Interview with Dana Ullman
On Homeopathy, Disinformation, Allergies, Pediatrics, Nanopharmacology and much more.
I think I first came across Dana Ullman when a long-time reader commented:
Given the current global situation and looking forward into the future (current healthcare systems failing, loss of doctors, and excessive costs), I would suggest everyone learn how to use homeopathy for themselves, their families and their local community. Anyone interested can start by looking at Dana Ullman's substack. – The Barefoot Healer
Then Dana was mentioned again in my interview with Jayne Evans.
In modern times, Wikipedia has had an ongoing campaign to push the idea that homœopathy is pseudoscience with skeptics constantly re-writing entries put up by well established homoeopaths. Dana Ullman (you can find him here on Substack too) tried for years to keep pace with them until Wikipedia banned him.
And so, I reached out and am grateful that he agreed to this interview. We cover a lot of ground, with some highlights here:
Educational Background & Initial Interest: Dana Ullman studied at UC Berkeley, majoring in "Human Learning" through an individual major that integrated various disciplines. He was drawn to homeopathy during his junior year after learning about its systematic, natural approach to medicine and writing an article on the subject.
Advocacy & Publications: Dana Ullman has become a leading advocate for homeopathy, writing articles, giving lectures, and co-authoring the bestselling book Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicines. His publishing company, Homeopathic Educational Services, has co-published over 40 books on homeopathy.
Misconceptions About Homeopathy: Ullman addresses common misconceptions, such as skepticism around the efficacy of homeopathy due to its use of small doses. He highlights scientific studies showing homeopathy's effectiveness and clarifies that homeopathic medicines differ from herbal and naturopathic medicine.
Disinformation Campaign: Ullman discusses a disinformation campaign against homeopathy, led by skeptics uninformed about its principles and historical success in treating epidemics. He claims that these skeptics dominate platforms like Wikipedia, censoring credible studies that support homeopathy.
Nanopharmacology: Ullman coined the term "nanopharmacology" to describe the action of homeopathic medicines. He explains how nanodoses penetrate cell membranes and trigger immune responses, leading to healing effects. He cites studies verifying the presence of nanoparticles in homeopathic solutions.
With thanks to Dana Ullman.
Dana Ullman’s Homeopathy, Nanomedicine, & Maxi-Science | Dana Ullman, MPH, CCH | Substack
1. Dana, can you please tell us about your educational background and what initially drew you to the field of homeopathy?
I went to UC Berkeley as an undergraduate…and there was no “typical” major to which I gravitated. Luckily, as an honor student, UC Berkeley allowed me to create an “individual major,” to then create a list of courses from a variety of fields from which I learned about the learning process, and then I wrote a dissertation on this topic. I chose “Human Learning” as my major, and I drew from courses in psychology, physiology, anthropology, environment, pathology, and genetics to understand learning from a holistic and integrative process.
When I wrote this undergraduate dissertation in 1975, I created my own gender neutral pronoun: Instead of “he” or “she,” I proposed “che” (pronounced CHEE, as in the Asian perspective to “life force”). Because “che” is not gender based, I still like the idea of using THIS pronoun verses the other choices.
When I was half-way through my junior year at UC Berkeley, I got introduced to homeopathic medicine, and I asked my physiology professor if I could take a self-study course where I wrote my first article on homeopathy: “Homeopathy: Scientific Natural Medicine.”
What intrigued me about homeopathy was its highly systematic body of information AND its natural medicine basis. Every homeopathic medicine used is studied for its toxicology, and once it is known what syndrome of symptoms a substance causes in overdose, this teaches the homeopath what syndrome of symptoms this medicine can initiate a healing when used in very small nanodoses.
2. You've been called one of America's leading advocates for homeopathy. How did you first become involved in promoting this alternative medicine?
I have always had a special predilection towards educating others about homeopathy. While my undergraduate degree was in “Human Learning,” my masters degree in public health (MPH) was from the field of “health education.”
Besides commonly giving lectures on homeopathy, I also began writing on the subject. Initially, I wrote articles, including for Steward Brand’s “Whole Earth Catalog” and his “Co-Evolution Quarterly,” as well as for the academic journal, “The Western Journal of Medicine.” In my writing and lecturing, I like merging scientific evidence with amazing stories from history as well as discussing important principles and philosophies of the science and art of healing.
In 1983, I asked a fellow homeopath who was a nurse practitioner if he would be interested in coauthoring a guidebook to teach people how to use homeopathic medicines for non-life-threatening health issues. Soon afterwards, my coauthor completed his MD degree, and our book, “Everybody’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicines,” became a best-selling book selling over 300,000 copies, not counting editions published in French, German, Dutch, and Spanish.
In addition to ultimately writing 10 books, one of my close friends and colleagues created a book publishing company, North Atlantic Books, and we have co-published 40 (!) books on homeopathy by a world-class group of modern-day homeopaths. I was in charge of selecting authors and their books, while my colleague was in charge of publishing the book and arranging for its worldwide distribution. In the 1990s, North Atlantic Books were all distributed by the prestigious publisher, Random House, and later, a conglomeration of Random House and Penguin Books.
Initially, my company, “Homeopathic Educational Services,” was a catalog company, in other words, we printed a catalogue of our homeopathic books…as well as various homeopathic medicines, homeopathic medicine kits, and various “distance learning” homeopathic courses.
Later, with the development of the internet, I was the first to claim the website, www.homeopathic.com which has been one of homeopathic medicines’ leading websites.
3. In your experience, what are some of the most common misconceptions about homeopathy that you've encountered?
Skeptics typically insist that homeopathic medicines could not possibly work because we use such small doses that it would seem impossible that they could have any measurable effects. And yet, our bodies endocrine system and our various cell-signaling systems of the body operate at nanodose levels. Further, anyone who has experience with people who suffer from allergies KNOWS that these people can sometimes experience extremely dramatic and even sometimes life-threatening effects from exceedingly small doses of specific allergens.
Separate from all of that, there are now over 500 clinical trials published in peer-review scientific journals, plus there is both a body of clinical practice in the treatment of various animals, who do not typically respond to “placebo” treatments…as well as a body of evidence to show that homeopathic medicines can improve crop yield, increase nutritional content in crops, and do so without the use of pesticides.
The other misconception that people have about homeopathy is that they confuse it with herbal medicines or naturopathic medicine. Homeopathic medicines use plants, minerals, animals, chemicals, snake venoms and spider poisons, various bacteria and viruses, plus many other substances. Distinct from herbal medicine, homeopathic medicines are made by designated “drug manufacturers” who have advance equipment to create nanodoses of each medicinal agent.
Naturopathy is the treatment of people with acute or chronic disease with various natural therapies, of which homeopathy is just one of such modalities that naturopaths use…along with herbal medicines, acupuncture, physical medicine and physical therapy, and nutritional medicine.
4. You've written about the disinformation campaign against homeopathy. Can you elaborate on what you mean by this?
There is a very active group of skeptics, some of whom are funded by Big Pharma, and most of whom are remarkably uninformed and mis-informed about homeopathy. They don’t know or understand its basic principles, and they create cartoonish and overly simplistic characterization of the complex and deep science that homeopathy represents. They are completely ignorant of the hundreds of basic sciences studies and how they have verified the biological effects of homeopathic nanodoses…and they are also unfamiliar with the 500+ clinical trials that have been published in peer review medical journals.
Further, they have literally no idea of its history. They don’t know that homeopathy became popular in the 19th century for many reasons, though the most significant reason was its remarkable successes in treating the infectious disease epidemics that raged during that time. Needless to say, it is unlikely that a “placebo response” is a possible explanation that led to mortality rates in conventional medical hospitals were 2, 3, and even 6 times more (!) than those in homeopathic hospitals.
These skeptics have taken full control over Wikipedia, and it is literally impossible to cite many of the highest quality scientific studies that have been published in leading medical journals. Almost any information that could make homeopathy seem viable or credible is simply edited out of the article.
The arrogance and the ignorance that these skeptics embody are signs of a very unscientific attitude, a state of mind that is more than a tad ironic.
5. Your work often discusses the principle of "like cures like" in homeopathy. Could you explain this concept for our readers who might be unfamiliar with it?
The primary principles of homeopathy is called “the law of similars,” that is, whatever a substance causes in overdose, can help to heal the symptoms that they are known to cause when this substance is given in specially prepared nanodoses. The word “homeopathy” is derived by from Latin words, “homios” which means “similar” and “pathos” which means “suffering” or “disease.”
The founder of homeopathic medicine was a German physician and chemist, Samuel Hahnemann, MD, and he discovered that humans and other living organisms become hypersensitive to whatever medicinal substance has the capacity to cause the similar symptoms that a sick person is experiencing. Rather than using a medicinal substance that runs counter to a person’s symptoms and thereby that suppressing these symptoms, homeopaths use exceedingly small nanodoses of medicinal agents that ultimately mimic the symptoms that sick person is having, and this initiates a powerful healing response.
Vaccines are another example of the law of similars in action, though vaccines are not strictly homeopathic medicines. According to one of the fathers of immunology and the discoverer of the diphtheria and tetanus vaccines, Emil von Behring, he was inspired to create these vaccines after being inspired by the homeopathic “principle of similars.” Ref. Von Behring was the first scientist to win the Nobel Prize in medicine, and homeopathy was his inspiration for this discovery.
6. You've compared homeopathic medicines to a form of "nanopharmacology." Can you break down this comparison for us?
Prior to the 21st century, I coined the word “nanopharmacology” and began writing articles about homeopathy as “the original nanopharmacology.” One of the books that my company co-published with North Atlantic Books was written by an Italian professor of pathology. The author gave us the title of this book, while I created its sub-titled (where I used the word “nanopharmacology”): The Emerging Science of Homeopathy: Complexity, Biodynamics, and Nanopharmacology (this is the first book to ever use the word “nanopharmacology” in it, in 2001).
Then, in 2006, I wrote a “Letter to the Editor” of the prestigious journal, FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology), where my title was: Let's have a serious discussion of nanopharmacology and homeopathy (this was the first time that this word “nanopharmacology” was used in a major scientific journal).
In 2012, the American Chemical Society’s esteemed journal, Langmuir, verified that nanoparticles of medicinal agents persist in water solutions, even after the medicine had been dilution 1:100 hundreds of times. Ref. Further, in 2021, I got an important article published in a conventional basic sciences journal, called Dose Response, where I reviewed compelling explanations for how and why nanodoses can and do have powerful physiological and biological effects on human bodies and other living organisms. Ref
The important thing to KNOW about nanodoses is that they are able to sift through cell membranes and even the blood-brain barrier with greater ease, while larger doses simply cannot penetrate these membranes. Once inside the cell or the brain, our bodies then seem to recognize that there’s an intruder, and the body tries to eliminate it. Because the intruding substance is known to mimic the person’s disease syndrome, the immune system is excited to act in a manner that leads to a healing response.
Ultimately, nanopharmacology is achieving increasingly serious attention, and it is clearly a futuristic feature of the healing arts…and it seems to be a lot safer than medicinal agents made with high and sometimes toxic doses.
7. In your writings, you've mentioned studies showing the effectiveness of homeopathy in treating ADHD. What do you find most compelling about this research?
When you realize that one of the common conventional medical treatments for people with ADHD is Ritalin, which is actually an amphetamine-like drug. Normally, one would think that Ritalin would make hyperactive people MORE hyperactive, but in fact, it seems to relax these already hyperactive people. THIS is an example of the homeopathic “law of similars” in action (using a medicinal agent that CAUSES symptoms that its small or very small doses can provide relief).
In comparison, homeopaths commonly prescribe one of numerous medicinal agents that are known to cause hyperactive states when given in overdoses…but will help to heal them when prescribed in homeopathic nanodoses. Homeopathic doses of coffee (which is well-known to cause hyperactivity states) or silver (which happens to be a very highly conductive metal) are just two of many medicines that are used in homeopathic doses.
The famed European Journal of Pediatrics published an article that included two studies: a clinical observation study followed by a randomized, double-blind trial. These studies concluded that homeopathy has positive effects in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Frei, Everts, von Ammon, et al, 2005). A total of 83 children aged 6-16 years, with ADHD diagnosed using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria, were recruited. Ref.
Ultimately, the famous words, “First, do no harm,” is epitomized with homeopathic medicine which are so much safer than other systems of medicine.
8. You've written about the concept of "medical chauvinism." How would you define this term, and why do you think it's important?
Chauvinism is the excessive or prejudiced support for one's own cause or group, and “medical chauvinism” is the assumption that. conventional medical treatment is the only appropriate method to treat sick people. Needless to say, this assumption is disrespectful of the international systems of medicine and healing. Even the World Health Organization acknowledges that 70+% of the world’s population utilizes various traditional healing systems, including herbal medicine, Ayurveda, acupuncture, and homeopathic medicine. (Please note that whenever using the term “traditional medicine,” this refers to old and even ancient healing systems; it does not refer to what we more properly call “conventional medicine.”)
Medical chauvinism also is an historic anomaly. Those who claim or even suggest that conventional medicine is the only legitimate system of medicine has no basis in our distant or recent past and certainly not in this modern age.
9. Your work often cites historical figures who have supported homeopathy. Why do you think it's important to highlight these historical connections?
My father was a pediatrician and an allergist. First, it is remarkable to note that conventional allergy treatment utilized small doses of allergens in order to help desensitize patients. In fact, one of three physicians to create the American Academy of Allergies was an MD/homeopath from San Francisco, California, Grant Selfridge, MD.
Before my father went to medical school, he considered become a professional violinist, but like most Jewish men in 20th century, he chose to go to medical school. Still, one of his personal heroes was the famous Jewish violinist, Yehudi Menuhin. When my father was told that Mr. Menuhin was the President of the leading homeopathic medicine organization in England, my father began to realize that there might be something important to homeopathy after all.
Still, my father was initially skeptical of homeopathy, mostly because he misassumed that there was not research to show that homeopathic medicines worked. Then, I treated my sister for a serious abdominal condition for which he had taken her to five different specialists and had her undergo two exploratory surgeries, without benefits. One homeopathic treatment of her led to a remarkable and complete healing, despite my sister’s initial skepticism of homeopathy.
Later in life, my father told our family that we should try safer methods like homeopathy before resorting to whatever conventional medicine had to offer.
Ultimately, many of us are influenced by those personal cultural heroes that we all have. When people learn that so many of the most respected individuals in literally every field of life consider that homeopathic medicines play or have played an important role in their lives and their successes.
My book, The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People & Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy, chronicles the stories of a 11 American Presidents and dozens of other world leaders, seven Popes and leaders from each of the major world religions, literary greats from America and from around the world, world renowned physicians and scientists including Charles Darwin and former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, world class musicians ranging from Beethoven and Chopin to modern day musicians such as Tina Turner, Cher, Paul McCartney, and Dizzy Gillespie.
10. In your opinion, how does homeopathy fit into the broader landscape of modern healthcare?
The famous words, “First, do no harm,” are not only good guidelines for physicians and healers, they are wise words for any patient. We should explore and even exhaust the use of safer healing systems before resorting to more risky conventional medical treatments.
In the 19th century, homeopathy became extremely popular because of its remarkable successes in treating many of the serious infectious disease epidemics that ravaged that era, including cholera, typhoid, yellow fever, and scarlet fever. Today, homeopathy is being used to speed up the healing process of many people who experience respiratory infections, influenza, earaches, sore throats, and bladder infections, amongst many others.
Homeopathic medicines do not seem to attack the microbe but instead seem to strengthen a person’s immune system, better enabling the sick person to fight the infection. In this modern-age when antibiotics are losing their healing powers, homeopathic medicines provide a real alternative to their usage.
Homeopathic medicines also can play an important role in the treatment of emotional and mental disease states. Charles F. Menninger, MD, the founder of the Menninger Clinic, which has been a leading mental health institution in the U.S., was a homeopathic physician who recommended the use of homeopathic medicines as a first method of treatment.
Conventional medicine and homeopathic medicines can be used together, though some conventional medicines are immunosuppressive drugs, and can reduce the efficacy of homeopathic medicines.
11. You've discussed the concept of "vital force" in homeopathy. Can you explain what this means and why it's important?
Concepts of “energy” or “bio-energy” in medicine are at once ancient and futuristic. The Chinese have referred to it as "ch'i"; the yogis as "prana"; homeopathic physicians -- "vital force"; and naturopathic physicians -- "vis medicatrix naturae" (translated as "the healing power of nature").
In 1981, I organized a conference at UC Berkeley entitled, “Conceptualizing Energy Medicine.” Over 400 people attended this conference which included presentations by Fritjof Capra, PhD (author of “The Tao of Physics”), Peter Eckman, MD, PhD (acupuncturist), Peter Levine, PhD (Reichen bioenergy), and Elizabeth Rauscher, PhD (physicist and collaborator with orthopedic surgeon Robert Becker who used exceedingly small doses of electric current to heal bones and wounds.
12. What current projects or research in homeopathy are you most excited about, and for readers interested in learning more about your work and staying updated on homeopathy, what resources would you recommend and how can they best stay in touch with your ongoing work?
Here are some of my books:
The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy, Dana Ullman, MPH, CCH. Berkeley: North Atlantic, 2007. (A solid introduction to homeopathy plus a ride through history of many of the most famous people over the past 200 years who used and advocated for homeopathy)
Everybody’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicines. Stephen Cummings, MD, and Dana Ullman, MPH, CCH. New York: Tarcher, 2004. (the most popular guidebook for learning how to use a homeopathic medicine kit for home care)
Homeopathic Medicines for Children and Infants. Dana Ullman, MPH. New York: Tarcher, 1991.
Here’s a downloadable e-course on homeopathy that I created:
Learning to Use a Homeopathic Medicine Kit (an e-course): Dana Ullman, MPH, CCH (this e-course includes a mixture of short videos, averaging 15 minutes, plus a detailed 700+ page ebook that describes how homeopaths can treat 100 common ailments, with references to over 500 clinical studies published in peer-review medical journals.
Here are some of the articles that I’ve gotten published in conventional medical and scientific journals:
An Analysis of Four Government-Funded Reviews of Research on Homeopathic Medicine
The Curious Case of Charles Darwin and Homeopathy
The Complex Legacy of J. D. Rockefeller’s Medical Philanthropy: His Love for Homeopathy and His Financial Support for Conventional Medicine (submitted for publication, 2024) (This new article will possibly force medical historians to rewrite accepted medical history. It seems that the American Medical Association did not gain its power and popularity due to scientific evidence for the safety or efficacy of their treatments. Also, as it turns out, JD Rockefeller sought only homeopathic treatment for the last 50 years of his long life to 97 years. And yet, during the first four decades of the 20th century, he didn’t provide any financial support for homeopathic institutions, but instead provided it only for conventional medical treatments which so-happened to utilize many drugs that are made with coal-tar derivatives for which Rockefeller’s industries was able to provide for them.)
Here's where I post articles for my blog (relatively short articles):
Here’s some free video presentations:
https://www.youtube.com/user/HomeopathicDana
Quotes about homeopathy…
“Homeopathy…in reality cures a larger percentage of cases than any other method of treatment and it is beyond all doubt safer and more economical and the most complete medical science.”
--Mahatma Gandhi (1936) Ref.
“Homeopathy is wholly capable of satisfying the therapeutics demands of this age better than any other system or school of medicine.”
--Charles Frederick Menninger, MD (1897), founder of the famed Menninger Clinic, and the head of his Topeka, Kansas chapter of homeopathic physicians. Ref.
When Oprah asked Cindy Crawford what she could not live without, Cindy told her that she could not live without her homeopathic medicine kit. Ref.
13. What is the difference between self-treatment with homeopathy and going to a professional homeopath?
With a little instruction, any educated person can learn how to treat oneself and one’s family for non-life-threatening ailments. In fact, I have written many books that teach people how to do this, and I’ve even created a downloadable e-course on “Learning to Use a Homeopathic Medicine Kit.” It is not recommended that consumers do not even attempt to treat any chronic or potentially life-threatening conditions. Instead, professional homeopaths typically treat people with chronic ailments after conducting a detailed interview of ALL of the symptoms the person is experiencing. “Professional homeopaths” are typically medical doctors who have learned how to use homeopathic medicines, though all types of health and medical professionals also have learned how to integrate homeopathy into their practice. Then, there are an increasing number of non-medically trained professional homeopaths who specialize in homeopathy, and many of them have been leading homeopaths in the world.
Most modern homeopaths use software that helps them find the correct medicinal agent that matches the symptoms of the sick person. Homeopaths seek to be a part of a complex health and medical system that seeks the safest and most comprehensive solutions.
14. When is it best to use homeopathy?
Infants and children commonly benefit from this safer medicine, as do pregnant and lactating women. There are numerous simple first aid medicines that anyone can learn to use for various injuries. Even acute minor ailments can receive homeopathic self-care.
Some of the areas of scientific evidence for homeopathy is in the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections and in respiratory allergies, otitis media (ear infections), childhood diarrhea, side effects of cancer treatment, and post-surgical recovery. Ref.
As for its use in professional homeopathic care, homeopaths commonly prescribe individually selected “constitutional medicines” which are specifically chosen to strengthen a person’s overall immune and defense system. People who commonly benefit from homeopathic treatment are people with autoimmune ailments, chronic pain disorders, musculoskeletal complaints, and mental illness. Ref. In these and other ailments homeopathy is sometimes used alone and sometimes in conjunction with conventional medical treatments as well as various alternative modalities. Homeopathy is a challenging and vigorous specialty and each clinician has varying levels of proficiency at it. The good news is that the medicines don’t have side effects except that it may delay some other treatments which may or not be successful themselves.
Other homeopathy related interviews:
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Thanks for posting this interview as most people do not know of homeopathy's remarkable efficacy. Unlike mainstream medicine, which tries to suppress symptoms with synthetic pharmaceuticals, homeopathy aims to restore whole people to full health. As a practitioner myself, I have witnessed homeopathic medicines cure people of problems—e.g. ulcerative colitis, bipolar disorder, psychosis—that mainstream medicine considers incurable.
Love Dana Ullman and so glad to see you covering homeopathy!