Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame

Inducted 2012

Reading was a dynamic force in the International Holistic Health Care community, tirelessly caring for his many thousands of patients and helping hundreds of thousands of others through his writings. He was also an original thinker, many of whose ideas were decades ahead of their time. Finally, Dr. Reading was a courageous practitioner, who fought for the beliefs and values he championed in practicing orthomolecular medicine, at its very inception, in Australia.

Christopher Michael Reading was born in his parents’ farmhouse in the village of Boxted on the Essex-Suffolk border in England. In 1954 the family emigrated to Australia, where Chris gained a Commonwealth Scholarship to study Science at the University of Sydney. There he remained for 11 years, living at St Paul’s College, and taking first his Bachelor’s Degree, then a diploma in agricultural science, and finally his medical qualifications. After his internship, he decided to study psychiatry, the field that was to become his life’s passion. He became a Fellow of the Royal Australian and NZ College of Psychiatrists, and of the Australian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine and was a contributor to the SOMA Health Association of Australia Newsletter.

A regular correspondent with Dr. Abram Hoffer, Chris reported on Orthomolecular activities in Australia in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine and contributed articles to the Journal, most recently in 2005. Of Chris’ 2002 book Trace Your Genes to Health: Use Your Family Tree to Guide Your Diet, Enhance Your Immune System and Overcome Chronic Disease, Dr. Hoffer wrote: “This first book on genetic sleuthing and treatment will be one of the classics of our time.”

Many Journal readers are aware of Chris’ pioneering and dedicated work as he explored the role of diet, allergies, vitamins and genetics across a wide range of illnesses and conditions. This was never merely an abstract idea to him: he lived to help others and to alleviate suffering.

-with material from David Richards and Michael Andrews-Reading