Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame
Inducted 2014Patrick Holford is a pioneer in new approaches to health and nutrition, specializing in the field of mental health. He is widely regarded as Britain’s best selling author and leading spokesman on nutrition and mental health. He has written 36 books – translated into 29 languages. Patrick regularly appears on radio shows and national television and is frequently quoted in national newspapers.
Patrick graduated with a BSc from York University in 1976. While completing his degree in Experimental Psychology he researched the role of nutrition in mental illness. He became a student of Carl Pfeiffer of Princeton’s Brain Bio Centre and a student of Abram Hoffer, President of the International Schizophrenia Foundation in Canada – both leaders in the field of mental health and nutrition.
In 1980 he started treating mental health patients with nutritional medicine and in 1984 he founded the Institute of Optimum Nutrition (ION), a charitable and independent educational trust for the furtherance of research and education into nutrition. Linus Pauling became a Patron of the school, which is one of the leading training schools in the UK offering degree-accredited training in nutritional therapy. Patrick retired as director of ION in 1997 to focus on writing, teaching and researching. He is a regular contributor to the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine
In 2003 Patrick founded the Brain Bio Centre, a treatment centre pioneering the optimum nutrition approach for mental health, to formalize the treatment of mental health with nutrition and to act as a research centre. Together with Prof. Andre Tylee he formed the specialist group in mental health and nutrition, now operating as the charitable Food for the Brain Foundation, which owns the Brain Bio Centre. He has championed the need to focus on Alzheimer’s as a preventable disease and is currently involved in clinical research testing an orthomolecular approach to schizophrenia.
Currently Patrick lectures and conducts workshops internationally for the public and health professionals, including several presentations at the Orthomolecular Medicine Today Conference, on a range of subjects. His knowledge, personality and enthusiasm together with a strong scientific approach helps him to stimulate lively debates, simplifying complex issues and helping the public and professionals to expand their understanding of health issues.
Patrick is an honorary fellow of the British Association of Nutritional Therapy, as well as a member of the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council. He is Patron of the South African Association of Nutritional Therapy.
