Marc Cohen
MBBS (Hons), PhD (TCM), PhD (Elec Eng), BMed Sci (Hons)

Hello and Welcome!

I’m Marc Cohen (aka Dr Marc), a medical doctor, university professor, author, poet, entrepreneur, wellness trailblazer and perpetual student of life, trying to coax the world towards worldwide wellness. In the early 1970s I read “Limits to Growth”, which predicted that exponential increases in population and pollution would lead to a world-wide crisis around the year 2020. I then realised within my lifetime, humanity would either destroy itself or break-through to a new level of civilisation. As I couldn’t tell which was more likely, I decided to fearlessly focus on creating the world I want: a world of wellness.

I have since spent my life studying and researching wellness and holistic health so I could live a fun and fulfilling life and help tip the scales in the right direction. This has included spending more than 30 years as an integrative medical doctor with over half of my career spent as a tenured professor in the trans-disciplinary field of wellness. This has allowed me to practice, teach and research holistic and integrative medicine and be at the forefront of knowledge in medical diagnostics, yoga, meditation, breathing practices, detoxification, nutrition, organic food, herbal medicine, acupuncture, health hazards in the home, the health impact of electromagnetic fields, saunas, hot springs, health retreats, flow states and elite athletic performance.

My role as a professor and consultantI’ve published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers including academic reviews of massage, meditation, yoga, health retreats, herbal medicines, saunas, hot springs, detoxification, and heat for treating COVID. I’ve also published original research on acupuncture, PEMF mats, organic foods, toxicity assessment, saunas, hydrothermal therapies, Chinese herbal medicine, hypericum, tulsi, glucosamine, pranayama, yoga, meditation, dysfunctional breathing, Buteyko breathing, hot springs bathing, and health retreat stays. In addition to peer-reviewed publications, I have published multiple text books and magazine articles and spent considerable time running conferences, festivals and retreats and working with some of the world’s most exclusive the spas and wellness retreats. This has enabled me to travel the world, visit wonderful wellness destinations, and become friends with some of the world’s top wellness experts.

The most important lesson I’ve learnt after four decades of studying ancient wisdom and advanced science is that wellness is about ‘we’ not ‘I’ and that I cannot be well unless we are all well. I’ve also learnt that wellness can be just as contagious as illness and that it’s possible to infect the world with good health through simple practical solutions that require very little cost, training or equipment. There are also many practices that enrich both giver and receiver when shared and I’m now devoted to solutions that focus on fun, make sense of life, and tame our toxic load so we can master our mind and body and co-create a culture of wellness. This is the ethos that runs through everything I do. My current activities include:

• Co-Founder of Extremely Alive, which produces certified organic probiotic shots and spritzers imbued with leaves, roots, flowers, fruits and fantastic fungi. Extremely Alive also produces bulk probiotic ingredients for the food, beverage, confectionary, cosmetic and pet food industries.

• Director of The Extreme Wellness Institute, which conducts research and consults to industry and individuals on wellness products and services.

• Founder of Beautiful Water, which sells point-of-use sacred water vessels that produce water that is filtered, structured, balanced and blessed, and flows freely and transcends the need for plastic water bottles.

• Founder of Pronoia Press, which publishes consciousness-raising illustrated books for children and adults. These books include: “The Beautiful Mare and the Boy Who Gave Thanks”, “Love & Everything” and “Bing and Bang Begin”.

• Director of The Extreme Wellness Academy, which offers online courses, workshops and retreats, with a focus on ‘extreme wellness activities’ that include breathing practices and flow state activities along with ‘Extreme Bathing’ (ice baths and saunas), and ‘Adventure Bathing’.

• Co-Founder of The Bathe the World Foundation, which advocates for a world where bathing in clean flowing water is a possible for all.

• Medical Practitioner at The Health Lodge Integrative Medicine Centre in Byron Bay.

• Medical Advisor to Cannatrek, which produces premium medical cannabis products and is becoming. a leader in plant-based medicine.

• Medical Director of Peninsula Hot Springs Group, which includes Peninsula Hot Springs, Metung Hot Springs and Philip Island Hot Springs in Victoria, Cunnamulla Hot Springs in outback Queensland, and Maruia Hot Springs in the Southern Alps in New Zealand, of which I am co-owner.

• Adjunct Professor at the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM) at the University of Western Sydney.

• Adjunct Professor at the National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine (NCNM) at Southern Cross University.

DR MARC

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Brief CV for Prof (Dr) Marc Cohen

MBBS(Hons), BMed Sc(Hons), PhD (TCM), PhD (Elec Eng)

Dr Marc is one of Australia’s pioneers of integrative and holistic medicine and has made significant impacts on education, research, clinical practice and public policy. He is a registered medical practitioner with degrees in western medicine, physiology and psychological medicine along with PhDs in Chinese medicine and biomedical engineering and has been researching and practicing integrative medicine for more than 30 years. Dr Marc has spent more than half his career as a university professor teaching and researching wellness and has published original research into many aspects of holistic health including reviews of herbal medicines, meditation, yoga, massage, health retreats, saunas, hot springs, and detoxification, and research on acupuncture, PEMF mats, organic foods, kombucha, toxicity assessment, saunas, hydrothermal therapies, Chinese herbal medicine, hypericum, tulsi, glucosamine, dysfunctional breathing, pranayama, yoga, meditation, hot springs bathing, Buteyko breathing and health retreat stays, elite athletic performance and flow states.

Prof Cohen has extensive experience in running clinical trials and other multidisciplinary projects. He has been involved in running more than a dozen randomized controlled trials as well as being CIA on two NHMRC funded trials on the use of yoga for geriatric insomnia and the use of acupuncture for analgesia in Emergency Departments. Prof Cohen has published more than 100 peer–reviewed articles, authored more than 20 book chapters and edited 8 books on holistic health as well as co-authoring the landmark text; “Herbs and Natural Supplements an Evidenced Based Guide”, with the first two editions being short-listed for an Australian Publishing Award in the scholarly reference section. He is also co-editor with Oxford University’s Prof Gerry Bodeker of the landmark text ‘Understanding the Global Spa Industry’ which is the first academic book documenting the global spa and wellness industry. He previously wrote a regular monthly column for Prevention Magazine and is regularly requested to examine PhD thesis from many local and international universities and peer-review articles for numerous international scientific journals.

He was previously Professor of Complementary Medicine and Health Science at RMIT University (2002-2018), Board Member of the Global Wellness Summit (2007-2020), Past-President of the Australasian Integrative Medicine Association (AIMA)( 2000-2007), Member of the RACGP-AIMA Joint Working party, Director of the Centre for Complementary Medicine at the Monash Institute for Health Services Research, Expert Advisor to the TGA Complementary Medicine Evaluation Committee, Member of the NHMRC Grant Review panel on Primary Healthcare, Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the National Institute of Complementary Medicine and has held multiple ministerial appointments on Registration and Accreditation Panels.

As a medical practitioner and researcher Prof Cohen has pioneered the introduction of complementary, holistic and integrative medicine into mainstream settings. He has been involved in two landmark surveys of Australian General Practitioners and their attitudes towards, and use of, complementary medicines, which were instrumental in the development of the AMA policy on complementary medicine and the establishment of the RACGP-AIMA Joint Working Party on Integrative Medicine. He has also been involved in establishing acupuncture in emergency department settings and developing hospital policy on practitioner accreditation as well as co-authoring many high level reports including a report for the World Health Organisation on quality assurance in CM education, a report for the National Asthma Council on CM in Asthma, and a report on the risks and regulatory requirements of naturopathy and western herbal medicine, which was used to inform policy development for the regulation of natural medicine practitioners.

Prof Cohen has extensive experience in organising conferences, festivals and events on holistic health and integrative medicine. He has organised more than 10 International Holistic Health Conferences and in 2003 he chaired the Organising Committee for the First World Congress on Chinese Medicine. He also organised the Complementary Medicine Symposium at the XIIIth World Congress on Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics as well as organising the RMIT School of Health Sciences Research Conferences from 2005-2007. He sat on the Scientific Committees for the Third International Conference on Complementary Medicine Research and National Prescribing Service Scientific Conference and was a Board Member of the Board of the Global Wellness Summit from 2007-2020 where he was involved in the development and implementation of the free online evidence based portal wellnessevidence.com.

As well as organising conferences, Prof Cohen is a sought after presenter and has been an invited speaker at more than 150 conferences and festivals including more than 50 international and 50 national conferences in Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, India, Indonesia, Turkey, Switzerland, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, The Philippines, New Zealand, The United States, Macau and Hong Kong. Prof Cohen’s impact on the field is recognised by the media and he has received multiple RMIT Media Star Awards as well as the inaugural award for leadership and collaboration from the National Institute of Complementary Medicine.

In addition to academic activities, Prof Cohen is actively engaged with industry and performs expert consultancy services to a range of industry sectors including hotels, resorts, hospitality, food, beverage, healthcare, nutraceuticals, publishing and media. Companies he has worked with include; Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Peninsula Hot Springs Group, Jumeirah, Four Seasons Hotels, Six Senses, Masterfoods, George Weston Foods, Blackmores, Flordis, Berri, EpicHealth, Telstra, Sylvan, Sigma, Interclinical Laboratories, Oz Health, Astrazeneca, Health Ed, Symbion, Pharmacare, Brand New Solutions, Organic India, Healthworld, Seasol, Readers Digest and Prevention Magazine.