Erica ElliottErica Elliott was born into a large family with a Swiss mother and an American father. Throughout her childhood, Erica moved with her family from one part of the world to another due to her father's work. Her grade schooling began in England and ende in Germany where she graduated from high school. The following summer, she pursued her interests in the arts Florence, Italy, before returning to the States to attend college.
The seeds for becoming a medical doctor were first sown when she spent a summer in Switzerland learning from her uncle, an eccentric and brilliant medical doctor. It took many years before those seeds sprouted.
Erica came to medicine later than most medical students, after pursuing other careers and interests, including teaching grade school and herding sheep on the Navajo Reservation, mountain climbing in the Andes while serving in the Peace Corps in South America, teaching Outward Bound students wilderness survival in the Rocky Mountains, and studying various spiritual practice.
After graduating from University of Colorado Medical School and completing her residency in family practice in Denver, Erica worked in Cuba, New Mexico, where she fulfilled her National Health Service obligation. From there she worked in a number of settings including a clinic for indigent care, a local emergency room, a women's clinic, and a multispecialty clinic.In 1993, Dr. Elliott opened her own private practice in her co-housing community, called The Commons, which she helped found in the early 1990s. Dr. Elliott specializes in family practice and environmental medicine. She has been nicknamed the "Health Detective," due to her skills at finding underlying causes of mysterious illnesses.Over the years, Erica has given radio talks, interviews, webinars, workshops at Esalen and Omega Institutes, and a TEDx talk about living in co-housing. She is the co-author of Prescriptions for a Healthy House, and the author of Medicine and Miracles in the High Desert: My Life among the Navajo People. Read More Read Less