About the Author 

 Erica Elliott is a medical doctor, specialized in both family practice and environmental medicine, with a busy private practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

​

Erica 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. 

​

Erica’s schooling began in England and ended in Germany, where she graduated from high school.

The following summer, she pursued her interests in the arts in Florence, Italy, before returning to the States to attend Antioch College.

 

Erica came to medicine later than most medical students. She spent a decade of her life pursuing other careers and interests, all the while in search of her true purpose.

 

During her search, Erica served as a teacher for Indigenous children on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and also in the mountains of Ecuador while serving in the Peace Corps. 

 

In 1976, Erica was the first American woman to climb Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the western hemisphere. She taught rock climbing and mountaineering for Outward Bound in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and, after her first year of medical school, she led an all-women’s expedition to the top of Denali in Alaska.

 

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 while treating Hispanic and Navajo families. 

 

Before opening her own private practice, 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, Erica helped found The Commons, a cohousing community in Santa Fe where she raised her son and continues to live and practice medicine. 

 

Referred to affectionately as “the Health Detective,” she has treated people from across the country with mysterious and difficult-to-diagnose 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," the author of "Medicine and Miracles in the High Desert: My Life among the Navajo People," and "From Mountains to Medicine: Scaling the Heights in Search of My Calling."