Woodson Merrell, MD

 

Dr. Woodson Merrell is a national leader in developing the field of Integrative Medicine, which combines the best evidence-based evaluative and therapeutic approaches from conventional, complementary and indigenous medicine. He is author of three books —The Detox Prescription (Rodale, 2013), Power Up/The Source (Free Press, 2009) and The Arginine Solution (Grand Central Publishing, 1999)— and is frequently tapped by national media to lend commentary and context to stories on health, wellness and the future of medicine.

Dr. Merrell has been in New York City throughout his career; his office in the current location on the Upper East Side opened in 1991. There he has continued to offer the highest level of comprehensive, patient-centered, preventive and lifestyle-based integrative medical care. In 2020 Dr. Merrell converted to a Membership Concierge practice to be able to give even more time and attention for all his patients.

In 1976, Dr. Merrell received his M.D. from Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and completed his residency in Internal Medicine in 1979 at Roosevelt Hospital (now Mt Sinai West), Columbia’s teaching hospital on the Upper West Side. Dr. Merrell is Assistant Professor of Medicine, Icahn Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and Associate Attending Physician, Department of Medicine, Mt Sinai West Medical Center (formerly Roosevelt Hospital).

For 15 years he served as a board member of NY State’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct as an expert in integrative medicine. He has been a consultant to NY state and county medical societies and has given testimony to NYC Council as well as to both Houses of U.S. Congress.

From 1998-2015 Dr. Merrell was Founding Executive Director of the Beth Israel Center for Health and Healing in New York, the nation's largest and most comprehensive academic clinical center for Integrative Medicine. Over its lifetime the Center’s 24 practitioners saw 70,000 patient visits/year, published dozens of peer-reviewed articles, raised over $20 million and helped develop the model of enlightened preventive, integrative, patient-centered healthcare.

As a pioneer of Integrative Medicine, Dr. Merrell was also a founding member and served on executive and steering committees of the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine (a consortium of academic medical centers involving deans of all member medical schools) that has grown from 5 to 80 member medical schools.

He is the Conference Chair of the annual Integrative Healthcare Symposium, the nation’s premier CME/CEU gathering of Integrative Practitioners, which has been held in New York continuously since 2014. A former board member of the Institute of Functional Medicine (IFM)—with Drs. Jeffrey Bland, Mark Hyman, Joseph Pizzorno, David Perlmutter and Bethany Hays—Dr. Merrell has also completed key IFM training programs. He was a co-organizer and presenter of Columbia Medical School’s Botanical Medicine CME courses. He is a Charter Fellow of the American College of Acupuncture and was a Clinical Fellow, Academies of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing and Shanghai, China, 1989 as well as having studied Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine with Ted Kaptchuk, OMD and Jeffrey Yuen, LAc.

Dr. Merrell has studied mind-body therapies extensively, including:

  • Meditation with HH the Dalai Lama (Dharmsala, India and NYC); Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD; Kripalu; NY Zen Center and many others

  • Stress Management with Bernie Siegel, MD; Herbert Benson, MD; Rachel Naomi Ramen, MD; Joan Borysenko, PhD; Dan Goleman, PhD; and Bellaruth Naperstak, MSW

  • Imagery with Martin Rossman, MD

  • Essential oils with Jane Buckle, RN PhD

  • Hypnosis with Herbert Spiegel, MD as a medical student at Columbia Medical school

  • Biofeedback with Robert Fried, PhD and David Haase, MD

Dr. Merrell has studied QiGong and TaiQi in China, and has practiced yoga at centers throughout the world including India (Soukya Ayurvedic Center, Bangalore), Canada (Sivananda Yoga, Laurentians), and Fiji (Oneness Institute). He was co-director of onsite training for Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Program at Mt. Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, founded by Donna Karan, directed by Rodney and Colleen Saidman Yee.

Dr. Merrell’s practice philosophy is patient-centered:
“As a physician, my greatest satisfaction is derived from working closely and comprehensively with my patients, especially to help promote their ability for self-healing.”

  Professional Education

  • Residency: Primary Care Internal Medicine, Roosevelt Hospital, 1976-1979

  • Medical School: Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, MD, 1976

  • Amherst College, AB cum laude, 1971

  • Clinical Fellow, Academies of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing & Shanghai, China, 1989

  • Clinical Fellow, Department of Tropical Medicine, University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, 1976

Continuing Education
(Select Integrative)

  • Longevity Medicine with American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine

  • Advanced Practice Functional Medicine modules with Institute of Functional Medicine

  • Peptides with Dr. William Seeds at Seeds Scientific Research  and Clinical Peptide Society with Edwin Lee, MD

  • Future of Medicine Technology/Exponential Medicine with Dan Kraft, MD @ NextMed Health//Singularity University

  • Dean Ornish Lifestyle Medicine (Program Development)

  • Botanicals at Columbia University Botanical Medicine Conferences

  • Homeopathy and Clinical Ecology, Toronto, Dr. George Lewith

  • Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine

    • Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine, Ted Kaptchuk, OMD, EastWest Institute, NY and Jeffrey Yuen, Lac

    • American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, annual conference (presenter)

    • Acupuncture with American College of Acupuncture and NY Society of Acupuncture for MD/DDS

  • Environmental Medicine/Clinical Ecology with American Academy of Environmental Medicine

  • Teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dharamsala, India

  • Meditation and Psychotherapy, Deepening Mindfulness with Thich Nhat Hanh and Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA

  • Yoga and Meditation retreats: Kripalu Center, Lenox MA; Yoga Vedanta Center, Laurentians, Quebec; Oneness University with Tony Robbins, Fiji

Conference Organizer/Presenter (Select)

  • Indigenous Traditions of the Americas, Washington DC, Conference Chair

  • First and Second International Congresses of Tibetan Medicine, Washington DC, Conference Director, Scientific Advisory Board

  • FutureMed, Singularity University NASA Ames Research Center, Moffit Field, CA; Co-presenter with Dean Ornish, MD

  • Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine, founding member; Executive and Steering Committees

  • Chiropractic and Allopathic Medicine, Conference Co-Chair

  • Nutrition in Clinical Practice with Alan Gaby, MD, Conference Chair

  • Global Health Futures: Creating Integrated Solutions to the Epidemic of Long-Term Disease, Bangalore, India, November 2013, Presenter and Award recipient (from Issac Mathai, MD and Bishop Desmond Tutu)

  • Integrative Healthcare Symposium (CME/CEU), New York, NY, February 2009 to Present, Conference Chair.

  • Planning Committee and Presenter, annual Botanical Medicine CME course at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

  • Oman Medical University, Honorary Grand Rounds

  • Model of Integrative Medicine in US: featured presentation and roundtable at Nordic Integrative Medical Association, Copenhagen, Denmark

Select Awards

  • Global Foundation for Integrative Medicine, Integrative Medicine Award for Advancement in Integrative Medicine, 2018

  • Integrative Healthcare Symposium (CME), Leadership Award, 2014

  • Soukya Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in Integrative Medicine, presented by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bangalore, India, 2013

  • Edgar Mitchell Award for Noetic Leadership, Friends of the Institute of Noetic Science in honor of its founder, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 14 and the sixth person to walk on the moon
    Watch Dr. Merrell’s interview with Edgar Mitchell

  • New York College of Health Professions, honorary Doctor of Science (ScD), 2003

  • Bravewell Philanthropic Cooperative for Integrative Medicine, finalist for Leadership Award, 2003