Deepak Chopra biography

Synopsis

Early Life and Career

Born Deepak Chopra in 1947 (he claims to have forgotten his exact birthday) in New Delhi, India. The son of an eminent cardiologist, Krishnan Chopra, Deepak at first spurned his father's career path, wanting instead to pursue a career as a journalist. Eventually, however, he became enthralled with the subject of medicine and enrolled at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in his native city.

Chopra envisioned a career in Western medicine, and in 1970 moved to the United States, leaving his home country with just $25 in his pocket and the promise of a residency at a hospital in New Jersey. Following the residency, Chopra landed in Boston, where he quickly rose to chief of medicine at New England Memorial Hospital (now called the Boston Regional Medical Center).

Despite his rising career, Chopra became disenchanted with Western medicine and its reliance on prescription drugs. The work began to wear on the promising doctor, who would later claim that he smoked up to a pack of cigarettes a day and drank consistently. "Very unhappy people, physicians," he has said. "The relatives of patients with whom they deal are demanding, litigious, intimidating. That's the environment of medicine. Most of my fellow colleagues were very stressed; a lot of them were addicts. I used to experience the most extraordinary frustration and tightness. My great fear was getting into trouble. Malpractice suits are a big deal in the United States."

It's during this time that Chopra read a book on transcendental medicine that changed his life, and eventually his career path. As his interest in alternative medicine deepened, so did his view on the limits of Western medicine.

After a meeting with transcendental mediation guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Chopra quit his job at New England Memorial Hospital and started the Maharishi Ayur-Veda Products International, a company that specialized in alternative products, like herbal teas and oils. Co-founded with the Maharishi, the company successfully launched Chopra into the world of alternative medicine. Chopra helped oversee the creation of several affiliated clinics and, among the rich and famous like Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, and fashion designer Donna Karan, Chopra became a household name.

The Celebrity Doctor

By the early 1990s, Chopra had split off from the Maharishi and relocated to California, where he became the executive director of the Sharp Institute for Human Potential and Mind/Body Medicine. But he eventually clashed with his bosses and, in 1995, he started the Chopra Center for Well Being in La Jolla.