Your content expert is Iris Bell, MD PhD. Dr. Bell is a Board-certified psychiatrist and has been a leading researcher in complementary and alternative medicine for most of the past 30 years.
She graduated magna cum laude in biology from Harvard University and then received her PhD in Neuro- and Biobehavioral Sciences (studying diet and sleep) and MD from Stanford University. Her psychiatry internship and residency were at the University of California – San Francisco, and she is Board certified in Psychiatry with Added Qualification in Geriatric Psychiatry.
She is licensed to practice conventional medicine in Arizona and California. She has been also nationally certified in biofeedback, a fellow of the American College of Nutrition, and a licensed physician in homeopathy/integrative medicine in Arizona. She has served on the faculties at Harvard Medical School, University of California – San Francisco, and the University of Arizona.
Dr. Bell has published over 140 professional papers and a dozen book chapters on her clinical research in these areas, including on diet, nutrition, sleep, biofeedback, environmental medicine, and homeopathy. Her focus is finding information on new research findings and bringing them to people who need to know.
Her current research focuses on the relationship between complex systems and network science and theories of leading complementary and alternative medicine systems of care such as homeopathy. She was chosen as one of the Best Doctors in the Pacific region of the US in 1996 and in the US in 1998.
She has left clinical practice and is now a full-time researcher, educator, consultant, and writer. As a type 1 diabetic who has dealt with other chronic inflammatory conditions, she understands the everyday experience of people struggling with inflammatory health challenges as both a doctor and a patient.
Her other recent books include the self-help award-winning book, Getting Whole, Getting Well: Healing Holistically from Chronic Illness; the humorous/inspirational and award-winning books by her shy and anxious dog (helpful for shy and/or anxious people too!) Chew on Things – It Helps You Think: Words of Wisdom from a Worried Canine, and the Chew on Things Workbook for Fellow Worriers. She is also the author of Clinical Ecology: A New Medical Approach to Environmental Illness.