** POSTPONED** Cynthia Li and Anna O'Malley – Brave New Medicine

After consulting with Dr. O’Malley, we have decided to heed CDC’s advice to postpone all nonessential gatherings. This event will be rescheduled.

This event is co-sponsored by the Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine at Commonweal Garden.

In this revelatory memoir, Doctor Cynthia Li shares the truth about her disabling autoimmune illness, the limitations of Western medicine, and her hard-won lessons on healing–mind, body, and spirit.

Li had it all: a successful career in medicine, a loving marriage, children on the horizon. But it all came crashing down when, after developing an autoimmune thyroid condition, mysterious symptoms began consuming her body. Test after test came back “within normal limits,” baffling her doctors–and baffling herself. Housebound with two young children, Li began a solo odyssey from her living room couch to find a way to heal.

Brave New Medicine details the physical and existential crisis that forces a young doctor to question her own medical training. She dives into the root causes of her illness, learning to unlock her body’s innate intelligence and wholeness. Li relates her story with the insight of a scientist, and the humility and candor of a patient, exploring the emotional and spiritual shifts beyond the physical body.

Cynthia Li, MD, graduated from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and has practiced internal medicine in settings as diverse as Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, San Francisco General Hospital, and St. Anthony Medical Clinic for the homeless. She currently serves on the faculty of the Healer’s Art program at the UCSF School of Medicine, and has a private practice in integrative and functional medicine.

Anna O’Malley is a board-certified Family Medicine physician. She graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2005, and completed her residency training at the University of California-San Francisco in 2008. She was certified in Integrative Medicine in 2010 upon completion of the University of Arizona’s Program in Integrative Medicine. Her other interests include social justice, environmental sustainability, and enjoying life.