Fall 2003: Vol 1, Number 1

John Bastyr: The Man at the Heart of the Medicine

With tenacity and grace, one of natural medicine's brightest stars led the way to a new, science-based approach to naturopathic medicine.

For over half a century, John Bastyr, ND, DC, worked tirelessly as a physician, teacher and advocate for naturopathic medicine. So, not surprisingly, anecdotes about this medical pioneer for whom Bastyr University is named are many. One that the institution's founders recount with some glee is about the naming of the new school. When Joe Pizzorno, Les Griffith and Bill Mitchell decided to name it after their former teacher John Bastyr, they neglected one small thing—to tell Dr. Bastyr about it. By the time someone got around to asking if they could use his name, the first promotional materials had already been printed.

Dr. Bastyr was a humble man and was not enthusiastic about the idea. In fact, he didn't want the college named after him at all, and he let the young founders know what a silly notion it was. But start-up dollars, of which there were precious few, had already been spent to tell the world about this new naturopathic college with his name on it. So, recognizing the effort that had already gone into the project and not wanting to quell the unbridled enthusiasm driving his three young friends, Dr. Bastyr finally relented.

After watching the school year-after-year fulfill his own vision of medical education, Dr. Bastyr later told the founders that, of all the honors he had received, having his name associated with such an institution was the one of which he was most proud.

Gentle. Brilliant. Dr. Bastyr easily earned the love and respect of multiple generations of patients. For 57 years, he practiced as a family physician and naturopathic midwife in the Pacific Northwest, always encouraging patients to take responsibility for their health and giving them the tools to do so.

According to Cecilia Larson, a long-time patient of Dr. Bastyr's, he would spend a great deal of time questioning her about all areas of her life in an effort to trace the root cause of an ailment. "He was always looking for the connections between the body, mind and spirit," she reported recently at the first annual John Bastyr Day celebration. Dr. Bastyr was the Larson family doctor, which she believes is the primary reason her four children grew up with virtually no childhood illnesses. "A neighbor of ours once remarked that even when the kids did get sick, whatever it was they got never seemed to take hold."

Born in New Prague, Minnesota, in 1912, Dr. Bastyr was influenced by a mother who encouraged healthy living through good diet, medicinal herbs and hydrotherapy, and a father who'd been trained as a pharmacist and worked as a drug company representative. Through their example, young Bastyr recognized the value in the blending of science with nature: rather than being incompatible, the two could—and should—complement each other.

In 1931, John Bastyr earned a doctor of chiropractics degree at the Seattle College of Chiropractic, and in 1936 he earned his doctor of naturopathy degree. He set up a private practice in Seattle, and word quickly spread about this gifted healer who used natural therapies and simple manipulations to effect remarkable cures.

As Dr. Bastyr continued studying the body, the need for science-based natural medicine became increasingly evident to him. With the same dogged determination he used to find the root cause of each symptom, he committed himself to discovering the science behind each natural cure and documenting it. He also became convinced that this was the kind of medicine naturopathic students needed to learn.

In 1956, Dr. Bastyr helped establish the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Seattle. Here he continued developing his scientific approach to natural medicine by reading medical journals and conducting laboratory tests. And here his admonition to "document it and document it again" sank into the minds of the three students who would later name a new college after their beloved teacher.

National College of Naturopathic Medicine moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1978, and that same year Bastyr College was founded in Seattle. Establishing a school regularly under fire by the medical establishment was no easy task. Dr. Bastyr, who taught at the school while keeping up with a busy practice, took on the added burden of fighting for naturopathic medicine's reputation and its future. He regularly lobbied the Washington state legislature for licensure and recognition. Often the target of unfounded criticism and prejudice, Dr. Bastyr nevertheless persevered with dignity and grace and with an unshakeable faith in the rightness of his cause.

"The truth of our medicine will always survive," he once told Joseph Pizzorno when Pizzorno had asked how the profession could have a future in such a (then) hostile regulatory environment. "Those in need will always seek us out, for our medicine is often the only hope they have."

When John Bastyr passed away in 1995, natural medicine lost one of its greatest champions and brightest stars. Because of him, the face of medicine has forever been changed. And because of him, today's Bastyr University students can face a far more welcoming world.

Home | Site Map | Search | Contact Us | Jobs | Privacy Policy | E-Newsletter | Press Kit (PDF) | Printer Friendly Bastyr University. Copyright © 2010. All Rights Reserved. Bastyr is a registered trademark of Bastyr University.