Dean Edell

[2] He spent the next several years experimenting with lifestyles that included buying and selling antiques, working as a silversmith and goldsmith,[3] organic farming, painting, living in a 1950s-vintage bus and engaging in a self-described hand-to-mouth existence that included scavenging for food thrown out by grocery stores.

[5] To supplement his income he served as medical director of the County Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Center in Sacramento, California.

[20] He railed against pseudoscience and magical thinking and was very critical of unproven alternative healing methods,[21] the vitamin and herbal supplement industry,[22] fad diets and diet pills,[23] and many anti-science groups opposing vaccines, or fluoride or other scientifically accepted practices.

He also questioned many mainstream medical practices like newborn circumcision, cesarean sections, hysterectomies, and the over diagnosis of fad health maladies.

In 2010 Edell was named by Talkers Magazine to be among the 100 most important radio talk show hosts of all time.

[27] From 1979, when Edell was the only physician in America employed full-time by a local television news station,[28] until March 2007, Edell did nightly health reports for KGO-TV news, the local ABC station in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 1986, KGO-TV produced Dr. Edell's Medical Journal, a weekly live audience health magazine show, the first of its genre.

[30] It won the IRIS award at the National Association of Television Programming Executives (NATPE) in 1986 and was accepted into the permanent collection of the Museum of Broadcasting on April 11, 1988.

Five years later the editorial staff of Healthcentral.com wrote articles based on his radio show topics on HealthCentral.com from 1999 until 2001 when the site went bankrupt and was sold to new owners.

The site no longer publishes new content by Edell, though his advice column and articles that predate the bankruptcy are featured prominently.

In August 2011 Dr. Edell was honored by The Independent Investigations Group with an 'Iggie' award for promoting science and critical thinking in mainstream media.

[33] In 1996 the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP) presented Edell with the Public Education in Science Award.