First of all one of the characteristics of a good doctor is that they will listen to your concerns and provide you with hope and inspiration. They need to understand that their ability to inspire and motivate you is one of the most powerful tools they have.

This is a question that I get quite often.  It is important to know that I am not a very social animal and do not circulate widely around the country to know the best clinicians out there. However even if I were the most social person in the country I would still not be able to answer this question consistently.

HOWEVER, I do hope to develop a system that allows our community to identify the good doctors. We have two dozen full time software developers currently and I am in the process of tripling that number in a year as our revenues increase.  This will allow us to develop programs that will allow the community to provide the best recommendation.

Of course there are many legal issues we need to work through, but I do hope to have that system in place in the next 1-2 years.

What can you do in the meantime?

My recommendation would be to contact your local health food store and obtain a recommendation from a number of the employees. I would find out when the manager and other employees would be there and make it a point to return at that time or call the store. Typically people interested in health will come into that store and share their experiences with the store employees so that is the best way to find what your local community has voted as the best.

My only caution is that there are very few MDs and DOs that understand natural medicine. If you find a good one consider yourself blessed. Alternatively naturopaths and chiropractors have excellent training programs and for all but the serious of illnesses they are typically a far better choice. If you are still taking medications it would be best to find someone with a license and training that will allow you to carefully wean off of them and replace natural lifestyle options to address the underlying cause.

Many naturopaths or NDs have this training but only if they went to a four year ND medical school. There are only five, Bastyr, Southwest, National, the Canadian College. and Connecticut. So if you are seeing an ND and are on drugs it would be best to find a graduate of these schools as they have the most comprehensive training.  Actually the minority of NDs are from these schools so be careful if you are taking medications.