Linda Shiue, M.D.

One of the few MD’s who is also a trained chef, Linda Shiue has dedicated her life’s work to bridging the gap between the medical, nutrition and culinary worlds. She is the founder and director of Thrive Kitchen, a teaching kitchen at a large national healthcare system, where she educates patients on cooking craveably delicious, healthy meals.

A practicing internist for more than a decade, Dr. Shiue made the journey from the clinic into the kitchen to more effectively support the many patients she saw struggling with lifestyle-related medical issues, despite taking medications. Noticing the gap in conventional Western medical training to address nutrition (only a quarter of medical schools in the U.S. offer a nutrition class), Dr. Shiue formalized her own culinary education, attending San Francisco Cooking School, before staging in the kitchen of Michelin-starred restaurant Mourad in San Francisco and obtaining a certificate in Plant Based Nutrition from Cornell University.

For her first cookbook Spicebox Kitchen, Dr. Shiue shares her uniquely informed perspective on food and medicine. Using the vast world of spices and their health benefits as her guide, she takes readers on a journey through worldly and healthful flavors.

Photo by Michelle K. Min