Ted Kaptchuk

in East Asian Studies from Columbia University, where he co-founded the university's chapter of Students for a Democratic Society,[2] and a degree in Traditional Chinese medicine from the Macao Institute of Chinese Medicine.

[2] In 2011, he became Director of the Harvard Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter at Beth Israel Deaconess.

[6][7] Kaptchuk has served on panels for the NIH and FDA, and worked as a medical writer for the BBC.

[10][11] On October 10, 2023, an article, entitled "No Better Than Placebo", in The New York Times by Kaptchuk noted that some current medicines on store shelves were found to be "ineffective" (notwithstanding the "1962 Drug Efficacy Amendment" of the "Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act") based on studies and acted, if at all, as placebos.

Kaptchuk concluded that "placebo effects can be significantly enhanced in the context of a supportive, respectful and attentive patient-relationship"[12] after recalling his earlier studies showing that "non-specific effects can produce statistically and clinically significant outcomes and the patient-practitioner relationship is the most robust component"[13] and "open label placebo could offer a possible supplementary intervention in some chronic conditions and an honest approach for a watch-and-wait strategy".