7 Questions with Dr. Meletis: Portlander and 2003 AANP Physician of the Year

Written by Kenneth Lynch, Principal and Owner of MindGlo, LLC.
Wednesday, 11 November 2009

The following is my interview with Portland’s own Dr. Chris Meletis. If you haven’t heard of Dr. Meletis, or would like to know more about him, please read on. At 44 years of age his list of accomplishments left me feeling inspired. We met in his Beaverton office about a month ago. It was during this meeting that I learned he has written 18 books, was named as the 2003 AANP Physician of the Year, has opened 16 community clinics in Portland to serve the poor and under-privileged, and is a nationally sought after speaker. His willingness to teach classes through MindGlo speaks to his giving spirit and love for his community. Please read on I promise you will find it thought provoking. And please visit www.MindGlo.com to learn more about our self-enrichment courses.

When did you discover that Naturopathic Medicine is your passion?

I was finishing my 2nd year of conventional MD medical school and I was taking biochemistry and the single class offered in nutrition that semester. All of a sudden the light went on and I realized that without the proper nutrition, the biochemistry in the body would be off, and a person’s cells, all 75 trillion of them would be under fueled. Bottom-line: If our cells are under fueled, and we are a composite of our cells, we are under fueled, thus leading to disease, premature death and a less than optimal existence.

You have a mission to “Change America’s Health One Person at a Time”. What inspired that mission?

In 1996, I had a big choice to stay in private practice, or become the Dean and Chief Medical Officer at the oldest Naturopathic Medical School in North America, located right here in Portland. So, I had to search my mind and heart to figure out why I was a doctor, why I existed as a human being relative to my professional life, and it came to be. I must have a yardstick in which to measure each step of my life. This yardstick guided my decision making when considering the Deanship/CMO calling and even now with the great opportunity to reach out and fulfill my mission within my home town community.

You have such a busy schedule. Why is finding time to teach important to you?

It is with education that we gain perspective and the power to make informed decisions in all aspects of our life. Healthcare and more importantly wellness care should not be limited to only those of privilege or unique access. Natural medicine is the medicine that has sustained humanity over the millennia, the only difference now is we have the scientific validation to prove that it works, even though our ancestors already knew this empirically.

You are a nationally sought after teacher in Naturopathy. Why teach at MindGlo?

I have a love for my home city, I was born and raised in Portland. Went to Benson High School and did my undergraduate studies to earn my Bachelor’s degree at Reed College. To share with my community is a true honor. I have recently lectured in New York, Atlanta, North Carolina, Florida and San Jose to name a few cities. It seems like it’s time to share with Portlanders the secrets of wellness that everyone can implement.

Your list of accomplishments is extensive. Is there one that you are most proud of? If so why?

The most important accomplishment was when I received the nationally awarded 2003 Physician of the Year by AANP (American Association of Naturopathic Physicians), our national naturopathic association. Sure, the recognition and award was nice, but what was really touching is why I got the award. I was honored as Dean and Chief Medical Officer to help create, with the help of lots of talented and heart driven people, 16 community clinics that still to this day serve the poor and under-privileged in the Portland Metro Area. The National College of Natural Medicine still offers extremely discounted services through these clinics to this very day.

If you could do anything else in the world what would you do and why?

I would become the Surgeon General of the United States and I would immediately implement wellness care, shifting the focus from disease management and reactive medicine. We would transition into a health oriented society that provided vitamin D supplements to all Americans that wanted it, we would put iodine back into our bread, and we would caution people about common mistakes that they don’t even know they are making that is risking their health and that of their loved ones.

If you could give one piece of advice to the MindGlo learners, about anything, what would that be?

There is nothing more important than your health. You may have gone to your doctor and gotten a “clean bill of health” yet, it is not enough. The laboratory tests are interpreted way too loosely, the optimal ranges for lab values are generally far too broad and current healthcare is really disease management and/or early detection. Sure it is important to catch a disease early, but could you imagine catching a disease process prior to manifesting it. For instance according to the Centers for Disease Control, there are 60 million pre-diabetics. These folks get a clean bill of health more often than not from their routine annual physicals. So are they well, I think we can all agree the answer is no, not even close. Yet, since they don’t have a diagnosis, they walk through their life with a false sense of security. Just like 50% of people that die of heart disease have normal or even good cholesterol. We can’t afford to play Rip Van Winkle with our health and wake up one morning and realize that we could of, should of, would of….done something different.
This interview reprinted from www.mindglo.com, with permission of the author