Harvey Zarren, MD, FACC

A dedicated physician and believer in using hope, humor and education to empower personal responsibility, Dr. Zarren has been caring for patients on the North Shore of Massachusetts since1975. He practiced medicine as a cardiologist and internist for 32 years, and in 2001, Dr. Zarren focused his career on wellness, nutrition, and healing through Clinical Hypnosis and Healing Relationship.

Currently, Dr. Zarren offers patients Wellness Consults during which he takes extensive histories until what is going on with a given patient makes sense enough to him so that he can help it make sense to the patient. Then, if appropriate, he utilizes Clinical Hypnosis to facilitate changes in body biology. He continues to advocate for healthy nutrition as a cornerstone of a healthy life. He also teaches wellness and nutritional seminars for staff and patients at North Shore Medical Center (NSMC) and facilitates the Schwartz Rounds at NSMC Union Hospital. In addition, Dr. Zarren is an Approved Consultant of The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.

In 1990, Dr. Zarren was one of the founders of the Healing Connection philosophy at NSMC Union Hospital, a philosophy that puts people and the healing value of human relationships in the center of healthcare for the benefit of patients and caregivers. In 1991 he began Healing Your Heart, a weekly support group for those affected by heart conditions, and in 1993 he founded Healing With Hope, a weekly cancer support group. Both groups meet at NSMC - Union Hospital.

Dr. Zarren graduated from Columbia College in 1965 and Tufts University School of Medicine in 1969. After medical school, Dr. Zarren trained in internal medicine at Boston City Hospital and spent two years in the United States Navy in Washington D.C. He then completed a fellowship in cardiovascular disease at New England Medical Center. Dr. Zarren cared for internal medicine and cardiology patients at Lynn Hospital, the AtlantiCare Medical Center and subsequently the North Shore Medical Center. In 1994, Dr. Zarren was awarded the Physician of Excellence Award at AtlantiCare Medical Center, and he was recently the recipient of the 19th E. Augustus Holyoke Award for professional excellence and community service at NSMC.

Dr. Zarren is an Assistant Clinical Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and currently sits on the boards of the New England Society of Clinical Hypnosis, the Integrative Medical Alliance, and the Food Studies Institute and is a Patron for New Approaches to Cancer in the United Kingdom.

During his career as a Clinical Cardiologist, Dr. Zarren saw many patients who had been told, "There is nothing more that we can do," by other practitioners. Such patients were dispirited and disempowered, feeling hopeless. During visits with such patients, Dr. Zarren, after taking history and doing his examination, might agree that, "There is nothing more that we professionals can do to you," and then he would add, "But let me tell you what you can do for yourself." He then talked about nutrition and lifestyle changes, describing the science behind what he was advocating. Often, patients left hopeful for the first time in a long time, and often they went on to do clinically well for long periods of time.

Dr. Zarren's work with Clinical Hypnosis is based on psychoneuroimmunology, the psychobiology of gene expression, and the concept of brain plasticity. In working with people where there has been "no test and no pill," Dr. Zarren believes that it is possible to change biology with the use of Healing Relationship and Clinical Hypnosis. Dr. Zarren says, "We know much more about body biology, gene function and the ability of the human brain to change, with the growth of new brain cells and the ability to change brain cell connections."

Dr. Zarren credits the work of Dr. Ernest Rossi, www.ernestrossi.com, with encouraging his current professional path. Dr. Rossi's book, The Psychobiology of Gene Expression, published in 2002 (New York: W.W. Norton Professional Books.), stimulated Dr. Zarren to pursue the use of Clinical Hypnosis in helping people to change their biology and thus their condition, thereby helping to decrease their suffering.

Dr. Zarren believes in the concept of applying all appropriate tools in any given case, including technology, nutrition and lifestyle changes, complementary therapies, and liberal doses of hope and humor. "There is so much variability among people, that it makes no sense that the exact same treatment will help all people diagnosed with a given condition." Furthermore, Dr. Zarren believes that, "How we do what we do as healthcare practitioners can be as important as what we do." Dr. Zarren believes that Healing Relationship is the essence of healing. Effective healers and practitioners of all kinds of healthcare practice, treat people with compassion, respect, attention, and extensive, caring listening.

Dr. Zarren lectures extensively and facilitates workshops and retreats around the United States and internationally.