Cynthia Li and Host Michael Lerner
Join us for another installment in the Spiritual Biography series, this time with Cynthia Li, MD. Cynthia’s experiences as both doctor and patient through an internal “dark night of the soul,” and a medical condition affecting her immune system, point to tools for building personal immunity and resilience in the face of crises. She has been deeply involved with Commonweal’s work in environmental health, Healing Circles, and Rachel Remen’s Healer’s Art program at UCSF School of Medicine, which began at Commonweal. Listen to all of Michael’s conversations with Cynthia here.
Cynthia Li, MD
Cynthia Li, MD, is a physician who went from public health to integrative medicine and intuitive healing. She has practiced in diverse settings like Kaiser Permanente’s HIV/AIDS group, San Francisco General Hospital, St Anthony Clinic for refugees and those experiencing homelessness, and Doctors Without Border in rural China. When she developed a disabling autoimmune illness, she began studying with integrative and functional medicine doctors, environmental health scientists, holistic healers, and qigong masters. Her journey was featured in Dr. Kelly Turner’s Radical Remission documentary. She has also served as faculty for Rachel Remen’s Healer’s Art program at UC San Francisco School of Medicine. Since 2014, she has deepened her study of qigong, an ancient Chinese mind-body practice, and become certified as a teacher and healer. She is the author of a bestselling memoir, Brave New Medicine, and a new book, The Medicine of Flow (May 2026).
Michael Lerner
Host
Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).
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