Daniel Rubin, ND, FABNO, recently received the 2024 AANP Physician of the Year Award for his remarkable direction as Founding President of the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians (ONCANP) and for his commitment to the future of naturopathic oncology as well as the development of integrative oncology and the inroads he has created for our profession. Dr. Rubin and Dr. Debi Smolinski own and manage Naturopathic Specialists in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The award was presented by Lise Alschuler, ND, FABNO, who said:
It is one of my greatest honors in my profession to date to introduce this awardee. Dr. Dan Rubin graduated from naturopathic medical school in 1997, 27 years ago. He immediately set out after graduating at the time when ‘naturopathic medicine’ was still a dirty word, especially where he was located. He went out and immediately started to create formulas to advance the idea of really thinking about naturopathic medicine from a very deep perspective: biochemically, but always with the whole person in mind and this came through in the formulas, the research, and the publications that came forth very quickly.
Twenty years ago was a big year for Dr. Rubin. He was a member of a group of four or five people that founded the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians and in fact was its founding president for the next five years. At the same time he founded his clinical practice, which exists to this day and is one of the most successful practices in North America, with a worldwide reputation of excellence, and at that same time, Dr. Rubin had his first child, who is now 20. Three years later, he had his second child. He is married to another naturopathic doctor, who is delightful in her own right, and very accomplished.
I have had the privilege of working with this individual since 2008, and I can tell you that one of the things I have admired about him from the very beginning is the way in which he has carved paths into conventional oncology. Not just creating some nice relationships, but actually schooling the oncology doctors in how to treat patients well.
Dr. Rubin, in the city of Phoenix, has become exceptionally well known throughout the oncology community. I have the privilege of teaching integrative physicians at the university of Arizona, many of whom come from Phoenix, and all of them know Dr. Rubin. And they don’t just know him, they respect him, and they are eager to refer their patients to him unasked. That takes a lot of work and it’s really a testament to his brilliance. He is a truly brilliant man, an out of the box thinker, he has a way of weaving biochemistry and psychology and spirituality together in this whirlwind of brilliance – so he’s really a pioneer for us in creating conventional collaborations and I feel like that is a very big part of the future of our profession.
After his stint on the OncANP, he’s been on the board of the Naturopathic Medical Board, he started on that board 14 years ago and he’s so good at it, they won’t let him leave. There’s been a lot of tough stuff in Arizona, so he’s really been there in the thick of it.
Congratulations to Dr. Rubin on behalf of the AzNMA!
