Dr. Gabor Maté is a retired physician whose career spans more than 20 years in family practice and palliative care, followed by over a decade of work in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with people facing addiction and mental illness. An internationally respected speaker and the bestselling author of four books translated into twenty-five languages, he is widely recognized for his insights into addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the connection between stress and illness. His book on addiction was honored with the Hubert Evans Prize for literary non-fiction. In recognition of his medical and literary contributions, he has received the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian distinction, as well as the Civic Merit Award from his hometown of Vancouver. His books include In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction, When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection, Scattered: How ADD Originates and What You Can Do About It, and, with Gordon Neufeld, Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers.
We are deeply grateful to welcome Dr. Gabor to the Soltara advisory team and to benefit from his guidance on our project. Drawing on extensive medical experience and a profound understanding of trauma work, mental illness, addiction, and plant medicine healing, he supports our commitment to education, integration, and creating a safe environment for holistic healing.
Dr. Maté’s areas of expertise include addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the link between stress and illness. With more than two decades of experience in family practice and palliative care, he also spent over ten years working with patients in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side who were affected by drug addiction and mental illness. He is a bestselling author whose four books have been published in twenty-five languages, and he remains an in-demand speaker around the world. His book on addiction received the Hubert Evans Prize for literary non-fiction, and his work has been recognized with both the Order of Canada and Vancouver’s Civic Merit Award.