George Lewith

George Lewith (12 January 1950 – 17 March 2017) was a professor at the University of Southampton researching alternative medicine and a practitioner of complementary medicine. He was a prominent and sometimes controversial advocate of complementary medicine in the UK.

Education and career

Lewith graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in medicine and biochemistry. He then went on to Westminster Medical School to complete his clinical studies and began working clinically in 1974. In 1977 Lewith became a member of the Royal College of Physicians. Then, in 1980, he became a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners and, later in 1999, was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.

At the time of his death, he was a Professor of Health Research in the Department of Primary Care at the University of Southampton and a director of the International Society for Complementary Medicine Research. Lewith obtained a significant number of institutional peer reviewed fellowships at doctoral and post-doctoral level and was principal investigator or collaborator in research grants totally over £5 million during the last decade.

Between 1980 and 2010, Lewith was a partner at the Centre for Complementary and Integrated Medicine, a private practice providing complementary treatments with clinics in London and Southampton.

Research

Lewith's research has ranged across several areas of complementary medicine. This has involved examining how complementary techniques might be investigated and the development of new research methodology to evaluate complementary techniques, as well as the collection of primary research data concerning a variety of complementary techniques. His primary research has included examinations of the clinical effects of acupuncture and possible acupuncture mechanisms, the effects of distant and present healing, the clinical effects of homoeopathy, the effects and activity of herbal medicine, the clinical effects of the Alexander technique and the use and effectiveness of a variety of nutritional supplements and herbs. Lewith has also co-authored several studies indicating a lack of specific efficacy in some complementary therapies and techniques.

He has also investigated how and why people use complementary medicine and is currently involved in two major EU projects. One looking at the use, delivery and possible future research strategies of complementary medicine in Europe and another relating to the use and investigation of Chinese herbal medicines within a European context.

In his career, Lewith has published over 330 peer-reviewed publications, authored several books and contributed to several others.

Broadcasting, advocacy and controversy

Lewith was a council member of the ''Foundation for Integrated Medicine'' and later a foundation fellow of the Prince of Wales' ''Foundation for Integrated Health'', a controversial charity that promoted complementary medicine and has since closed. The ''Foundation for Integrated Medicine'' became the Prince of Wales' ''Foundation for Integrated Health'' in 2000. In an article, Lewith described his research unit at the University of Southampton as having played an important role in the development of the foundation, with especial regard to its research and development agenda.

In 1997, Lewith presented a documentary series examining complementary medicine for Channel 4 called ''Natural Born Healers''. The series won a Royal Television Society award for its programme on herbalism. However, the series also drew criticism from Dr. Peter May and colleagues at the Grove Medical Practice in Southampton, who had cooperated with the programme, in a complaint to HealthWatch. A book of the same title as the documentary series and co-authored by Lewith accompanied the series.

In 2004 he participated in a radio series presented by Anna Ford about complementary medicine co-produced by BBC Radio 4 and the Open University, titled ''The Other Medicine''.

A 2006 BBC
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