BIOGRAPHY
Andrew Weil was born in Philadelphia in 1942, received an A.B. degree in biology (botany) from Harvard in 1964 and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1968. After completing a medical internship at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco, he worked a year with the National Institute of Mental Health, then wrote his first book, The Natural Mind. From 1971-75, as a Fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs, Dr. Weil traveled widely in North and South America and Africa collecting information on drug use in other cultures, medicinal plants, and alternative methods of treating disease. From 1971-84 he was on the research staff of the Harvard Botanical Museum and conducted investigations of medicinal and psychoactive plants.
At present, Dr. Weil is Director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the College of Medicine, University of Arizona, where he also holds the Lovell-Jones Endowed Chair in Integrative Rheumatology and is Clinical Professor of Medicine and Professor of Public Health. The Center is the leading effort in the world to develop a comprehensive curriculum in integrative medicine. Graduates serve as directors of integrative medicine programs around the United States, and through its Associate Fellowship, the Program is now training doctors and nurse practitioners around the world.
Named one of “the world’s 100 most influential people” by TIME magazine, Dr. Weil is the author of many scientific and popular articles and of 11 books: The Natural Mind; The Marriage of the Sun and Moon; From Chocolate to Morphine (with Winifred Rosen); Health and Healing; Natural Health, Natural Medicine; and the international bestsellers, Spontaneous Healing and Eight Weeks to Optimum Health. His most recent books are Eating Well for Optimum Health: The Essential Guide to Food, Diet, and Nutrition and The Healthy Kitchen: Recipes for a Better Body, Life, and Spirit (with Rosie Daley). Six of Dr. Weil’s books were #1 New York Times bestsellers including Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Being, published in October 2005. His latest book, Why Our Health Matters: A Vision of Medicine That Can Transform Our Future (Sept. '09), identifies what has gone wrong with healthcare in America and offers a realistic vision of how we can achieve optimum health through personal responsibility and a new model of medicine. His latest two books, Spontaneous Happiness and the 2013 JBF Award nominated True Food: Seasonable, Sustainable, Simple, Pure, were released in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Dr. Weil also maintains a popular website (www.drweil.com), writes a column for TIME magazine, as well as a monthly column for Prevention magazine and appears in video programs featured on PBS. He partners with such companies as Origins, Vasyli, and Key Baby promoting healthy products and services, and he currently serves as the Director of Integrative Health and Healing at Miraval Resort in Catalina, Arizona. A frequent lecturer and guest on talk shows, he has been a guest on Oprah, Good Morning America, NPR’s Fresh Air, The Today Show, The Dr. Oz Show, and many other shows. Dr. Weil is also a partner in True Food Kitchen restaurants in California and Arizona. Dr. Weil is an internationally recognized expert on medicinal plants, integrative medicine, and the reform of medical education. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.