Andrew Weil

[[File:Andrew Weil 01.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Weil in 2015]]{{Altmed|1}}
{{hatnote|Not to be confused with [[mathematician]] {{wpl|Andrew Wiles||,}} who proved [[Fermat's last theorem]]. Or the mathematician responsible for the Weil conjectures, {{wpl|André Weil||.}}}}
Dr. '''Andrew Weil''' {{lived|1942}} is a promoter of complementary [[alternative medicine]] and other such [[woo]], though he is also a certified medical doctor (and a [[Brave Maverick Doctor]]) based in Tucson, [[Arizona]].  Most notably, he founded and directs the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, an institution promoting [[Evidence-based medicine|proven medicinal treatments]] alongside [[homeopathy|homeopathic]] and other [[New Age]] remedies.<ref>[http://integrativemedicine.arizona.edu/index.html The institute's website]</ref>  His institute, and thus he himself, was at the forefront of making the New Age movement and alternative medicine popular in the latter part of the 20<sup>th</sup> century.<ref>[http://www.quackwatch.com/11Ind/weil.html Some notes on Andrew Weil]</ref>

Probably the best thing that Weil ever did in his academic or professional career was as an undergraduate student. Writing for ''The Harvard Crimson'', he exposed the misbehavior of professors [[Timothy Leary]] and Richard Alpert, leading Harvard to fire them. Leary and Alpert had given hallucinogens to Harvard undergraduates without supervision and used the drugs to seduce the students. Alpert also piloted a small plane while he and a student were on LSD.<ref>''Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science'' by Benjamin Breen (2024) Grand Central Publishing. {{isbn|1538722372}}.</ref>{{rp|232-233}}<ref>[https://www.thecrimson.com/writer/5801/Andrew_T._Weil/page/2/ Andrew T. Weil]  ''The Harvard Crimson''.</ref>

Weil also has written numerous books promoting, among other things, crank dietary beliefs and so-called self-[[healing]], and has, recently, promoted changing the [[scientific method]] for alternative medicine, in favor of so-called "[[bullshit|uncontrolled clinical observations]]" over [[double-blind]], [[Randomized controlled trial|randomized trials]].<ref>[http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=153 Resistance is futile] by David Gorski (June 30, 2008) ''Science-Based Medicine''.</ref>

He has been the foremost advocate for establishing an American Board of Integrative Medicine, which (as an alternative medicine counterpart to the American Medical Association) would serve as an official system of board certification for people pushing alternative medicine.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111208185640/http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/11/quacks_react_to_andrew_weils_proposed_bo.php 2011 archive of: "Quacks react to Andrew Weil's proposed board certification in woo"]</ref> This is pointless because any medical provider practicing medicine proven to work is just called a doctor. Why create a board to certify people to practice things that work, and a separate board to "certify" people to practice things that don't work? What's the point in "certifying" the latter group?

==Books==
Weil has written forewords to a lot of books. There are the books that Weil has written as the primary author: 
{{collist|2|
*''The Natural Mind: An Investigation of Drugs and the Higher Consciousness'' (1972)
*''Marriage of Sun and Moon: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Consciousness'' (1980)
*''Health and Healing'' (1983)
*''From Chocolate to Morphine: Everything You Need to Know about Mind-Altering Drugs'' (1983)
*''Spontaneous Healing'' (1995)
*''Natural Health, Natural Medicine'' (1995)
*''Eight Weeks to Optimum Health'' (1997)
*''Eating Well for Optimum Health'' (2000)
*''The Healthy Kitchen'' (2002)
*''Healthy Aging'' (2005)
*''Why Our Health Matters'' (2009)
*''Spontaneous Happiness'' (2011)
*''True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure'' (2014)
*''Fast Food, Good Food: More Than 150 Quick and Easy Ways to Put Healthy, Delicious Food on the Table'' (2015)
*''Mind Over Meds: Know When Drugs Are Necessary, When Alternatives Are Better and When to Let Your Body Heal on Its Own'' (2018) {{isbn|0316352969}}.
}}

==External links==
*[https://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/weil.html A Trip to Stonesville: Some Notes on Andrew Weil, M.D. (1988)] by Arnold S. Relman (March 10, 2002) ''Quackwatch''
*[https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/andrew-weilaafp-article-rejected-by-slate/ Andrew Weil/AAFP Article Rejected by Slate] by [[Harriet Hall]] (October 30, 2012) ''Science-Based Medicine''

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Physicians]]

Categories: Journalists, Living people, Physicians