About Us
CATHERINE DIVINGIAN, MD, PHD
Chief Medical Officer of Tier 1 Performance Institute
Captain (Medical Corps), US Army Reserve
CMO OF TIER 1 PERFORMANCE INSTITUTE
Dr. Catherine Divingian is the Chief Medical Officer of Tier 1 Performance Institute. She is also its co-founder. Her primary coaching services are focused on regenerative medicine and anti-aging, as well as health psychology. Having been through a range of debilitating health conditions, some of which led to the use of a cane and wheelchair, Dr. Divingian had to face years of incredible hardships. But after overcoming her physical and psychological limitations, she became driven to share her experience and knowledge through the Institute she helped to found.
SKILL SETS IN MEDICINE, PSYCHOLOGY, HEALTH, AND FITNESS
Dr. Divingian has been a lifelong student and teacher in a wide range of eclectic fields. She is a licensed physician who specializes in internal and emergency medicine. She holds a PhD in Health Psychology, an MS in Pharmaceutical Sciences, and an MBA in Global Entrepreneurship. She has also earned several certifications as a sports nutritionist and strength and conditioning specialist. Prior to her current vocation, she served in academia as a university professor with nearly three decades of experience. A true leader in the health and wellness industry, she has a passion for helping dedicated people to reach their highest levels of personal achievement. Together, her extensive education and experience make her an innovative powerhouse as a coaching specialist.
AUTHOR AND CO-AUTHOR OF NUMEROUS PUBLICATIONS
Dr. Catherine Divingian is the author and co-author of several life-changing books, including Optimizing Combat Readiness in Female Military Personnel; The Spartan Diva: The Ultimate Get Lean Diet Plan; Real Talk, Real Women; and When You are Stuck in a Rut. She was also published in EM Resident (“Firefighter Down!”: Sudden Cardiac Events and Risk Mitigation for Emergency First Responders); Fitness & Physique magazine (Going Beyond Fat-Loss); and Navy Medicine journal (Leading Fitness), among others.
LIFELONG PASSION FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
Since the 1990s, Dr. Divingian served in various academic roles as a professor and research scientist. Her investigations have spanned the medical-health spectrum and included innovative proposals on wearable battlefield triage sensors and cardiac stress-detection devices; improved policies for female combat readiness; rapid community response to medical disaster; post-traumatic stress syndrome and delayed wound healing; the effects of aspartame on the brain; complex post-traumatic stress syndrome in first responders; the physiology of diabetes; and sudden cardiac events in firefighters. Always searching for innovative ways to enhance care and tap into peak performance, Dr. Divingian never stops.
MEDICALLY TRAINED MILITARY VETERAN
Formerly a Medical Service Corps officer in the U.S. Navy, Dr. Divingian conducted research in operational medicine and telemedicine; produced educational materials on radiation safety; and led disaster medicine drills on the USNS Mercy. She served as a project manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida where she implemented the Value Incentive Program for physicians and developed patient educational materials on diabetes. She currently serves part-time as an Army Reserve physician.
Dr. Divingian believes in leading from the front as an inspiring example of health and vitality. As a military veteran, she is committed to educating and coaching first responders and tactical professionals, propelling them to new levels of peak achievement. She also enjoys working with business executives who recognize the value of military-inspired devotion and are motivated to channel their focused drive towards maximum physical and psychological performance.
DARIUS CREED
Chief Executive Officer of Tier 1 Performance Institute
Sergeant (Infantry), US Army National Guard
CEO OF TIER 1 PERFORMANCE INSTITUTE
Darius Creed has devoted most of his life to investigating exercise science, nutrition science, performance psychology, and other spheres of human potential. His lifelong research and application compelled him to unite these complimentary areas into a peak-performance center known as the Tier 1 Performance Institute, a company he co-founded with Dr. Catherine Divingian. As the CEO, he serves as the company’s Master Trainer and Lead Coach. Dedicated to helping people unlock their hidden strengths, the attention and service he provides his clients are second to none.
ADVANCED EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE IN HEALTH AND FITNESS
Creed has been a health and fitness coach for more than two decades. Back in 2000, he first started volunteering coaching services to U.S. Marines to enhance their physical performance. Over the years, Creed has provided training, classes, and consultation to hundreds of people from a wide range of backgrounds, with male and female clients ranging from teenagers to senior citizens.
In 2007, Creed obtained his first certification as a personal trainer. In that same year, he participated in the international military-wide Crews Into Shape contest and led an eight-person team that collectively lost 56.5 lbs. of weight. His group had the distinct honor of being first-place winners out of hundreds of teams composed of thousands of competitors.
Formerly an ACE-certified Personal Trainer and USAW-certified Sports Performance Coach, he continues to maintain his certification as a Tactical Strength and Conditioning Facilitator with the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). In addition to his fitness certifications, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Health Science and graduated with honors (summa cum laude). Moreover, he has nearly completed his second master’s degree, which is in Sport (Performance) Psychology, the study of psychological performance. The combination of these complementary qualifications demonstrates skill sets ideally suited to athletes, emergency medical responders, tactical personnel, physique competitors, business executives, and anyone driven to the highest levels of personal transformation.
INNOVATIVE MEDICAL INVESTIGATOR
Creed’s coaching, while focused primarily on diet, exercise, and mindset, has repeatedly led to surprising health outcomes beyond his clients’ expectations, including complete reversals in conditions such as tendinopathy, osteoporosis, chondromalacia patellae, hypertension, pre-diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, osteoarthritis, degenerative disc disease, cellular agglutination, urinary tract infections, and stage-3 chronic kidney disease—often accompanied with supportive medical documentary evidence.
In 2012, Creed disclosed his microscopic before/after blood analyses to the Human Performance Laboratory of the Naval Special Warfare Group 2 Training Detachment and revealed definitive proof of the adverse agglutinating effects of gluten on red blood cells. In another example with the same military unit, he contacted the head physical rehabilitation specialist and shared his investigation of platelet-rich plasma (PRP), which at the time was a relatively obscure method to address tendon degeneration, a technique that was quickly adopted as a significant treatment modality for injured members of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (SEAL Team Six). His success with natural healing is directly correlated with his commitment to scientific research and unconventional medical investigation.
Before-and-after images of Creed’s red blood cells in response to specific dietary changes
SPECIALIST IN PEAK PERFORMANCE AND BODY LANGUAGE
Many personal trainers and dietary consultants approach coaching almost entirely from a physical level. Consequently, they often fail to recognize or influence the hidden X factor that makes the greatest difference in obtaining rapid and lifelong results. Creed has made it his personal mission—and obsession—to unlock the greatest yet most overlooked component to personal transformation, the mind!
In addition to his studies on performance psychology, Creed invested a comparable span of time in the field of body language. In conjunction with his own extensive research, he has received training and expert-level certification in facial microexpressions by the Paul Ekman Group and body-language and interviewing techniques from the Public Agency Training Council. Creed’s advanced communication skills and psychological techniques allow him to understand his client’s needs, read subtle non-verbal cues, and modulate his coaching to avoid injury and influence maximum performance. The results are rarely anything but life-changing.
MEDICALLY TRAINED MILITARY VETERAN
A formerly certified and state-licensed Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and a Fleet Marine Force Corpsman (combat medic), Creed has over 14 years of training and experience in military trauma field medicine. During his active-duty tenure, he devoted nearly five years attached to several infantry combat units with the 2nd Marines, 2nd Marine Division; and has been deployed to several high-risk locations in the Middle East where he participated in various missions including Operation Iraqi Freedom.
In addition, Creed served three years with Naval Special Warfare, Group 2 Training Detachment, where he provided medical care for Navy SEALs and their instructors during pre-deployment training operations. Today, he continues his military service part-time as an Infantryman in the US Army National Guard (Florida). Unquestionably, his medical and military experiences irrevocably influenced and enhanced his perspective on health and human performance.