Speaker 2008: Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.

Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D. is Clinical Professor of Family and Community Medicine at UCSF School of Medicine and the Founder and Director of the Institute of the Study of Health and Medicine and the Founder and Director of The Healer's Art curriculum for medical students, at UCSF which is now being taught in 60 other medical schools nationwide. She is co-founder and medical director o f the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, one of the first support groups for cancer patients in America, featured in the groundbreaking 1993 Bill Moyers's PBS series Healing and the Mind. Dr. Remen is the author of the New York Times best seller Kitchen Table Wisdom and the national bestseller My Grandfather's Blessing, which have been published in 18 languages. Dr. Remen has a 53-year history or Crohn's disease and her work is a synthesis of the perspectives of physician and patient.