Alternative Medicine

The 60-year-old comedian, who often joked about his own life in his raunchy stand-up routines, died Friday from injuries suffered in a car accident. Fresh Air remembers Schimmel with highlights from a 2008 interview in which he discusses his memoir Cancer On $5 A Day.

Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord is the first Navajo woman surgeon. She is the author of the new book "The Scalpel and the Silver Bear." (Bantam) In her practice, she combines modern surgery with ancient Navajo healing practices. Born and raised on a reservation near Gallup, New Mexico she now serves as an assistant professor of surgery at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Dr. Mehmet Oz is the author of "Healing from the Heart: A Leading Heart Surgeon Explores the Power of Complementary Medicine." (Dutton) He is a cardiovascular surgeon at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. He combines leading western medicine with ancient methods of self healing. The result is faster recovery for patients. He believes our physical health is linked to our spirituality, psychological make-up and emotional well being.

Dr. David Eisenberg is Director of the Beth Israel Center for Alternative Medicine Research. He is also a member of the National Institute of Health's Alternative Medicine Program Advisory Council. He'll discuss the Center's research on the use of alternative therapies, such as chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, and homeopathy.

Mehl-Madrona has written a new book that explores the medical benefits of Native American rituals. The book is called "Coyote Medicine." Mehl-Madrona himself is Native American. He holds an M.D. from Stanford University and has been a practicing doctor for over 20 years. He is currently a research assistant professor in the Native American Research and Training Center at the University of Arizona of Medicine in Tucson.

Monologist, actor and writer Spalding Gray. He's written and performed several monologues including, "Monster in a Box" about all the distractions that prevented him from completing his novel, Impossible Vacation, and Swimming to Cambodia about filming a movie in Cambodia. Now Gray has a new monologue and book about his eye problems, and his adventures in the mainstream and alternative health care industries. It's called Gray's Anatomy. (Vintage Books).

Authority on complementary cancer treatments Michael Lerner. His book is called "Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Approaches to Cancer" (The MIT Press).

Physician Andrew Weil. Weil is a leading proponent of "alternative" ways of healing...he advocates proper diet, exercise, mental techniques, and herbal remedies as ways to wellness. Weil's new book is called, "Natural Health, Natural Medicine: A Comprehensive Manual for Wellness and Self-Care." It's published by Houghton Mifflin.

Andrew Weil. He's a doctor of holistic medicine and an ethnobotanist, which is the study of how medicinal plants are used in different cultures. (Interview by Faith Middleton).