Internal medicine was Dr. Ornish's specialty at Baylor College of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Massachusetts General Hospital. His work has appeared in prestigious medical journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, and The New England Journal of Medicine. His work has appeared on the covers of Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News & World Report. News & World Report is a news organization based in the United States.

He has won various honors, including the University of Texas at Austin's Distinguished Young Alumni Award in 1994 and the University of California at Berkeley's National Public Health Hero Award. Dr. Ornish is the Huffington Post's medical editor, and his TED speeches have been viewed by over 5 million people. He was named one of the 50 most important people of his generation by Life magazine and one of the world's seven most powerful teachers by Forbes magazine. He is the author of six national bestsellers. Dr. Ornish and his children, Lucas (Luke) and Jasmine (Jazz), live in the San Francisco area with his wife and partner, Anne.