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Background Chopra is a retired physician and was board-certified in internal medicine and endocrinology. He graduated from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in 1968, and after interning at a New Jersey hospital, trained for several more years at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts and at the University of Virginia Hospital. He taught at Tufts University and Boston University Schools of Medicine, became the chief of staff at the New England Memorial Hospital and established a large private practice. He became a leader in the transcendental meditation movement, but later branched off on his own method known as Primordial Sound Meditation. Dr. Chopra is Chief Executive Officer and Medical Director of The Chopra Center at La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California. Dr. Chopra completed his primary education at St. Columba's School in New Delhi, the same school where Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Gandhi did most of their primary education. In 2004, Chopra was recruited to provide script advice to Indian film director Shekhar Kapur on a proposed film to be made about the life of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. In June, 2005, Chopra and Kapur launched a discussion blog with a select group of their friends and family. The stated purpose of the blog is to present original voices from South Asia (particularly India) and discuss a variety of topics. In 2006, Chopra launched Virgin Comics LLC alongside Richard Branson, famed entrepreneur and thrill-seeker. They claim the company will seek to promote and examine Southeast Asian themes and culture through the use of the traditional comic book medium. * Writings Chopra writes about holistically treating the body and promotes Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of medicine. He has also recorded and published some of his writings and lectures as audiobooks. Criticism Many criticize his frequent references to the relationship of quantum mechanics to healing processes, which they consider part of a pattern of general confusion in the popular press regarding quantum measurement, decoherence and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. In its May 22/29, 1991 issue, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a controversial article by Sharma, Triguna and Chopra: Maharishi Ayur-Veda: Modern Insights Into Ancient Medicine. This article was represented as discussing the traditional healing system practiced in India known as Ayurveda. The co-authors represented themselves as disinterested authors, and signed a statement that they were not affiliated with any organization that could profit from publication of their article. At the time the article was accepted for publication, the JAMA editors apparently did not realize that Maharishi Ayur-Veda is a trademarked line of "alternative health" products and services, which had been marketed since 1985. Upon investigation, JAMA editors discovered that the co-authors had financial interests in the complex web of interlocking organizations that promoted and marketed Maharishi Ayur-Veda products and services. In the August 14, 1991 edition of JAMA, the editors published a financial disclosure correction and followed up in October 2, 1991 with a six-page Medical News and Perspectives exposé. In response, two Transcendental Meditation groups and Chopra sued the author, Andrew Skolnick, JAMA's editor Dr. George Lundberg, and the AMA for $194 million in July 1992. Although Chopra's lawyer later claimed that the suit was settled for an undisclosed amount (Newsweek, October 20, 1997, p. 57), the court in fact dismissed the suit without prejudice in March 1993, and no part of Skolnick's article was retracted. The series of events was later reviewed by Skolnick in the Newsletter of the National Association of Science Writers. In a lawsuit filed on January 23, 1997, Robert Sapolsky, professor of biology at Stanford University, charged Chopra with plagiarising some of Sapolsky's writings in Chopra's book, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind. The suit was settled out-of-court, with Chopra agreeing to provide proper attributions to Sapolsky in future printings*. Chopra was also accused of lifting portions of his book from Dan Georgakas's book "The Methuselah Factor." Chopra has blamed editing errors and says correct attribution to material from Georgakas' book will appear in future editions*. Many critics point out that Chopra's writings and lectures are often dishonest and hypocritical. For example, Chopra frequently admonishes materialism while living in a $2.5 million home and driving a Jaguar. The Skeptic's Dictionary is particularly critical. Dr. Chopra’s articles which appear in the discussion blog, Intentblog *started by him, his family and select friends attracts frequent criticism based on the content and his views about science, spirituality and politics. A long term critic and poet Ravi Kopra" challenged Dr. Chopra with critical articles *, * and humorous poems *, *,*as a unique voice of criticism. In March 2003, shortly before the US-led Invasion of Iraq, Chopra, upon being asked for creative ideas, gave ten suggestions. These suggestions included that Iraq could be disarmed without force; that religious leaders meet in Baghdad; increasing UN forces by ten-fold; sponsoring 25,000 Iraq exchange students to the West; etc. He also suggested that a new Disney World theme park in the Middle East would help to reduce fear and anger in children and that residents of Iraq should be provided free access to CNN, MTV and Nickelodeon * to expose them to the rest of the world. In August 2005, Chopra posted a series of articles on the blog The Huffington Post (to which he is a frequent contributor) in which he offers his solution to the creation-evolution controversy. In doing so he expressed support for Intelligent Design, and offered a series of questions about evolution he believed could not be answered by science alone (thereby requiring an "intelligent designer"). Science writer Michael Shermer, founder of The Skeptics Society and long-time critic of Chopra, posted a response. * Biologist PZ Myers has also critised these claims in depth. * In October 2006, Myers again fisked a blog post by Chopra* for displaying a lack of understanding of genetics. * Fellow science blogger Orac has criticized Chopra's views * In 1998, Chopra was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in physics. The spoof science awards are presented at the annual Ig Nobel ceremony at Harvard University to honor "discoveries that cannot, or should not, be reproduced." It cited "his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness."* Books The Quantum Alternative to Growing OldISBN 0-517-59257-6 The Soul's Journey into the Mystery of Mysteries Bringing War and Violence to an EndISBN 0-307-23607-2 Music CDs Videos Quotes "The living body is the best pharmacy ever devised. It produces diuretics, painkillers, tranquilizers, sleeping pills and antibiotics. It applies the right dosages with minimal or no side effects, and the directions are inbuilt." "My nephew Ketan must learn to love other women other than just one." Notes | ||||||||||||||||
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