2006 Pioneer in Integrative Medicine

A medical pioneer in the news is often interesting, on television intriguing, in books compelling or on the Internet enlightening. But none of these experiences compare with actually being in their presence, glimpsing the force of ideas in his or her eyes, and hearing the widsom of those ideas.

Dr. Andrew Weil helped to pioneer the science and reveal the soul of healing. He returns to the Institute for Health & Healing at California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, where more than a decade ago he helped our program on the path to leadership in integrative medicine.

It was inevitable that the Institute and Dr. Weil would intersect. A Harvard graduate in botany (a plant, Psilocybe Weilii, is named in his honor), he wondered, while completing his Harvard medical studies, why Western medicine focused on the symptoms of disease rather than on prevention. He developed a keen belief in the power of internal resources to guide the process of healing and came to feel that mind, body and spirit should not, indeed could not, be separated.

Dr. Weil first surfaced in San Francisco as a young intern, but his quest for truly effective health and healing practices subsequently swept him away from the Bay Area and around the world, from a Sioux sweat lodge in South Dakota to Africa and the Amazon. Emerging with a comprehensive vision of integrative health care, he began his work of changing the face of Western medicine.

Back in San Francisco, surgeon William B. Stewart, MD was creating a similarly holistic vision after a life-changing experience in India. As co-founder and Medical Director of the Institute for Health & Healing, he was recognizing, as he says, that "all issues are health issues and true health involves the visible and invisible dimensions of our existence." In their formative stages in the days of the Program in Medicine and Philosophy, these cutting-edge concepts attracted revolutionary thinkers, some on the verge of worldwide visibility. Case in point: Andrew Weil, MD who, as a visiting professor in 1993, keynoted a seminar titled: Come to Your Senses. He presented Grand Rounds for the Department of Medicine, collaborated in exploring the deeper issues of healing and helped set the direction for the Institute for Health & Healing. Recalls Dr. Stewart, "It was clear that his quest was our quest, to recognize the crucial difference between being cured and being truly healed. What he was teaching was precisely where we were going."

Dr. Weil founded the University of Arizona's Program in Integrative Medicine, creating a fellowship program that continues to train physicians. He is a force in medical education, a best-selling author, and is editorial director of drweil.com. In association with Weil Lifestyle LLC, he markets his own health-related products. After-tax profits from his ventures support the Weil Foundation, which funds the training of physicians and other practitioners, public education, research and innovations in patient care and policy reform.

The next focus of Dr. Weil's formidable energy is revealed by the title of his newest book, "Health Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Being."

The ideas of Dr. Andrew Weil have altered the course of our journey to health. He targets the core issue when he says, "I believe that people can get better. There is enormous interest in disease and very little interest in health and healing and how to promote it." He was here with us at the beginning, reconnects with us now on our common pathway, and looks ahead with us toward our mutual goal of transforming the practice of medicine. The Institute for Health & Healing is honored to acknowledge him and his pioneering work with its 2006 Pioneers in Integrative Medicine award.