goop PhD

about

No internet search will ever take the place of careful collaboration with a qualified, skilled medical professional. What we hope when we read health information from a credible source online (or in print) is that it might provide a valuable layer of context or suggest an important question to ask.

But there are many barriers to finding quality information and even more to reaching scientific literacy: Not all journal articles are free to read. There is a lot of jargon in research studies. And they often require specific training to read and understand the findings.

For basic, conservative information about diseases and health conditions, you can easily get information online from reputable governmental agencies and medical organizations. While we’re grateful for and regularly refer to these sites, we also want more people to have more access to both cutting-edge and mainstream science that is well-researched and impactful.

With goop PhD, our research scientists are going deep into the research to explore an array of health conditions and relevant lifestyle recommendations, diet changes, treatment options, and current clinical trials. This team is led by Gerda Endemann, who has a BS in nutrition from UC Berkeley and a PhD in nutritional biochemistry from MIT. Senior science editor Denise John holds a BS in biology from the University of Indianapolis and a PhD in neuroscience from Florida State University. Multiple articles were authored by Leah Bedrosian, who has a BA and an MPH from the University of Michigan and is now a clinical research scientist at MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. You can read more about our scientists here. Why we’re grateful for them: They know how to distinguish interesting but unproven hypotheses from solid research findings, and they vet this material to provide us with thoughtful content on the health conditions and diseases that affect us, our friends and families, and our readers. They consider and scrutinize the published literature and the work of experts to share the most pertinent research and tools. They don’t give us just one medical doctor’s experience or the results of one study. They assess a vast ocean of data and distill it down to the critical information—on gold standard conventional, unconventional, and complementary options.

Nothing you will find in goop PhD will make a conversation or consultation with your doctor obsolete. We hope it does the opposite: We hope it enhances your relationships with medical professionals and your relationship to your health. We hope it removes some barriers to scientific literacy. If you’re reading for someone else, we hope it helps you feel more informed and more empathetic. And wherever you are on your own journey, we hope this information helps you feel empowered as you navigate it.