Ruth Westreich

Activist, Artist, Business leader, Connector, Environmentalist, Idea generator, Marketer, Philanthropist, Photographer, Social entrepreneur, Writer/Editor

Ruth is the President of the Westreich Foundation, a family foundation for over 20 years. She has been a major bridging force behind the integrative medicine movement. Her expertise and areas of focus include Integrative Medicine, Functional Medicine, Natural Medicine, Palliative Care for end of life and chronic conditions, the science of nutrition, food safety, vaccine safety, and the creative arts as part of a healing experience. Ruth’s expertise and niche is being a strategic advisor to create bridges between these siloed groups to change the paradigm of healthcare in the US to a systems’ biology, personalized lifestyle focus with the patient and prevention of disease at the center. She has been a board member of the Bravewell Collaborative, Samueli Institute, Scripps Center for Integrative Health, trustee of Bastyr University and many more prevention and health creation organizations. She currently is a member of Jeff Bland’s Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute’s leadership council, a member of the American Nutrition Association’s Leadership Council, UCLA Arts and Healing BOD, The Collaborative Advisory Council, USDs Nonprofit Institute BOD, Cal State San Marcos Institute for Palliative Care advisor, UCSDs Center for Integrative Medicine BOD and committee for Patient Experience at UCSD. She was also a supporter of Mimi Guarneri and the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine and National Organization for the Arts in Healthcare and many more. She is a published award-winning author of two books. Creativity Unzipped, Why Your Thoughts Matter, (3 national awards) available on Amazon. A Nautilus Award winning photography book, Finding Ourselves on Sacred Ground, available on Amazon. One of her major accomplishments was to help found the Nonprofit Institute at the University of San Diego 19 years ago. She was the principle funder for 13 of those years establishing a Master’s and Doctoral in Nonprofit Leadership and Management. The Institute broadened to include a globally recognized research center, Governance Symposium, and many other certificate programs that support the nonprofit sector. She was the commencement speaker in April 2017 for Southern California University of Health Sciences at which time was honored with a Doctorate in Humanities. She was also elected as a member of the American College of Nutrition in 2018.

Creating a sustainable, regenerative future for all living things and healing Mother Earth

Radical Hope for a World Reimagined. The Entry Point into our Collaborative Collective Potential is Through Convening Conversations of Consequence. Each of us speak through the gifts, talents and skills unique to each of us. We speak through the work of artists, dreamers, story tellers, manifestors and generators. We should come together to envision a better world, one where we come together to confront the immensity of the challenge we face and promote care for our common home. We care for Our Common Home (Mother Earth) by Connecting, Convening, Collaborating & Building an Intergenerational Community to create a future for all. We have no Planet B. Now is the time!!

art as healing, environment, Exposome, government overreach, health creation, natural medicine, Philanthropy, science of nurition

I am just beginning to write my TED story. I am an accidental activist/artist who is creating a body of artwork about all the issues we face today as a global society that are pushing us toward being less and less autonomous and slowly losing our guaranteed freedoms. Government overreach, 5G, pollution of the oceans and our planet, the revolving door of politics, lobbying, government agencies, companies that are too big to fail. This body of work will be on display and hung at the University of San Diego in the Department of Education and Leadership for 3 quarters. The body of work will inspire curated conversations and bring in leaders/scientists and key experts in each area.

I am a very creative jewelry designer, working in silver and silver clay