Dr. Louis M. Profeta is a nationally recognized, award-winning writer, TED Talk speaker, and Emergency Physician at St. Vincent Hospital of Indianapolis, a level 1 trauma center. He has cared for more than 160,000 patients. He is the best-selling author of the critically acclaimed book The Patient in Room Nine Says He’s God. He is a dynamic and sought-after public speaker and frequent guest on TV and radio. He has gained critical acclaim for his poignant essays and writings for LinkedIn Pulse Magazine on topics such as our national heroin crisis in When the Lion Kills Your Child, end-of-life care in I Know You Love Me Now Let Me Die, and dozens of similar essays. In 2015, 2016, and 2017 he was named LinkedIn Top Voice for readership in health care. His scathingly sarcastic but passionate essay Your Kid and My Kid Aren’t Playing in the Pros was honored as one of the best articles on sports by the Society of Professional Journalism. In 2018, he was honored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists for outstanding contribution to online media. His essays entitled A Sunday Talk on Sex, Drugs, Drinking and Dying and A Very Dangerous Place for a Child is College may be the most read and shared essays in history on the topic of drugs, sexual assault, and alcohol abuse on college campuses, having been read by millions. His 2018 essay I’ll Look at Your Facebook Profile Before I Tell Your Mother You’re Dead has become one of the most read articles in the world on social media.

Following the success of A Sunday Talk on Sex, Drugs, Drinking and Dying, Dr. Profeta has been invited to speak all over the country on this topic. Dr. Profeta has told hundreds of parents their children have been killed over his career and he brings this reality to campuses across America. Some have described this as the most brutal, realistic, and impactful presentation ever given on the topic. He is rapidly becoming recognized as one of the most widely read opinion essayists in America today, including LinkedIn Top Voice in Health Care in 2020. Dr. Profeta is a proud member of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity.

A Sampling of Where He Has Spoken:
Miami of Ohio
Indiana University
University of Missouri
Missouri State University
University of Texas
University of Tennessee
University of Oregon
Purdue University
Arkansas State University
West Virginia University
Rose-Hulman University
Indiana State University
Randolph Macon College
Wabash University
Sigma Alpha Mu National Convention
Theta Chi National Convention
Lambda Chi Alpha National Convention
Phi Gamma Delta National Convention
Pace Academy Atlanta Georgia
University of Arizona
Park Tudor School
Risk Management on the Road Conference

In addition, Dr. Profeta has spoken at numerous high schools, parents’ organizations, fraternities and sororities, and college athletic teams, and major medical conferences on the issues of drugs, alcohol, and sexual assaults on college campuses.
Following the presentations for students, Dr. Profeta stays for question-and-answer sessions, usually with administrators out of the room, in order to give the students an open opportunity to ask questions in a safe environment. The inquiries are chilling and cast a light on where the disconnect is for these students.

• He routinely exposes the gaps in their education in regards to drugs and alcohol.
• Educates them in the actual biology and physiology of these agents.
• Exposes the pitfalls of sharing, mixing, or abusing prescription and over-the-counter medications.
• Educates them to the dangers of edible marijuana compounds.
• Exposes them to personally, criminal, and civil liability risks of just “watching” a friend who is under the influence, underage consumption, DUI, serving alcohol to minors and public intoxication or possession.
• Uncovers the urban myths and legends surrounding these compounds.
• Offers them suggestions in responsible drinking, both for the individual and in a social setting.
• Focuses on the responsibility to each other in ensuring the safety of the group, and the liability and financial pitfalls of hosting a social event involving alcohol.
• Educates the students in regards to the emergence of complex mental health issues in the college setting.
• Discusses hazing and behaviors meant to humiliate or belittle an individual.
• Discusses behaviors that put students at risk of being sexually assaulted or at risk of being a victimizer in their own right.
• Discusses the devastation they will leave in their wake should they be killed or should they have a part in the death of another student.

Obviously, his own career path and experiences, and his ability to connect on their level is a reason this talk works. In addition, with every presentation he exposes the fluid nature and ever-changing risks as new designer drugs hit the streets, or novel delivery methods of alcohol and drug abuse or discovered.

Read his large conference feedback scores and comments by clicking here:
Dr. Louis Profeta Reviews

Real. Tangible. Powerful. Emotional. Blunt.

These are all words fraternity and sorority members have used to describe Dr. Louis Profeta’s lecture.

Dr. Profeta captured the audience within minutes by talking about his article, “A Sunday Talk on Sex, Drugs, Drinking and Dying With Frat Boys,” one of the most read opinion essays in LinkedIn’s history. He is an emergency room physician, instructor of medicine and author of the book, “The Patient in Room Nine Says He’s God.”

Dr. Profeta speaks at fraternity conventions, conferences, and at universities around the country, sharing a perspective 25 years as an ER doctor has given him.

“They will blame you for the death of their child until the day they die,” he explained to the audience. “Are you ready for that?”

In the article — and his lecture — he touches on alcohol, drugs and sexual assault.

“If you have to think about whether or not it’s the right thing to do, then it’s the wrong thing to do.”

Learning Objectives:

1. Students with signs of visible intoxication—especially if they show an inability to protect themselves from harm, speak coherently, walk safely and unaided, or shows any signs of respiratory or mental compromise, fall and suffer any injuries while under the influence—will be brought to a local ER.
2. Students will never share any prescription medications, especially ADHD, pain medications, sleep aids, anti-depressants, or anti-anxiety or allergy medications. There will be zero tolerance for this.
3. No opiates are allowed in the house. Should a student require these medications due to an acute injury, they will need to keep them locked up at all times. A mechanism to ensure these pills will not be stolen should be implemented.
4. Zero tolerance policy for “drinking games”—these should be considered a type of hazing and coercion and are against NIC Alcohol and Drug Policies.
5. Students will be required to seek drug and/or alcohol counseling should it be requested by the governing body.
6. Students will not provide alcohol to anyone showing signs of intoxication.
7. Opiate or sedative abuse is grounds for immediate expulsion.
8. Zero tolerance for sexual abuse.

* At AFLV Central 2022, 75% of students rated this program a 5/5 (loved it). Comments: "Eye opening, gave me chills", "Very insightful and impactful", "Very engaging and powerful speaker", "So emotional and impactful", "Most intense and effective speaker at AFLV".

Three Lessons is an incredibly moving and heart wrenching tour through the world of medicine and the obligations doctors have to society outside of the walls of their hospitals, just as the fraternity/sorority community has obligations to their local community and has global impact. It has been described by many as the single most powerful lecture they have ever experienced and for many has helped them recaptured their passion and purpose. It will leave you breathless.

Objectives:

1. To help fraternity and sorority students expand their educational footprint outside the campus.
2. To show the role social media plays in education.
3. To help students understand their influence in their community.
4. To understand the role of cooperative efforts across all of Greek Life.
5. To understand the role of student dialogue in opening new campus initiatives.
6. To reinvigorate Greek Life as to the incredible stories that exist within our community and how that appreciation will help decrease student burnout.
7. To give a lecture that will shake you to the core, elevate your spirit to new heights and leave you saying…HOLY COW, THIS CHANGED MY LIFE.

This is the lecture that will make your students, cry, laugh and stand up and cheer.

No parent sends their child off to college thinking that they will never see them again or that this simple right of passage into a fraternity or sorority may be the door that leads their child to a lifetime of substance abuse or mental health related issues. Dr. Profeta has spent more than three decades as an Emergency Physician in a Level 1 trauma center, and serves on the board of Forensics for the City of Indianapolis. He is also a highly acclaimed writer, one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Health Care and is one of the most read essayists in America today. He spends much of his non-clinical time traveling America and speaking on college campuses to students, offering them guidance in navigating a complicated world of drug, alcohol and mental health topics. Dr. Profeta also spends time with many parent groups, often featured in publications and podcasts such as Your Teen Magazine, helping parents of college bound students navigate these complicated issues.

In this unique program and format Dr. Profeta takes part in a question and answer session with a moderator, such as the National Fraternity or Sorority CEO or Campus Safety Officer, while simultaneously fielding questions from parents in real time. Questions like what drugs are my kids abusing? What if they need to be on adderall? How do I teach them responsible drinking? What is the harm of casual marijuana use? How do I guide my kid to make good decisions, not get hazed, or become a victim of sexual abuse or even a victimizer? How do I know if they are mature enough for college? How do I get their friends to reach out to me if they are worried about my child? How can I tell if they are suffering? What safeguards can I put in place before they go to school? These are the questions that parents want answered.

This is the ideal format for Greek Communities wanting to get parents involved early to help ensure there is a safe and responsible transition to adulthood and personal responsibility. The brothers and sisters of the Greek system, while an extended family of sorts, never replaces the students' real mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, those who stand the most to lose if their child or sibling dies. This talk attacks this reality head on through the eyes of a physician who has told countless parents their children have been killed. It will be the most impactful two hours of learning that many of these parents will ever experience. It will also help your organization build stronger roots that extend well beyond the student’s membership.

Learning Objectives:

1. Making sure that fraternities and sororities are on the same page as parents when it comes to dealing with students in crisis.
2. Ease the ability of parents to get their child help.
3. Open pipelines of communications with parents and Greek leadership.
4. Making clear the expectations and responsibility of the student is first and foremost to their own health and welfare before anything Greek and that parents are the most important cog in helping to achieve this realization.
5. Helping parents understand that the Greek System is in no way a substitute for the strong foundation of home, instead it is that foundation of love of family and personal responsibility that we want brought to the Greek system and that begins at home.