Andrew Weil

Description

Dr. Andrew Weil is a pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, which seeks to focus medical training and practice on the health of the whole human being, rather than the treatment of disease in isolation. He is an internationally recognized expert on alternative medicine, drugs and addiction, medicinal plants, and the reform of medical education. Dr. Weil first drew national attention in 1968, when he was still a student at Harvard Medical School. His laboratory study of the effects of marijuana in human subjects was the first of its kind. His conclusions, published in Science while he was still an intern, provoked a heated controversy among the medical profession. Dr. Weil continued on his own path, traveling widely to collect information on drug use in other cultures, on medicinal plants, and on alternative methods of treating disease. In 1994, at the University of Arizona in Tucson he founded the first university-based medical program to include information on alternative therapies, mind/body interactions, natural healing, and other subjects not usually emphasized in the training of physicians. Today, it is known as the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, and Dr. Weil serves as its Program Director. The center has trained hundreds of physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners in the techniques of integrative medicine. A sought-after lecturer and frequent guest on television talk shows, he has brought his findings to the general public through a series of bestselling books, including Spontaneous Healing, and Eight Weeks to Optimum Health.