In loving memory of Daniel Friedland, MD

Dr. Daniel Friedland was a luminous soul who touched the lives of countless people around the world. An inspirational and humble leader in the fields of whole health, and integrative health and medicine, Dr. Friedland was the CEO of SuperSmartHealth, and served passionately as the former chairman of the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM). Dr. Friedland also served as an executive advisor and educator for transformational organizations like the Whole Health Institute and Global Wellness Institute to elevate humanity globally through conscious leadership. “Dr. Danny,” as he was affectionately known, was diagnosed on November 12, 2020, with Grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme, a terminal brain cancer. He passed away this past week.

I remember meeting Dr. Danny at the AIHM Conference in 2015. At each annual conference thereafter, he would greet me and others with a genuine smile and touch of his hand to his heart that warmed my soul. Years later, I was at the Integrative Healthcare Symposium Conference in a room with hundreds of people. As fate would have it, he happened to take a seat beside me. We had a moving conversation that led to what was supposed to be a brief meeting and turned into a multi-hour discussion whereby he offered sapient guidance and shared his transformative work and the book he authored,  "Leading Well from Within: A Neuroscience and Mindfulness-Based Framework for Conscious Leadership." 

With his passing, I can’t help but think of my deceased younger sister and how friends across the country wrote the same message over and over in her legacy book: “She was an angel on earth.” Dr. Danny was truly an angel on earth, and I was blessed to have known him. It feels that only the good die young, however, I always try to find the good and purpose in the worst of times. Perhaps during these world crises, as chaos, fear, and confusion seem to overshadow the good, God is calling home His strongest angels from Earth to unify and help save humanity and our planet.