PROFESSIONAL BIO
While completing my undergraduate degree at the University of Rochester, I had the amazing fortune of being able to meet Dr. Robert Ader, Ph.D. who in 1980 had coined the term Psychoneuroimmunology. Dr. Ader gave me a tour of his lab and explained that his research had made a direct connection between the psyche and the soma which fit very nicely into my earlier founded belief that we are truly holistic beings! He had shown that he could effect an objective immunodeficiency in laboratory animals, simply through the administration of saccharine water. The animals had been conditioned to associate the administration of saccharine water with CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE, which is a known immunomodulator causing significant nausea, and more importantly, immunosuppression. This conditioning allowed Dr. Ader to effectively turn off the laboratory animals’ immune systems simply by administering saccharine water, which by itself, has ZERO inherent biochemical effect on the immune system.
Through a cascade of fortuitous events, I also happened upon a principal investigator in the Wadsworth NYS Laboratory while doing an independent study as part of my pre-medical requirements. We had very similar views regarding the complexity of life and factors influencing health. Having revealed to her my holistic, auto-regulating philosophies about human health and my concerns about traditional allopathic medicine, she introduced me to the Osteopathic Concept. I subsequently was matriculated into the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine class of 1998.
All Osteopathic Medical Students complete a similar training course in Allopathic Medicine as our MD counterparts. We also receive 1000 hours of additional classroom and didactic training in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, as a requirement for graduation. Having been fortunate enough to join Dr. Anthony Capobianco’s weekly Osteopathic study group, and having been given the opportunity to focus my elective rotations in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine clinics, I graduated from my residency with more than 5000 hours of additional training in Traditional Craniosacral Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine. Since graduation, I have continued my Osteopathic Training by focusing on Traditional Osteopathic Seminars to meet my Continuing Medical Education requirements.
All of my training has been vitally important in molding me into the Osteopathic Physician I have become, likely none more so than my completion of Dr. James Jealous’ Phases. Both Dr. Jealous and Dr. Hankinson helped me to fine-tune my Osteopathic skills enabling me to best facilitate the optimization of the patient’s Primary Respiratory Mechanism, “life’s purest and most vital expression” (the auto-repair / auto-regulation mechanism inherent in all living things). This is core to one of the primary tenets of Osteopathy, which is that the human body has the innate capability to heal itself. Bring the soma (physical body) to neutral, remove strains in the fluid, fascia, muscle, and bones and observe as the “patient heals thyself”.
This has been an AMAZING journey for me, one I will likely be on for the rest of my life. One of my greatest joys on this journey is my interaction with my patients. Being able to afford my patients a modicum of relief from their pain is amazing. But, there are no words to describe the feeling of being able to work with a patient over a period of time, bringing the patient to a balanced neutral, minimizing restrictions, and optimizing amplitude, vitality, and symmetry of the Primary Respiratory Mechanism, all with the knowledge that that patient will likely have decreased frequency, severity and duration of a multitude of symptoms and a lifetime of improved health.
A LITTLE MORE ENCOMPASSING AND PERSONAL
I was born in Denver, Colorado but only lived there until I was about 2 yo. I grew up about 20 minutes due East of Albany in the rural community of Poestenkill. After graduating from The Albany Academy, I attended The University of Rochester where I received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology with a Minor in Biology and briefly toiled with pursuing a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology. After doing due diligence and researching my options, one of the Ph.D. candidates in the Counseling Psychology program at The University of Rochester said something to me that would completely change the course of my life. She told me if she had to do it all over again, she would have gone to medical school. She explained to me that she had had numerous discussions with her medical school counterparts at the U of R and collectively they all agreed that the Ph.D. program was infinitely more rigorous and time consuming than the medical school program and that if she had gone to medical school, she still could have done counseling, but with a more powerful degree. It was at this time that I decided to pursue medical school, focusing on Osteopathic Schools.
I have always felt that the human body is infinitely more powerful and self sustaining than even the smarted scientist gave it credit for and after learning just the basics about the Osteopathic Philosophy, I knew that, given the option between working and living in the Allopathic ( MD ) world or the Osteopathic ( DO ) world, the decision was a forgone conclusion. As fate would have it, through one turn or another, I ended up spending altogether too much of my time and energy working and existing in the Allopathic realm I had thought I would be able to avoid. Only recently have I been able to break free of the restrictions that mandated my commitment to allopathic medicine and focus all of my energy on my true love, opening my own practice where I could commit myself to a 100% Osteopathic Manipulation Practice and focus on finding the health in my immediate community and the community at large.
Having worked in the Allopathic realm for so long, I have a deep understanding of it’s capabilities and limitations. There is and likely always will be an absolute need for Western Based Allopathic Medicine and I look forward to collaborating with my Allopathic ( MD & DO ) colleagues to improve the overall health of each of our patients and the community at large.
My Personal Life
I have been blessed with three amazing sons from my first marriage, but I have been doubly blessed to have found Linda R. Waldorf, my life partner, best friend, wife and mother to all of our children. We live in a harmonious blended family with my three sons and her son and two daughters in the Adirondack Park. Not sure it gets much better than this. We live on a 55-acre farm in an old Victorian house circa 1904. We have Chickens, two Fainting Goats, two Dogs, and a cat. We heat our house and hot water with an eco-friendly gasifying outdoor wood burner which we fuel with wood that we fell, skid, buck, split and stack as a family. We have lots of plans for our beautiful home and hopefully, with time we will start to realize some of those dreams in the not too distant future.
I have always been a very active person. I played soccer, hockey, and lacrosse in high school and college and still love coaching my children’s soccer teams. I was the photography editor of my high school yearbook, my college yearbook, and the U of R Student Newspaper. My 50th birthday gift was a professional camera and pack, both of which keep calling to me. I have logged thousands of miles on a mountain bike, made hundreds of runs through a slalom water ski course, descended thousands of Black Diamonds, completed two “Tough Mudders”, recently renewed my love of fishing, and discovered a love of paddling and hiking. I have summited 17 of the 46 high peaks and have plans to become not only a “46’er” but also a “Winter 46’er”. I have summered in the Adirondacks since I was a young boy and I am blessed to be able to live in these beautiful mountains and share all these experiences with my amazing family. I am very excited to finally be able to dedicate more of my time to finding my own health and doing all of the things I have always loved doing and to experience new adventures along the way with the people I love.