Woodson Merrell, M.D.

Integrative Medicine

Dr. Woodson Merrell, who has been named by New York magazine as a “Leader for the New Millennium,” is chairman of the Department of Integrative Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center, Executive Director of the Center for Health and Healing, and an assistant professor of medicine at Icahn Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Merrell has also serves as Chairman of New York State’s Board of Acupuncture and is a Board Member of the New York State’s Office of Professional Medicine Conduct.

At Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Dr. Merrell oversees many consumer and educational programs and is a member of a working group on curricular reform for integrative medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Within the Center for Health and Healing, Dr. Merrell oversees research projects and topics including studying the effect of creating an optimal healing environment on cancer outcomes and costs, imagery in low back pain, life-style changes in asthma, yoga in stroke recovery, acupuncture and craniosacral therapy in asthma, and botanical medicine for arthritis.

Dr. Merrell also maintains a high-profile private practice in integrative medicine and acupuncture on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, which he established in 1985. His specific expertise includes mind-body therapies, acupuncture, botanical therapies, nutrition and nutraceuticals, homeopathy, and indigenous healing systems.

Dr. Merrell has chaired and been scientific director for numerous medical and consumer health care conferences, and is featured regularly in the national media for his expertise in integrative medicine, including contributions to the CBS Morning Show, CNN, MSNBC, NABC, the View, NFP, WBAI, Sirius, Time, Forbes, Barrons, Leaders W, Elle, Self, O. Huffington Post, Psychology Today.com, ABC NewsNow.com, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, NY post and the NY Daily News. He has also co-authored a book with his wife, health science writer Kathleen Merrell, called “The Source: Unleash your Natural Energy, Power Up Your Health, and Feel Ten Years Younger.”

Profile
  • Founding Executive Director of the Center for Health and Healing, New York, New York
  • Assistant Professor of Medicine, Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine
  • Associate Attending Physician, Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center
  • Associate Attending Physician, Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hospital
  • Board Member, New York State Office of Professional Medical Conduct
  • Chairman, New York State Board of Acupuncture
Education

M.D., Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, 1976

Residency

Internal Medicine, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York, New York, 1979

Fellowship
  • Academies of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing and Shanghai, China 1989
  • Department of Tropical Medicine, University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, 1976
Certifications
  • American College of Acupuncture
  • American Board of Medical Acupuncture
Hospital Affiliations & Admitting Privileges

Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center