Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Dr. Öz

image via wikipedia.com
Everybody knows Dr. Oz is Turkish, right?

Mehmet Cengiz Öz, who we all like to call Dr. Oz,
is actually Turkish-American. He was born and raised in the US, and he retains his Turkish passport. Culturally, he retains every bit of his Turkishness, which I find extremely cool. You need to look to see it though.

He walks that TCK walk with such confidence, I'll bet my yogurt soup that most Americans don't even know he speaks another language. (Turkish - not the medical jiberish he sometimes throws at us.) 

Whether you've followed his skyrocketing career or not, you have to be impressed with his achievements:

  • Harvard - undergrad; University of Pennsylvania, TheWharton School - MD/MBA; Columbia University Professor; Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program, Director at New York Presbyterian Hospital
  • Discovery Health Host; Oprah "Allstar"; Tuner Private Networks Host; The Doctor Oz Show, etc., etc., etc.
  • Time magazine ranked Oz 44th on its list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2008 and Esquire magazine placed him on its list of the 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century. He was called a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum[and one of “The Harvard 100 Most Influential Alumni” by 02138 magazine. He won the Gross Surgical Research Scholarship. He was listed in “Doctors of the Year” by Hippocrates magazine and in “Healers of the Millennium” by Healthy Living magazine. Oz is annually listed in the Castle Connolly Guide of the top United States doctors, as well as other ranking groups. - heck, just go to his wikipedia page if you need to know them all.
Writers and other frequent bookstore visitors might also recognize the New York Times bestselling series of  books Dr. Oz co-authored with Dr. Michael F. Roizen. You know, YOU: The Owner's Manual, etc.

Dr. Oz has taken personal health to a new high-profile, high priority level. My gosh! The other day he even had PAULA DEEN on his show. Yes. The Queen of Butter visited The King of Better. It was kind of a showdown.

The real controversy come in where his spirituality is concerned. He practices transcendental meditation, which wouldn't be a problem except he also believes in the healing powers of positive thinking. Not a bad thing really, just an unusual position for an MD to embrace. In public.

Overall, I think he does so much more good, encouraging people to take a more active role in their own health; telling people there's arsenic in apple juice. Well, so what if that's another one of his controversies. I want to know if there's arsenic in my apple juice. Don't you?

8 comments:

Sarah said...

Arsenic in apple juice? Wha? I think there's research that demonstrates the positive effects of optimism (and the deleterious effects of depression) on physical health, but I don't know if that's what Dr. Oz is espousing?

Li said...

Queen of Butter VS King of Better - very clever :-))

Unknown said...

I didn't even know Dr. Oz was a real person. LOL, never mind Turkish. And the VS vit is very clever indeed. Thanks for adding to my general knowledge.

Old Kitty said...

Never heard of him. Till now! LOL! Take care
x

Southpaw said...

The show with Oz and Deen must have been fantastic. I didn't know much about him. I like that he's so positive.

KatOwens: Insect Collector said...

I love him- he's great, and just by the name I thought he was Turkish. :0)

Golden Eagle said...

I've only heard of him referred to as "Dr. Oz", so I had no idea he was Turkish!

LTM said...

I'm not really a big fan--a lot of his stuff is common sense + common knowledge. But it is very cool that he's Turkish! :o) <3

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