Reflections on Happiness from 80 Years in Medicine | Gladys McGarey, MD

Jan 30, 2024

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Born in India in 1920, Gladys McGarey, MD has a life story marked with various pivotal moments of the 20th century. She witnessed Gandhi's Salt March in her final childhood days in India, arrived in the US amid the Great Depression, began medical school four months before the US joined World War II, and became a physician at a time when few women were accepted in the profession. She would later co-found the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine and the American Board of Integrative Medicine. At over 100 years old, Dr Gladys, as she likes to be called, is still practicing medicine. In 2023, she published The Well-Lived Life A 102-Year-Old Doctor’s Six Secrets to Health and Happiness At Every Age, in which she details her approach to a happy life by focusing on finding love and purpose.

In this episode, Dr Gladys joins us to discuss her remarkable journey in medicine, what holistic medicine means to her, her own experiences with cancer, the healing power of love and human connection, and more.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

2:08 - Dr. Gladys’ early years and her path to becoming a physician

7:20 - The discrimination that Dr. Gladys endured as a female physician

11:02 - What Dr. Gladys’ medical practice looked like when she began her career

12:23 - Dr. Gladys’s definition of holistic medicine and how it became a part of her practice

18:22 - Dr. Gladys’s case for why love is essential when providing healing for a patient

23:27 - How Dr. Gladys’ own experience as a cancer patient demonstrates her approach to holistic medicine

26:12 - What Dr. Gladys believes has been lost amidst all of the advances that medicine has made

30:09 - How spirituality has affected Dr. Gladys’ approach to medicine

31:41 - Concrete ways that doctors can incorporate holistic sensibilities into their practices

Dr. Gladys can be found on Instagram at @begladmd.

Dr. Gladys MacGarey is the author of A Well Lived Life: A 102-Year Old Doctor’s Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Any Age (2023).

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