Cynthia Li, MD, is a board-certified physician in internal medicine, having completed her medical training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. Her practice has centered on public health in underserved communities (HIV/AIDS in San Francisco, Doctors Without Borders in rural China), environmental health, and evolutionary health. She is a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine. In 2017, she joined the faculty of the Joint Medical Program between the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of California, Berkeley, in co-teaching the Healer's Art program, which trains medical students to develop the art of healing. Her family, friends, and community circles are wide-reaching and transect academia, public policy, public health, environmental health, integrative health, and complementary medicine.
"Eat, Pray, Love meets Anatomy of an Illness meets a Deepak Chopra
workshop in this engaging, exquisitely written doctor-as-patient
memoir. Cynthia Li humbly, humorously, and honestly unearths the
roots of her debilitating illness, but the gifts don't stop there.
With 15 practical, grounded tips for how to heal, this book also
serves as an unconventional, whole health prescription, sure to
facilitate the healing journey of others. With raw transparency and
the kind of courage we need among both doctors and patients, Brave
New Medicine charts a new terrain, bridging conventional medicine
with functional medicine, nutrition, environmental health,
intuition, and spirituality--all in a highly entertaining,
hard-earned miracle story."
--Lissa Rankin, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Mind Over
Medicine and The Daily Flame, and founder of the Whole Health
Medicine Institute--Lissa Rankin, MD
"Beautifully written, heartbreakingly honest, and deeply
inspirational. This is the story of a doctor whose personal
experience transforms her view of what it means to be sick, and
what it means to truly heal. Millions of people living with
autoimmune disease (myself included) will see themselves reflected
in these pages."
--Eileen Laird, host of Phoenix Helix, a podcast dedicated to
autoimmune health--Eileen Laird
"Cynthia Li has written an insightful, captivating account of her
own spiral into the depths of a chronic disease, from which
prospects of recovery seemed bleak. Li questions the foundational
principles learned in her extensive medical training, including the
meaning of the term 'health.' Emerging from those dark days, Li has
a message of hope for others with similar conditions: autoimmunity
can be reversible. There is much to be learned by both patients and
health care professionals from this deeply personal account."
--Ted Schettler, MD, MPH, science director of the Health and
Environment Science Network, and author of The Ecology of Breast
Cancer--Ted Schettler, MD, MPH
"Cynthia Li is an extraordinary physician with a comprehensive
understanding of autoimmune disease as a practitioner and a
patient. The insights she provides in this new book are essential
for any patient suffering from autoimmunity. Her book challenges
the current health care system model that is in such serious need
of revision. This is a must-read for anyone suffering from an
autoimmune disease."
--Datis Kharrazian, PhD, DC, award-winning researcher, clinician,
and best-selling author of Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms?
When My Lab Tests Are Normal--Datis Kharrazian, PhD, DC
"Cynthia Li shares a deeply personal and inspiring journey, wherein
she falls through the cracks of the conventional medical model but
then discovers her own lifesaving path through functional and
integrative medicine. Her book also includes an excellent resource,
filled with practical tips for those who want to learn how to take
natural steps to recover their own health and vitality."
--Akil Palanisamy, MD, integrative medicine physician, and author
of The Paleovedic Diet--Akil Palanisamy, MD
"Each year brings a new stack of 'how-to' health manuals, but
Cynthia Li's book is different. It's a moving, personal--and
sometimes unsettling--investigation into the deepest questions
surrounding chronic illness. What makes us sick? How do we live
with the uncertainty of a mysterious condition? How do we define
health in an age when conventional medicine focuses almost
exclusively on disease management? The answers Li arrives at in her
exploration changes her as a person, and the way she practices
medicine. Her book is full of wisdom for both health care
practitioners and those suffering from chronic illness."
--Chris Kresser, MS, LAc, New York Times bestselling author of
Unconventional Medicine--Chris Kresser, MS, LAc
"I love this book--a harrowing and somehow also charming account by
a brilliant doctor of how she healed her body, mind, spirit, and
soul from a debilitating autoimmune disease. After her doctors had
given up on her, with a husband and two little children at home,
she broke out of the constraints of Western medicine and found her
way home to health, renewal, and her own true self. This
beautifully written, prescriptive book is going to change--and even
save--people's lives."
--Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author of Bird by Bird
and Almost Everything--Anne Lamott
"In Cynthia Li's spellbinding book, we encounter the moving story
of a physician struggling with her own autoimmune illness. Li's
writing is so intimate--and so exacting--that it cuts like a knife.
She raises fundamental questions about the future of medicine, her
own future, and about being a doctor and a patient at the same
time. The result is a beautiful book that will be read and
remembered for years to come."
--Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The
Emperor of All Maladies--Siddhartha Mukherjee
"It is a major concession to admit how much Li's book inspired me,
given how deeply skeptical I am about alternative medicine. When
Li, a physician herself, develops a terrifying syndrome that
regular medicine can't even identify, she becomes her own doctor,
charting her symptoms, doing experiments, and seeking help from
whoever offers it. Emotionally, she rises from a crouch of defeat
to the confident stride of an explorer--and you will find yourself
rising with her."
--Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Natural Causes, and founder of the
Economic Hardship Reporting Project--Barbara Ehrenreich
"This is a memoir for our time. Cynthia Li is a superbly trained
physician of internal medicine whose life comes to a halt by a
life-threatening, complex illness the mainstream medical community
doesn't know how to treat. Her struggle is replicated thousands of
times over by others who face similar mystery diseases. While the
path to recovery is rarely simple, Li's journey and scientific
explanations offer hope to many who are suffering. She writes with
insight, wisdom, and passion. Her honesty will touch you deeply.
Don't miss this book."
--Michael Lerner, author of Choices in Healing, and president and
cofounder of Commonweal--Michael Lerner
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