Biography
Dr. Andrew Newberg is Director of Research at the Myrna Brind Center for Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Medical College. He is also Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Upon graduating from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1993, Dr. Newberg trained in Internal Medicine at the Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia serving as Chief Resident in his final year and subsequently completed a Fellowship in Nuclear Medicine in the Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, at the University of Pennsylvania. He is Board-certified in Internal Medicine, Nuclear Medicine, and Nuclear Cardiology.
Dr. Newberg has actively pursued neuroimaging research projects, including the study of aging and dementia, epilepsy, and other neurological and psychiatric disorders. Additionally, he has researched the neurophysiological correlates of acupuncture, meditation, and other types of complementary therapies.
Moving beyond the study of specific disorders, Dr. Newberg's research now largely focuses on how brain function is associated with various mental states, in particular, the relationship between brain function and mystical or religious experiences. The results and implications of this research are delineated in Dr. Newberg's best selling books, How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist and Why God Wont Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief (Ballantine/Random House). He is co-author, along with Eugene G. d'Aquili, MD, of the book The Mystical Mind: Probing the Biology of Religious Experience (Fortress Press), which one the award for Outstanding Books in Theology and the Natural Sciences for 1999 for sponsored by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. He has also recently published, Principles of Neurotheology, a culmination of ideas based upon his research over the past 10 years.
Dr. Newberg has presented his research at national and international scientific and religious meetings; his numerous published articles and chapters cover the topics of brain function, brain imaging, and the study of religious and mystical experiences. In addition to the extensive press he has received, he has appeared on ABCs World News Tonight.
Education is a vital component of Dr. Newberg's career. In addition to training medical students, internal medicine residents, radiology residents, and nuclear medicine fellows, Dr. Newberg has participated in education and curriculum committees at the University of Pennsylvania and at the Graduate Hospital. He currently teaches two undergraduate courses at the University of Pennsylvania entitled: Science and the Sacred: Neurotheology, in the Department of Religious Studies; and Imaging the Human Mind, in the Biological Basis of Behavior program.