Joe and Terry Graedon

The People’s Pharmacy got its start in 1972 in Oaxaca, Mexico, where Terry Graedon was doing research in medical anthropology and Joe, a pharmacologist, was writing a consumer handbook that explained medications in an understandable, friendly style.

It was the beginning of the Graedons’ life-long dedication to helping people make informed decisions about their health. Today, Joe and Terry Graedon are co-hosts and producers of The People’s Pharmacy national call-in program, airing weekly on public radio; authors of a weekly newspaper column widely distributed in the U.S. and abroad; and authors of many more books in the People’s Pharmacy series.

Terry holds a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan and did a postdoctoral fellowship in medical anthropology at the University of California, San Francisco. Joe earned the master’s degree in pharmacology from the University of Michigan. He has taught at UCSF School of Pharmacy and is on the Board of Visitors at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, School of Pharmacy, where he also holds an adjunct clinical appointment. Both Joe and Terry have taught at Duke University School of Nursing, where they were Harriet Cook Carter distinguished lecturers in 1999.

The Graedons are frequent guests on television news and information programs to discuss issues relating to drugs, herbs, home remedies, vitamins and related health topics. Appearances include public television, Dateline NBC, “20/20,” “Extra,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Good Morning America,” “CBS Morning News,” and “NBC Evening News with Tom Brokaw.”

Books by Joe and Terry Graedon include:

The People’s Pharmacy (four editions since 1976)

Graedons’ Best Medicine: From Herbal Remedies to High-Tech Rx Breakthroughs (Bantam, 1991)

Aspirin Handbook: A User’s Guide to the Breakthrough Drug of the ’90’s (Bantam, 1993) with Tom Ferguson, M.D.