 Charles
D. Lefler, M.D., Co-founder of The Center for Integrated Health and Healing, LLC
Charles Lefler grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and received
his early education in Chapel Hill schools and at Deerfield Academy
in Massachusetts. He received a degree in history as well as
his medical degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. After an internship at University of Kentucky in Lexington,
he served for two years as a US Navy physician. He completed
his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Kentucky
and served on the faculty there for a year. He is a board certified
Internist and a member of the American College of Physicians.
In 1976, he established an internal medical practice in Brevard,
N.C.
As a busy physician in a small mountain town, Dr. Lefler became
increasingly aware of the limitations of viewing and treating
a patient through purely conventional approaches. He believed
that each person was a complex combination of body, mind, and
spirit and he began searching for ways to honor that complexity.
In 1972, he began attending the annual Conference on Medicine
and Ministry of the Whole Person which is based on the teachings
of Swiss physician Paul Tournier who founded Medicine de la Personne
in Europe. For over thirty years, the conference has re-enforced
Dr. Lefler's conviction that a physician must encounter the patient
as a whole person to be seen and heard rather than as merely
the recipient of objective observation resulting in some form
of diagnosis and treatment.
Dr. Lefler began to read and study widely beyond the scope of
conventional medicine. His study has included the works of C.G.
Jung, Paul Tournier, C.S. Lewis, Larry Dossey, Gary Craig (the
primary developer and advocate of Emotional Freedom Techniques),
Ryke Geerd Hamer (founder of the German New Medicine), and Eckhart
Tolle. This led to the development of a not-for profit foundation
called Foundation for Integrated Health and Healing, a project
of Congressional District Programs, Inc - a registered 501(c)(3)
public charity).
The Foundation began to draw together a variety of professional
practitioners of complementary and alternative healing methods.
These professional contacts and the expanded awareness they contributed,
allowed Dr. Lefler to co-found the Center for Integrated Health
and Healing. The Center provides an ideal setting in which Dr
Lefler's patients may choose from a full range of healing modalities.
He can finally synthesize his conventional medical training with
his desire for a more integrated approach to health and healing.
Dr. Lefler's life experiences have led him to a deeper awareness
of his own mind-body-spirit wholeness. He loves life and the
opportunity to share his knowledge of health and healing with
his patients. In that relationship, he thinks of himself as a
coach working with patients to transform the challenges of life
into opportunities for mind-body-spirit integration and growth.
Education and Experience
AB in History, MD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
Lt. Commander USNR, former Instructor of Internal Medicine,
University of Kentucky,
Thirty year participant in Medicine and Ministry of the Whole
Person Conference, Guest lecturer Brevard College.
Founder of The Foundation for Integrated Healing,
Diplomate American Board of Internal Medicine,
Member of the American College of Physicians |
