Meet Dr.Sam

Dr. Sam was born in Sheffield England in 1961. His father was one of England’s first industrial physicians, and his mother was a human physical therapist who introduced sports physical therapy into the world of equine sports and dog racing. His formative years were spent on a small holding and eventually small farm where he learnt not only how to enjoy his own company but also the skills of farming. As so many “middle class” English he was sent away to boarding school, for him, as for others, a traumatic experience that shaped his entire life. 

Always independent and a bit of a maverick, a legacy of his childhood, he charted his own career path which was wildly interesting and chaotic, often stressful but always growing. He survived his teenage years by diving into biology and ecology which led to an understanding of cooperative systems. He overcame the emotional and physical challenges of this period by embracing Buddhist philosophy and he would argue psychology at 18 years of age. These two interests have been the backbone upon which he built his life. His main curse, and blessing, is that his ever enquiring mind forgot to stop asking Why! He trained in medicine and surgery at St Thomas’s Hospital, London an historic institution located across the River Thames from the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. His passion for why has led him down several paths but all are linked in some way to his fundamental belief that all things are connected and that success is based not so much upon survival of the fittest but rather cooperative behaviors. 

Not only has he had an interesting career in medicine working across a broad range of specialities and championing functional and wholistic approaches to the care of patients, but he is also an experienced large and small boat sailor and pilot flying many different aircraft including jets and gliders - photos below.

In addition to his medical degree, he holds Masters degrees in Aviation Safety Systems and Human Factors, and Gastroenterology and Nutrition. Dr. Sam, as he is known, is passionate about life in general and his work in particular, and this book shares his pragmatic common sense approach to being healthy in this crazy modern world. It is based on his own personal journey, those of his patients, and literally thousands of hours of reading and research.  If you ask him how he has the time for all this, he’ll smile and reply, “I don’t watch television and I sleep seven hours.”