02/20/2026
These three transformed my view of health, and changed the trajectory of my life. 🙏
When I was in college, I read Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer by Ken Pelletier, and it fundamentally reshaped how I understood medicine. He helped pioneer mind body medicine and showed the world that our thoughts, beliefs, and biology are deeply interconnected.
Leroy Hood expanded that vision even further. As the father of systems biology and systems medicine, he taught us to see the body as an intelligent, dynamic network. His Phenome Health project is helping move medicine toward a more predictive and personalized future.
And Jeffrey Bland, the father of Functional Medicine, challenged us to look upstream, to ask why disease happens in the first place, and to address root causes rather than suppress symptoms.
Each of these pioneers helped shape the way I practice, teach, and think about medicine. I’m deeply grateful for their mentorship, their courage to challenge conventional thinking, and their commitment to transforming healthcare.
Progress in medicine happens because bold thinkers are willing to see the system differently, and then build something better.
