Riva L. Rahl MD

Dr. Riva Rahl is the Medical Director of the Cooper Wellness Program at the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas. She is also a staff physician at the Cooper Clinic and is double-boarded in Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine. Dr. Rahl speaks to groups on many health-related topics, including preventive medicine, cardiovascular risk reduction, women's health, wellness, lifestyle modification and fitness. She most definitely practices what she preaches, leading a healthy lifestyle through proper nutrition and exercise, and encourages others to do the same. Just six months after giving birth to her second son, she won the Fort Worth Cowtown Marathon.
Dr. Rahl has been interviewed and quoted in numerous publications, including Businessweek, Consumer Reports on Health, Prevention, AARP Bulletin, Baby Dallas, The Dallas Morning News and several websites including Bella Online and Travelmuse.com. She has appeared as a health expert on Fox4 Good Day, and several local evening news reports (The 33 News and ABC affiliates). Additionally, she has been a featured guest expert on live radio programming. She is the author of Physical Activity and Health: Guidelines Throughout the Life Cycle, currently in press by Human Kinetics. She is a national caliber distance runner, having won four major marathons and numerous shorter races. She was the subject of a Nike ad campaign for the 2003 Boston Marathon.
In her undergraduate program at Rice University, Dr. Rahl double majored in biochemistry and exercise science/exercise physiology. While at Rice, she was a four-year letterwinner in Cross Country and Track and Field, serving as the captain her senior year. She also competed in the 1994 NCAA Cross Country Championships and was a member of the 1994 Southwest Conference Champion team--the first such championship at Rice in 29 years! She earned her medical degree (1999) from University of California San Francisco School of Medicine and returned to Texas for her internal medicine internship and residency at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) in Dallas. From 2002 to summer 2005, Dr. Rahl completed a residency in emergency medicine at UTSW, serving as Chief Resident the final year. She is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Emergency Medicine. She is married and has two young sons, Evan and Reagan.