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Dr. Andrea Carter Best is a pioneering integrative medicine physician, psychiatrist, chemist, nutritionist, physician educator and wellness leader specializing in brain optimization, nervous system health and transformational wellbeing through the integration of neuroscience, nutrition, mindfulness and whole-person medicine.

Thirty years ago, long before integrative medicine, holistic practices and brain optimization became mainstream conversations, Dr. Best began combining brain-adrenal-gut health, nutrition/food and plant science, cognitive techniques, neuroscience techniques, mindfulness, and integrative wellness practices to help individuals and organizations optimize brain health, performance, emotional resilience, and long-term wellbeing.

Through keynote speaking, immersive workshops, retreats and physician-led wellness experiences, Dr. Best helps individuals and organizations optimize brain health, nervous system regulation, emotional resilience and transformational wellbeing.

Dr. Best works internationally with professionals, organizations and wellness communities seeking a sophisticated, science-informed and deeply human approach to modern wellness.

A Personal Message  -- August 1, 2026 

For several months, I stepped away from constant online presence...

What looked like silence was actually a season of deep recalibration, travel, study, creation, and further transformation.

In August 2025, I moved from my California home and traveled by camper van (and other  fun vehicles) for 6 months, back and forth across the country, exploring different regions. I meditated, researched sites, created new wellness partnerships, and fine-tuned my retreat locations and scope of private practice. In my 30th year of being a physician, I stopped accepting new patients and reduced my clinical hours at my Beverly Hills private practice office. After 23years, I stepped away from consulting with a community mental health organization where my integrative health/holistic psychiatry approach was valued and encouraged from the very beginning.After 15+ years of conducting extensive wellness travel, workshops and retreats, I intentionally reduced this schedule as well. Then... I stopped posting on social media for another 6 months, as I created a bicoastal home life and expanded wellness programs on both coasts.

Though I continued to visit and speak at some select wellness spaces, corporations and farms, I enjoyed tremendous silence and greater time to create between the events.   I followed my own well-being programs and explored the science of different forms of art, music, laughter, and movement to further optimize my good health and that of my clients. I have enjoyed tremendous fun, laughter, and inspiration.  I have created more space, and received an expanded vision of the integrative wellness frameworks I have spent over 30 years building.

Long before integrative medicine, nutrition, holistic psychiatry, mindfulness, and nervous system regulation became mainstream conversations, I was studying and teaching the connection between brain and total body health, emotional wellbeing, nutrition, spirituality, transformation, and optimal living/peak performance.

This next chapter is about bringing that work forward in a deeper, more immersive way. 

Over the coming months, I will be opening a limited number of online workshops, immersive in-person wellness experiences, speaking engagements and transformational retreats focusing on brain optimization, nervous system health, resilience, integrative brain-adrenal-gut health and whole-person wellness.

I will also expand the wellness teaching beyond the current that is emphasized in media, to that of the science and wellness in art, music, design, various entertainment modalities, sports/movement, and travel experiences. A Thousand Roads to Wellness...

I invite you to join me.

 

 

CREDENTIALS

Select Education and Medical Training

  • Bachelor's degree in Chemistry and Bachelor's degree in Food Science/Nutrition  
    North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC

  • M.D. , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine 

  • Internship General Medicine, Pediatrics, Neurology. Residency Adult Psychiatry,  and Fellowship, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
    UCLA Medical Center & Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Westwood Los Angeles, CA 

  • Advanced and Fellowship Training Integrative Medicine, Addiction Medicine, Women’s Health, and Nutrition.  Certified Integrative Medicine, Nutrition.
    (UCLA, Wadsworth VA, and  Global Naturopathic Medicine Centers in Central America; Asia, Africa, Europe). 

     

 Select Professional Titles 

  • Medical Director, Founder  of The Center for Integrative Medicine, 2005

  • Founder and CEO, Andrea C. Best, MD INC 

  • CEO, Lightguide Productions 

  • Creator, Science & Soul Academy, Global Medicine Workshops 

 Select Professional Memberships

  • National Medical Association
  • Institute for Functional Medicine 

  • Association of Black Women Physicians

  • American Holistic Health Association

  • Physicians for Social Responsibility

 

Select Recognitions

  • President's Lifetime Achievement Award for Service, awarded by President of the United States Joseph Biden

  • Board of Governors Medical Scholar

  • National Science Foundation Scholar in Chemistry

  •  Outstanding Service To The Community, SAA-PAAMS 

  • Distinguished Alumni Award, The College of Sciences, North Carolina State University

What I Believe

  • Wellness begins before disease.
  • The brain and body cannot be separated.
  • Lasting change requires both science and compassion.
  • Small, intentional practices create profound transformation over time.
  • Health is not only about living longer—it is about living more fully.