I strongly recommend the movie ESCAPE FIRE as a way to summarize some of what is happening in American healthcare and some of what motivates me to do the work I do. I am working hard to go beyond the status quo in many ways and I motivate my patients to do the same for [...]
As a typical middle child I have always sought to “maintain calm in the family” and be the peacemaker. As a physician, I was trained in a traditional way to view external bacteria as “bad” and something we protect our bodies from. Over the years, my perspective and the science on both approaches has evolved. [...]
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He [...]
My premature son, only 2 pounds at birth at 28 weeks was now 32 weeks old and strong and stable enough to be transported to the local hospital where I worked to “feed and grow” instead of over an hour drive from our home. We said goodbye to our amazing NICU staff and packed him [...]
Yesterday, while driving home through Austin traffic after attending the TAFP CME conference, my mind began to wander to the Wizard of Oz. I think perhaps I was dreaming of having ruby slippers that I could tap together and repeat: “There’s no place like home,” three times and find I could avoid the traffic! [...]
Once again my mind is buzzing about the future of the healthcare marketplace and thus the future of medicine in the US after attending a talk last week on the topic. It gave great perspective on the financial tensions of our larger economic liabilities in the US and how that bottom line will shape the [...]
I want to speak up about influenza and the current outbreak in the US. There are lots of places to get information. But it seems there isn’t a great summary that combines the approaches. It can be confusing. It’s kind of a big deal, especially if you’re the one missing a week or two of [...]
Said the night wind to the little lamb, do you see what I see? Way up in the sky little lamb, do you see what I see? A star, a star dancing in the night with a tail as big as a kite… Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy, do you hear what [...]
I just read a chapter in a book by one of my mentors during my integrative medicine fellowship, Tieraona Low Dog M.D. Her words deeply resonated with me and inspired me to write this to you. The chapter was titled “Illness.” I encourage you to read her book, Life is Your Best Medicine. Life can [...]
I recently watched this amazing TED Talk by Amy Cuddy about how your body language shapes who you are, and I find it a great place to share my thoughts on Halloween. Here we are, in the shadow of Superstorm Sandy, with many people still without electricity and so much damage done to the Northeast [...]