Dr Stephan Neff
Physician • Author • Speaker
Information for podcast hosts, journalists, producers and event organisers
Thank you for inviting me to be part of your conversation.
I am a New Zealand medical doctor working in functional and integrative medicine. Before moving into this field, I spent much of my career as a specialist anaesthetist, with further experience in pain, perioperative and hyperbaric medicine.
These days my clinical and academic interests range from metabolic health and healthy ageing to environmental medicine and integrative cancer care.
I have also spent many years speaking publicly about addiction, trauma, mental health and recovery. Some of that comes from medicine. Some of it comes from having been on the other side of the consultation myself.
Suggested introduction
Dr Stephan Neff is a New Zealand medical doctor practising functional and integrative medicine. He spent much of his career as a specialist anaesthetist and has also worked in pain, perioperative and hyperbaric medicine.
His current interests include metabolic health, healthy ageing, environmental medicine and integrative cancer care. He is an author and long-time podcast host who has also spoken openly about his own experiences with addiction, trauma and recovery.
Stephan has a particular interest in the places where conventional and functional medicine meet, and in separating promising ideas from claims that have run ahead of the evidence.
Conversation topics
Cancer & Think Like a Cancer Cell
Cancer biology, metabolism, treatment resistance, integrative cancer care, complementary therapies and how patients can navigate an area full of both fascinating science and exaggerated claims.
Metabolic Health & Healthy Ageing
Insulin resistance, obesity, muscle, exercise, nutrition, sleep, metabolic drugs and the difference between merely extending lifespan and remaining well enough to enjoy it.
Functional Medicine
Why people can remain unwell despite apparently reassuring investigations, what functional medicine adds to ordinary medical practice, where testing can help—and where functional medicine can get carried away.
Addiction, Trauma & Recovery
A doctor’s experience of becoming a patient, alcohol addiction and recovery, shame, mental health, resilience and what lived experience taught me that medical training did not.
Questions you might ask me
- What made an anaesthetist become interested in functional medicine?
- What does functional medicine actually mean?
- Why can someone feel dreadful when their blood tests are “normal”?
- Has functional medicine become too obsessed with root causes?
- Which functional medicine tests are genuinely useful?
- What does it mean to “think like a cancer cell”?
- Can cancer really be considered a metabolic disease?
- Where does integrative cancer care end and alternative cancer treatment begin?
- Which complementary cancer treatments actually interest you?
- Why are cancer patients particularly vulnerable to exaggerated claims?
- What did becoming a patient teach you about being a doctor?
- What does medicine misunderstand about alcohol addiction?
- What helped you recover?
- What does healthy ageing actually look like?
- Which longevity ideas are mostly hype?
- What have you changed your mind about during your medical career?
Where I am probably not your guest
I am not interested in promising miracle cures, telling everyone to take the same collection of supplements or pretending that conventional medicine has somehow failed us.
If you are interested in thoughtful conversations about medicine, uncertainty, evidence and what we might reasonably do better, we will probably have plenty to talk about.
Credentials
Dr Stephan Neff, MD, FANZCA, DipDHM
Medical Doctor
Former Specialist Anaesthetist
Functional & Integrative Medicine Physician
Former Pain Physician (FFPMANZCA ret)
Perioperative & Hyperbaric Medicine
Author & Podcast Host
New Zealand
Links
| Social Media | Handle | |
| YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ5Rgw59jOX4y3iDeMAXpwQ | |
| https://www.facebook.com/nefffunctionalmedicine | ||
| https://www.instagram.com/nefffunctionalmedicine/ | ||
| Podcast | The Dr Stephan Neff Show — relaunching soon | |
| https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephan-neff-author/ | ||
| Amazon Author Page | https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00NXDGWOO | |
Interested in having me on your show?
I am available for podcasts, interviews, media commentary and longer-form conversations, both in New Zealand and internationally.
If you think I would be a good fit for your audience, please get in touch.