The Beneveda Medical Group

Thom E. Lobe, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.A.P., is the founder and medical director of Beneveda Medical Group in Beverly Hills, California. A native of Baltimore, he obtained a bachelor's degree in 1971 from George Washington University before attending medical school at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He earned his medical degree in 1975, graduating cum laude and with special honors in pediatrics. During medical school, Dr. Lobe took time out to train with the former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D. and with leading physicians at Harvard and Johns Hopkins Medical Schools. He then moved to Columbus, Ohio where he trained at The Ohio State University Hospital in general surgery and at The Children's Hospital in pediatric surgery.

After his training, Dr. Lobe moved to Galveston, TX where he was Chief of the Pediatric Surgery Service at the University of Texas Medical Branch. During his eight years there he made national news as being among the first to successfully separate a particularly difficult variety of Siamese twins and perform a complex reconstruction of the airway. He was recruited away from Galveston to start the first pediatric surgery-training program in the south at the University of Tennessee in Memphis and LeBonheur Children's Medical Center. While there, Dr. Lobe distinguished himself as the director of that training program by leading the world in the development of laparoscopic and thoracoscopic surgery in children. He wrote the first textbook on the subject and pioneered many novel techniques. He also pioneered the first medical journal devoted to advanced surgical techniques in children, of which he is still the editor.

Throughout his career, Dr. Lobe always maintained a strong interest in complementary and alternative approaches to complex problems. He convinced the dean of his medical school to begin a program in instruction for medical students. Dr. Lobe remained in charge of that program for over a decade, before he was recruited to Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa to pioneer advances in minimally invasive surgery. With his associates there, he became the first to develop an advanced technique to perform major head and neck surgery through a set of small incisions in the armpit. These procedures leave the patient with no visible or unsightly scar and no pain.

In his pursuit of excellence in his alternative medicine practice and teaching, Dr. Lobe has traveled and met with many of the world's leaders in the field, including Dr. Andrew Weil. Dr. Lobe also shared a position as an advisor to the Institute for the Study of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong with the eminent Brian Berman, M.D., and founder of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. Dr. Lobe also succeeded in obtaining an additional degree for his training in naturopathic medicine and has his boards in both medical hypnosis and medical acupuncture. Dr. Lobe has written more than 200 books, book chapters and peer-reviewed articles. He is currently working on his latest book The Wellspring Within: Living Life in Harmony and Balance. He has also lectured worldwide on nearly every continent. Dr. Lobe has also found time to study law and complete a Physician's Executive Masters in Business Administration degree program at the University of Tennessee School of Business in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was there that he focused on the development of his ideas for a new kind of medical practice, combining the best of conventional, complementary and alternative medicine.

As an innovator, Dr. Lobe is also a board member and founding advisor to Neatstitch, L.L.C., a laparoscopic instrument company based in Israel and now in the United States. He is also the innovator and co-founder for Visual Medical Solutions, L.L.C., the producers of BodyViz, a new medical imaging tool for surgical planning and medical education that make use of virtual reality engineering to improve patient care. Dr. Lobe enjoys spending time with his wife, a neonatologist, and his two daughters, both of whom are interested in health and wellness. His hobbies include writing, traveling, fly-fishing, scuba diving and sailing. His passion is learning what works best in his practice of alternative medicine so that he can teach people of all ages how to live healthier lives.