James Forsythe
Encyclopedia
Dr. James Forsythe is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author, anti-aging physician, and integrative oncologist specializing in the use of human growth hormone to combat the symptoms of aging. He is a native of Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
.
Forsythe is a former associate professor of medicine at the University of Nevada
University of Nevada, Reno
The University of Nevada, Reno , is a teaching and research university established in 1874 and located in Reno, Nevada, USA...
School of Medicine and frequently appears as the featured speaker at conferences of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine is a United States registered 501 nonprofit organization that promotes the field of anti-aging medicine and trains and certifies physicians in this specialty. As of 2011, approximately 26,000 practitioners had been given certificates...
International Congress. He founded the Century Wellness Clinic in Reno, Nevada.
In 2009, Forsythe was profiled in actress Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers is an American actress, author, singer and businesswoman, known for her television roles as Chrissy Snow on Three's Company and as Carol Lambert on Step by Step....
’ New York Times best-selling book, Knockout: Interviews With Doctors Who Are Curing Cancer.
Medical and military background
After graduation from the University of California at Berkeley in 1960, Forsythe was accepted at the University of California at San Francisco Medical School. To finance his medical education, he turned to the U.S. Army's medical school program. In return for U.S. Army financial assistance, he agreed to serve in the military after finishing medical school in 1964.Upon graduation, Forsythe was commissioned a second lieutenant and sent to Letterman Army Hospital
Letterman Army Hospital
The Letterman Army Hospital was located on the Presidio of San Francisco and was established around 1898.- History :The hospital, built in 1898 and named in 1911 for Jonathan Letterman, was featured in every US foreign conflict in the 20th century and remained in service until the army base was...
at the Presidio
Presidio
A presidio is a fortified base established by the Spanish in North America between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The fortresses were built to protect against pirates, hostile native Americans and enemy colonists. Other presidios were held by Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth...
in San Francisco to serve his medical internship. When the internship ended in 1965, he was sent to San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
for a four-week basic military medical training course. Promoted to captain, he transferred to Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Fort Bragg is a major United States Army installation, in Cumberland and Hoke counties, North Carolina, U.S., mostly in Fayetteville but also partly in the town of Spring Lake. It was also a census-designated place in the 2010 census and had a population of 39,457. The fort is named for Confederate...
and the 82nd Airborne, where he served as assistant chief of pathology at the Womack Army Hospital.
Vietnam
In January 1969, Forsythe received a transfer to Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. He initially served as a forensic pathologist at the 93rd Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh
Long Binh
Long Binh is a ward, in District 9 of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.-Long Binh Post:During the Vietnam War, Long Binh Post was located near Bien Hoa, Dong Nai province. Vietnam, 33km from Saigon . The base functioned as a U.S. Army base, logistics center, and major command headquarters for United...
, 30 miles north of Saigon. Attaining the rank of major, he was transferred to the 312th Evacuation Hospital at Chu Lai
Chu Lai
Chu Lai is a sea port, urban and industrial area in Dung Quat Bay, Núi Thành district, Quang Nam province of Vietnam. The city is served by Chu Lai Airport.-Vietnam War:...
, on the South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
, where he served as chief of pathology. He held a similar position for a surgical hospital located 10 miles away in the jungle.
Following an honorable discharge from the Army in 1970, he signed up with the Army Reserves for ongoing duty, and accepted a hematology
Hematology
Hematology, also spelled haematology , is the branch of biology physiology, internal medicine, pathology, clinical laboratory work, and pediatrics that is concerned with the study of blood, the blood-forming organs, and blood diseases...
and oncology
Oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...
fellowship at the University of California at San Francisco. This was the first year that oncology boards were offered for certification. He later entered oncology practice at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital
Saint Francis Memorial Hospital
Saint Francis Memorial Hospital is a hospital in San Francisco, California, USA. It is currently operated by Catholic Healthcare West.-History:...
in San Francisco.
Professional background
In 1974, Forsythe relocated his oncology practice to Reno, NevadaReno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
He developed cancer wards at the city’s two major medical facilities at that time, Saint Mary’s Hospital and Washoe Medical Center. He simultaneously served as medical officer in charge of Reno’s Washoe Medical Center.
In 1978, Forsythe married Earlene Marion Lombardi, a nurse at the Army Reserve Hospital. In 1993, he retired as a full colonel following 26 years of Active Army reserve and National Guard duty, the last decade of which as the State Surgeon. His wife, Earlene also resigned that year with the rank of major after serving as State Nurse. Forsythe later became an associate professor of medicine at the University of Nevada
University of Nevada, Reno
The University of Nevada, Reno , is a teaching and research university established in 1874 and located in Reno, Nevada, USA...
's School of Medicine. He also served as the medical director of five northwest Nevada nursing homes.
Medical philosophy
Disillusioned in the early 1990s by the low cure and remission rates that he was seeing among cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
patients, Forsythe began searching for ways to integrate conventional oncology approaches to cancer treatment with some of the alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
techniques that were emerging. While continuing a standard oncology practice using low-dose chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
, he gave patients the option of also using homeopathy
Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine in which practitioners claim to treat patients using highly diluted preparations that are believed to cause healthy people to exhibit symptoms that are similar to those exhibited by the patient...
and nutritional supplements as immune system
Immune system
An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
stimulation therapies. He allows his cancer patients to choose among three options:
- Conventional chemotherapyChemotherapyChemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
alone - Conventional chemotherapy with complementary therapy
- Complementary therapy alone
In the book Knockout, Forsythe described himself as "an integrative medical oncologist" whose integrative treatment approach has produced a 40 percent survivor rate after five years among patients with stage IV cancers, compared to a two percent survival rate for stage IV patients who use only conventional chemotherapy. Another innovation in his practice is his use of chemo-sensitivity testing. Each patient's blood is sent to a laboratory in Germany, where cancer cells are identified genetically to determine which drugs will work most effectively for each patient's particular type of cancer. Forsythe says this blood testing results in fewer side effects for patients, a healthier immune system, and more effective use of low-dose chemotherapy drugs that target specific cancers.
Anti-Aging medicine role
After seeing recoveries by patients who used injectable human growth hormone (HGH) for various medical conditions, Forsythe studied the substance and concluded that it might be useful in treating symptoms associated with the aging process, including arthritisArthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
, age spots, wrinkling, and excess body fat. Natural production of HGH declines decade by decade after childhood, and this decline accelerates once people reach their 40s or 50s.
Starting in the 1990s, Forsythe began testing patients for their HGH levels to determine if their pituitary gland
Pituitary gland
In vertebrate anatomy the pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland about the size of a pea and weighing 0.5 g , in humans. It is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain, and rests in a small, bony cavity covered by a dural fold...
still produced an adequate amount of this hormone. If not, he prescribed the use of injectable HGH. As he relates in his book, Anti-Aging Cures, he discovered that replacing the HGH resulted in people aged 50 and beyond experiencing a noticeable reversal in the symptoms of aging. There were no documented side effects from its use at prescribed dosages.
Arrest and exoneration
Forsythe was indicted by a federal grand juryGrand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
on September 27, 2006, and charged with one count of Causing Introduction Into Interstate Commerce Unapproved New Drugs, one count of Distribution of Human Growth Hormone, and Aiding and Abetting
Aiding and abetting
Criminal=Aiding and abetting is an additional provision in United States criminal law, for situations where it cannot be shown the party personally carried out the criminal offense, but where another person may have carried out the illegal act as an agent of the charged, working together with or...
. If convicted, Forsythe faced up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the causing introduction count and up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the distribution count.
He became the first and only physician in the U.S. to ever be charged with prescribing HGH to a patient for an off-label use as an anti-aging treatment.
On November 1, 2007, a 12-person jury acquitted Forsythe of all charges. His acquittal cleared the way for medical professionals nationwide to issue legal prescriptions for human growth hormone. The verdict also resulted in Forsythe emerging as a leader in the anti-aging medicine movement.
Published works
- Forsythe, James; Sommers, Suzanne (foreword). Anti-Aging Cures: Life Changing Secrets to Reverse the Effects of Aging, New York: Vanguard Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0984430734
- Forsythe, James. Sleep And Grow Young, Los Angeles: Red Rock Direct, 2011.
- Forsythe, James. The Healing Power of Sleep, Reno, Nevada: Fix Bay Publishing, 2009.
- Forsythe, James; and Rolle, Reno R. The Ultimate Guide To Natural Health, Ventura, California, 2007.