Esther M. Sternberg, MD

Dr. Sternberg is a Professor of Medicine in the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, Research Director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine and Director of the UArizona Institute on Place, Wellbeing & Performance.  Dr. Sternberg earned her bachelor's degree and Medical Doctorate from McGill University in Quebec, Canada, in 1972 and 1974, respectively, and completed both her residency in Internal Medicine and her Fellowship in Rheumatology at McGill University. Prior to coming to UArizona, Dr. Sternberg was a Senior Scientist and Section Chief at the National Institutes of Health (1986-2012), serving as Section Chief of Neuroendocrine Immunology and Behavior at the National Institute of Mental Health; Director of the Integrative Neural Immune Program, NIMH/NIH; and Co-Chair of the NIH Intramural Program on Research on Women's Health. Internationally recognized for her discoveries of the science of the mind-body interaction in illness and healing, Dr. Sternberg is a major force in collaborative initiatives on mind-body-stress-wellness and environment inter-relationships. Her best-selling popular books Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-Being and The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health and Emotions are informative and scientifically based inspirations to health professionals and lay persons alike in dealing with the complexities and 21st century frontiers of stress, illness and healing, and the impact of the built and natural environments on wellbeing. Dr. Sternberg's many honors include recognition by the National Library of Medicine as one of 339 women physicians, living and dead, who have changed the face of medicine; the Anita Roberts National Institutes of Health Distinguished Woman Scientist Lectureship; the FDA Commissioner’s Special Citation; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Public Health Service’s Superior Service Award for her work identifying the pathogenesis of the L-tryptophan eosinophilia myalgia syndrome and elucidating the critical role of the central nervous system in susceptibility to inflammatory disease; and an honorary doctorate in medicine from Trinity College, Dublin. She has been featured on numerous radio, television, film and print media on subjects including the mind-body connection, 'stress and illness', spirituality, love, and health, and place and wellbeing.  With Emmy Award winning Resolution Pictures, created and hosted a PBS special: The Science of Healing, based on her books. Sternberg has testified before Congress, advised the World Health Organization, the U.S. Surgeon General, the U.S. General Services Administration, the Vatican, and other national and international organizations on stress and illness and place and wellbeing.