Having first learned the science of medicine at U.C. San Francisco medical school, he then learned the art of medicine from countless people living and dying with AIDS. He survived this difficult time by regularly seeking sanctuary, either in monasteries or in the natural world, completing more than a hundred retreats during a fifteen-year period. Scott recently ended his 16-career as an AIDS specialist so he could focus his medical practice on end-of-life care, and to further develop the experiential curriculum that he has co-created with Meredith Little called “The Practice of Living and Dying.”