Medical Advocacy for People with Cancer and Other Serious Conditions

Dr. Mark Renneker is a board-certified family physician who lives in San Francisco. He has a unique medical practice that he describes as clinical advocacy. He specializes in working with patients and families who are facing complex medical situations. He doesn’t take on their care, but helps them leave no stone unturned, as to learning about and pursuing all possible diagnostic and treatment options, including experimental, mainstream, alternative, and integrative medical strategies. Most of his work is by phone, with patients from across the country and around the world.

Mark’s work in clinical advocacy has generated significant interest. He has sponsored workshops at Commonweal on clinical advocacy and now teaches a course on the subject for medical students at University of California-San Francisco, where he is on the clinical faculty.

Mark is also a dedicated surfer, and is the founder of the Surfer’s Medical Association. He has surfed giant waves from the Arctic to the Antarctic, but surfs regularly at Maverick’s and Ocean Beach, where he lives with his wife, the painter Jessica Dunne, and their large iguana.

Michael is the president emeritus and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work today at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and Commonweal New School. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1984 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).