories to numerous Kaiser Permanente newsletters and other publications.