John Kennedy

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Get to know Cardiologist Dr. John Kennedy, who serves patients in Southern California.

A board-certified cardiologist, Dr. Kennedy is the Medical Director of Preventive Cardiology & Wellness at Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital. His special interest is stress and how it adversely affects our delicate cardiovascular system. He lectures regularly on the subject and has helped companies educate employees on how to manage stress in the workplace.

Based on a large body of literature showing how stress adversely impacts heart health, as well as his own cutting edge research, the doctor created The BREATHE™ Technique to stop stress in its tracks. By combining two time-honored forms of relaxation – guided imagery and breath work – he has created a new paradigm in stress management that, practiced regularly, helps to heal the heart, reduce anxiety, improve coping skills, lower blood pressure, and bolster the immune system.

Back in 1988, Dr. Kennedy graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and earned his medical degree from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth / Brown School of Medicine in 1992. She then went on to complete her residency in internal medicine and his fellowship in cardiovascular disease at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in 1995 and 1998, respectively.

Distinguished as a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC), the doctor attained board certification in cardiovascular disease and internal medicine through the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM). The ABIM is a physician-led, non-profit, independent evaluation organization driven by doctors who want to achieve higher standards for better care in a rapidly changing world.

Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital, he served as Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael, California, where he created the Heart Alert Program—the gold standard nationwide for rapidly and effectively treating heart attack patients. He also was the Co-Director of the Cardiac CT Angiography Program at Kaiser Permanente.

A prolific writer, Dr. Kennedy is the author of The 15 Minute Heart Cure, that shows how stress can harm our cardiovascular system and offers practical, easy ways to dispel stress naturally, without spending a lot of time or money; The Heart Health Bible, where he offers an empowering approach to heart health with H-E-A-R-T, a five-point plan to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease; Healing Your Heart from Inside Out, a guided imagery book for patients undergoing invasive cardiac procedures; and Big Mind, Brave Heart, Bright Future, teaching high school students relationship of stress and heart disease and about power of relaxation therapy.

Cardiology is a branch of medicine that deals with the disorders of the heart, as well as some parts of the circulatory system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease, and electrophysiology. Cardiologists are doctors who diagnose, assess, and treat patients with diseases and defects of the heart and blood vessels (the cardiovascular system).

Throughout his illustrious career, Dr. Kennedy has been the recipient of various honors and distinctions, including the Solomon Scholar Award by UCLA-Harbor Medical Center (1995), Physician of the Year by UCLA-Harbor Medical Center (1995), Laverna Titus Young Investigator Award by UCLA-Harbor Medical Center (1995), America’s Top Cardiologist Award (2006), and Bay Area's Top Doctors Award by Consumers Checkbook (2007).

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