Whatever Happened to Andrew Weil, MD?

[Gary Freedman]

The nutritional expert Andrew Weil, MD, appeared on the Martha Stewart show this morning in Washington, DC. Dr. Weil is from Philadelphia originally and attended The Central High School of Philadelphia.

Andrew Thomas Weil (born June 8, 1942) is an American author and physician, best known for establishing and popularizing the field of integrative medicine. Weil is the author of several best-selling books and runs a website and monthly newsletter, where he answers questions relating to health. He is the founder and Program Director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine (formerly the Program in Integrative Medicine), which he started in 1994 at the University of Arizona. He has become one of the leading proponents of integrative medicine. He founded Weil Lifestyle LLC.

I wonder if Dr. Weil knows that I only serve salmon at my dinner parties.

Andrew Weil was born June 8, 1942 to parents of German and Ukrainian descent. His parents owned a millinery store. While disconnected from the natural world as a child, he excelled academically. He attended both college and medical school at Harvard University. As an undergraduate, Weil took the class Plants & Human Affairs, an ethnobotany class taught by Richard Evans Schultes. He went on to major in botany and wrote his thesis on the narcotic properties of nutmeg, and also served as an editor of the Harvard Crimson and the Harvard Lampoon. After medical school, Weil unconventionally did not seek residency. He completed a medical internship at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco then worked for a year with the National Institute of Mental Health. From 1971-1974, he traveled throughout South America as a fellow for the Institute of Current World Affairs. He published his first book, The Natural Mind, in 1972. The book's basic theme is that highs come from within the body, and that drugs access these states rather than produce them. Weil has written or co-written nine books since, and was a regular contributor to High Times magazine from 1975 to 1983. His early works explored altered states of consciousness, but has since expanded his scope to encompass healthy lifestyles and health care in general. As Weil entered his 60s, he began shifting his focus to the health concerns of older Americans. His most recent book, Healthy Aging, looks at growing older from a physical, social and cross-cultural perspective, and emphasizes that aging cannot be reversed, but can be accompanied by good health, "serenity, wisdom, and its own kind of power and grace."