Our Philosophy

Early on in my career as a doctor practicing Family Medicine in my hometown of Montreal, I had occasion to see a number of patients being treated for various kinds of cancer. These people came to consult with me via referrals from local health food stores. I had a reputation as being one of those rare physicians at that time who recommended good dietary habits and vitamin-mineral supplementation. These people wanted information about these things hoping to improve their chances of feeling better and living longer.

During my years of medical training, I had not had occasion to see a lot of cancer patients actively undergoing chemotherapy treatment, but I got a good long look at quite a few of them during these cancer/vitamin consultations in my office. I was disturbed at how sick they looked and by their lethargy.

Their sallow yellow/brown complexions were almost a trademark stamped over their faces - denoting them as "the cancer patient." The numerous accompanying family members had their own distraught looks of fear and apprehension. They were watching their loved ones slowly suffering and dying. I can't say that the few vitamins and bits of dietary advice I handed out had any impact. It felt like I was hunting Canada geese armed with nothing but a fly swatter. Medicine needed more research, training, infrastructure, health-promoting products and life-style. Because of my experiences and frustration with all this, I was moved through a personal resolve to create something to help these cancer patients. Not long after expressing this resolve to myself, I came to learn about IPT Insulin Potentiation Therapy. That was in 1975. Now, thirty years later, I am practicing IPT, getting my share of good patient results and for that I am eternally grateful.

Why am I doing this? Because in my class on Medical Ethics back in second year at the University of Ottawa Medical School, I remember reading in my little pamphlet on the subject that were a physician to discover something of value while working to help his patients, it would be his/her ethical responsibility to communicate such findings to his/her medical community. And so I am.

Medical innovation is no walk in the park. Medical history is replete with tales of this or that medical breakthrough being ignored for years because of the conservatism and skepticism within the contemporary medical community. Dr. Louis Pasteur was one such beleaguered, innovative physician. He responded bitterly to his profession's criticisms of his work with these words:

"I live in a world of which you know nothing, and to which you have no entry!"

Personally, I have taken some lumps along my path of dedication to innovation, and now I believe I have grown in my understanding of what constitutes real change. So, borrowing the words of Dr. Pasteur above, now I would say and with the accompanying heartfelt addition:

"I live in a world of which you know nothing, and to which you have no entry

and it is my dedication to create entry for you into this world that I know."

-- Steven G. Ayre, MD