Carlon Colker
As a published clinical researcher authoring a number of journal publications, Colker is also credited with numerous lay-press articles and books.
He has served as board member, product developer, and/or spokesman for other companies including Microsoft, Hanes, Nielsen Corporation, Summit International (KK), American Media, GNC, Health Sciences (HESG—Chairman Scientific Advisory Board), LifeVantage, Atlas Therapeutics, ITV Ventures, Cytodyne Technologies, Muscletech Research and Development, Metabolife International Vital Basics, FairwayMarkets, R Baby Foundation.
His father, Edward Colker, was a graduate of New York University, a lithographer, a maker of rare hand-bound books, and a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient.
In January 1996 he established Peak Wellness, a company with locations in Greenwich, Connecticut and Beverly Hills, California that provides integrative medical services.
[24] Colker also serves as a faculty member (clinical assistant professor of medicine in neurology) at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.
The premise of the show was to use proper diet and exercise to turn around the unhealthy eating and lifestyle habits that led six school-age kids to morbid obesity.
Shaq's long-time "personal physician and trainer", Colker served as the shows "medical advisor" for the series as set out "…to attack the ongoing obesity epidemic among children and help promote health and fitness over the gamut of American kids."
With a focus on protecting children from violent criminals, Colker actively served Bedford County Sheriff's Office Special Investigations Division in Bedford County Virginia working in the field as Task Force Sharpshooter and later as Deputy Lieutenant for Blue Ridge Thunder Internet Crimes Against Children.
[47] But Colker has published peer-reviewed studies on a number of other weight-loss substances including citrus aurantium, pyruvate, and guggulsterone.
[50][51] He is also published on a number of other subjects including research on a "milk-based bioactive micronutrient beverage on pain symptoms and activity of adults with osteoarthritis…[52].. as well as studies on "whey protein" consumption for athletes and editorial expose on the controversies of using "soy".
[53] Colker's clinical research in human performance and exercise examined "the effects of full versus parallel squats"on muscle stimulation in athletes.
[55] On January 25, 2024 the Wall Street Journal reported that Plaintiff Janel Grant, a former employee of WWE filed suit in Federal Court against the WWE and specifically their then Executive Chairman and majority owner, Vincent McMahon, for, among other accusations, that she was the victim of physical, emotional abuse, and sexual assault, as well as sex trafficking.
[56] Mr. McMahon responded that Ms. Grant’s accusations were replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and was a vindictive distortion of the truth.
[58] After her filing against Colker, global news sources ran with the story, publishing statements such as “Accuser Says WWE Doctor Paid To Give Her Mystery Drugs” [59] On August 6, 2024, in response to Grant’s allegations, Colker filed suit against Grant claiming Grant had engaged in a smear campaign against Colker and the entire staff at Peak Wellness in order to bolster her well-publicized allegations concerning alleged sex trafficking and sexual assault by WWE, Vincent McMahon, and another, John Laurinaitis.
[76] In May 2003, a California Superior Court judge handed down a $12.5 million judgment in a class action suit against Cytodyne Technologies for falsely advertising Xenadrine RFA-1, the product implicated in the death of Bechler.
Journalists for The New York Times commenting on Cytodyne research noted that the legal case raised "serious questions about the way makers of ephedra and other dietary supplements use -- and often misuse -- the promise of scientific proof to market their products".
[72] Looking at the very same facts of the case, but this time in Federal Court in front of United States District Judge Dale A. Kimball, Utah-based company Basic Research sued Cytodyne Technologies, Inc. for fraud primarily alleging Dr. Colker or Peak Wellness manipulated data and deliberately destroyed documents to "cover-up" their collusion to produce a favorable, albeit false, study in order to supposedly give Cytodyne the results it wanted.
Significantly, Basic Research offered no evidence that the protocol, methodology, design or implementation of the Peak Wellness Study was contrary to accepted standards for clinical trials.
In the end, Judge Kimball concluded "there was nothing presented to the Court that supported such a finding or that even suggested that any of Basic Research's allegations were true" and that Dr. Colker and Peak Wellness were both "competent and reliable" in providing Cytodyne with "an adequate and well controlled clinical trial, conducted on human beings, evaluated in an objective manner by persons qualified to do so, and it used procedures generally accepted to yield accurate and reliable results".
[77] During 2003, Colker was named as a defendant in lawsuits filed in Missouri, West Virginia, and Illinois in connection with his involvement in the research and marketing of Hydroxycut and Xenadrine RFA-1.
[81] Colker served as a researcher and television spokesperson for "V-Factor" (a combination of yohimbine, L-arginine, and Ginkgo biloba), a dietary supplement marketed by Vital Basics, Inc. of Portland, Maine as a men's sexual performance enhancer.
In 2004, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission registered a complaint against Vital Basics and its owners[82][83] alleging, in part, that the company's advertising of V-Factor violated Federal law; specifically, that the company made unsubstantiated claims about V-Factor's safety; falsely represented that a clinical study of V-Factor conducted by Colker proved that the product was safe and effective; and misrepresented paid commercial advertising featuring Colker (Vital Basics Health Show radio infomercials) as independent radio programs.
The defendants settled the FTC's complaint by paying $1 million, which did not include Colker, for consumer redress and agreeing not to make unsubstantiated claims in the future.
[84][85] In 2008, Colker made news headlines after advising actor Jeremy Piven to prematurely withdraw from David Mamet's Broadway play Speed-the-Plow due to concerns of alleged mercury poisoning from consuming excessive amounts of sushi and Chinese herbal supplement products.
As part of that decision on page 36 of the official transcript released by The New York Times, Arbitrator George Nicolau specifically stated the following regarding Colker: "Despite the Producer's attempt to attack the integrity of Dr. Colker, I have no doubt he was acting in good faith and that his opinion, not grounded solely on Piven's subjective reports of his condition but further supported by his own observations and examinations, was based on medical analysis unaffected by personal considerations.
"[89] SEC documents filed by the manufacturer (MYOS Corp.; dba Atlas Therapeutics until May 2012), indicate that the product consists of a powder isolated from the yolk of fertilized chicken eggs.
[36][90][91][92] As a "bodybuilder and physician who works with athletes" Colker is a cognized expert in the field of myostatin research as it pertains to sports.
In an article in 2013 NPR interview, Colker expressed concern that myostatin inhibition will be abused by athletes in which their sport specifically bans these substances.
[90][91][94] In further exchange for the intellectual property asset pertaining to MYO-T12 including the formula, certain trademarks, trade secrets, patent applications and certain domain names, Colker's company, Peak Wellness, Inc., was also paid 7,024,000 shares of common stock.
