How To Live Better And More Stress-Free Lives

Guest Bio: Dr. Christopher Mosunic

Dr. Christopher Mosunic is the chief clinical officer for Vida Health, a virtual care platform that treats the whole person – and a whole population – by addressing a full range of chronic conditions and the behavioral health conditions that accompany them. Chris is a national leader in behavioral health, having started and directed numerous behavioral health organizations, most notably leading the first behavioral chronic-condition focused program at Yale New Haven Health-Greenwich Hospital, the behavioral sciences division at Johnson & Johnson, and IAFF Center of Excellence, an inpatient hospital which specifically helps firefighters struggling with behavioral health issues. 

Chris decided to dedicate his career to helping others early on. In Chris’s teenage years, his mothers’ health began to fail. She was stressed, obese, and constantly on the weight gain/loss rollercoaster. Her behavior reminded him of the drug addiction commercials he had seen, but the concept of someone being a ‘food addict’ was decades off. Chris was struggling as well. He was beyond “husky” despite playing hours of soccer every day (still a huge fan). He knew one thing for certain though. He was headed down the same path as his mother if he didn’t figure out what was going on.

Seeing that psychology, eating, and activity levels were somehow at the heart of the problem, he made it his personal mission to understand every aspect of psychology, nutrition, and exercise, never thinking he’d make a career out of it one day. Through high school and college, he followed the typical medical school model path but always gravitated back to the intersection of energy metabolism and psychology. Chris has degrees as a clinical psychologist, registered dietitian, and certified diabetes educator. He also wanted to help as many people as he could, so he went to business school at Yale to learn how to scale. 

All the while, Chris shared what he was learning with his family. His mother was able to reverse her weight and diabetes and is now thriving. Chris works at optimizing his own health every day as well, through running, biking, swimming, or surfing in very chilly waters in coastal Maine, where he lives with his wife and two daughters.