Ian James Gawler OAM (born 25 February 1950) is an Australian author and a prominent advocate for the therapeutic application of mind-body medicine and meditation.
After graduation from the University of Melbourne, he worked as a vet in a mixed practice at Bacchus Marsh and Melton, Victoria in 1973 with a special interest in horses and surgery.
At the same time he was diagnosed with TB, which responded rapidly to conventional treatment and supported by lifestyle-based self-help techniques.
[4] In the December 2011, Internal Medicine Journal, the online journal of the Royal Australian College of Physicians, two oncologists, Ian Haines from Cabrini Hospital and Ray Lowenthal from Hobart, published a report that no biopsy of Gawler for secondary cancer had been made and suggested that all of his symptoms were consistent with tuberculosis.
[6] He said that Haines and Lowenthal did not consult with any of these people in preparing their speculative hypothesis and, therefore, did not take account of his clinical history or the many diagnostic tests performed and deemed to be adequate by those physicians to confirm the diagnosis.
[7] After recovering, Gawler resumed work as a vet for short periods in Geelong and the Gold Coast before moving to Morphett Vale near Adelaide, South Australia, in 1978.
[citation needed] Oncologist Ray Lowenthal, who has long been a critic of Gawler's work[2] engaged in an hour-long debate on ABC-TV show Couchman.[when?]