Jeff Schweitzer,PH.D

Scientist    |   Thought Leader   |   Author   |    Lecturer   |   Media guest expert

Both as a scientist and former Whitehouse Advisor to President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, Dr. Jeff Schweitzer has an unprecedented perspective in the confluence of science, politics, government policy, religion & morality.  

He is an experienced media TV guest, passionate and articulate, with a natural ability to engage and transfix any audience. As an internationally recognized speaker, he is a master at communicating complex ideas in terms easy for all to understand.  Dr Schweitzer has a particular knack for drilling down to the essence. He inspires diverse audiences ranging from the most powerful to the most humble.  Following his career as a research scientist, then advisor of Science & Technology to President Clinton & Vice President Al Gore, Dr. Schweitzer has committed himself to promoting a rationalist approach to improving the human condition.  He writes full time, is a featured presenter on the Huffington Post with over 500 blogs, and the author of five books. 

ABOUT Dr. JEFF SCHWEITZER

Under the Clinton Administration, Dr. Schweitzer served as Assistant Director for International Affairs in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), which is an Executive Office of the President of the United States.

Schweitzer was responsible for providing scientific and technological policy advice and analysis directly to President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and the Director of the OSTP. He worked with President Bill Clinton’s cabinet and 22 U.S. Government technical agencies, and with countries throughout the world, in climate change, biology, physics, chemistry, geophysics, agriculture, oceanography, environmental and marine sciences. He established the permanent Global Forum on Science and Technology, sometimes referred to as the Mega Science Forum, at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to promote greater international scientific collaboration.

During his tenure at the White House, Schweitzer negotiated science treaties with other countries on areas of cooperation. He lead the delegation and was responsible for the first treaty with Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Science and technology topics of negotiation items included energy, environment, transportation, agriculture and aviation.

Schweitzer’s work at the White House included monitoring other countries to look for any advances in science and technology that would be useful or threatening to the United States. Sometimes the work and related information was classified.

As Assistant Director for International Affairs in the OSTP, Schweitzer oversaw 3000 projects in 80 countries - And from that perch, he saw that there were real consequences of the policies that we implement in Washington D.C. affecting the lives of millions of people around the world.

Today, as an author, scientist, political commentator and proponent of scientific skepticism, his work is largely devoted to educating the masses about the important interrelationship between politics, science, morality, and religion.

MORE THAN JUST A smart TALKING HEAD.

There's no doubt, the world we inhabit has become more 'complicated' this year. Dr. Schweitzer has made it his life's work to expose major political, scientific and morality issues -- a rationalist effort to prevent needless suffering and unsustainable environmental practices. For over a decade, Jeff has been sounding the alarm that we’d end up in times like these if we didn’t take heed.  Oh, it made for great TV and controversial Huffington Post articles, but his skeptics thought “Surely, Schweitzer’s warnings can't be accurate. None of that could ever come to pass. “ -- But they did.  Now, Schweitzer's controversial topics resonate more than ever -- as an ever increasing global population demands to know the truth.

• Science/Biology

• Politics/Government

• International Affairs

• Religion

• Climate Change

• Bio-Diversity

CONFIDENT & FACT CHECKED

Scientists live in a 'fact checked' and 'triple validated' state of mind. None more so than Dr. Schweitzer. His unique way of applying science and reason to every imaginable topic has made him a fascinating guest expert on a diverse range of shows.  From daytime talk to hard-hitting news. From CNN to Playboy Radio. And just about every format in between. At a time when people are literally marching in the streets for science and facts, Jeff Schweitzer’s expertise is more timely than ever. 

EVEN the TOUGHest CRITICS respect his work.

Dr. Schweitzer garners respect even from his toughest adversaries because his insights, perspectives and expertise are undisputed. As a Whitehouse advisor to President Clinton & Vice President Al Gore, it was his job to focus on the facts.  And today, that keeps him on point, interesting and relevant to even broader audiences. Even critical thinkers like talk show host Bill Maher agree. Here is what he had to say about Schweitzer while endorseing one of his books: 

PROVACATIVE & ENGAGING Media TOPICS.

Dr. Schweitzer's impressive credentials and media topics are not limited to the typical 'science expert' talk. His knowledge base and range lead one savvy Playboy Radio producer to book him as an guest on the 'female orgasm' topic. Dr Schweitzer ended up transfixing one of the most provocative radio show audiences on air. Read more about how this brilliant producer got record breaking response from listeners after having Dr Schweitzer on his show and ended up inviting him back for an unprecedented 11 shows!  Scroll down to see a few topic highlights or dream up your own show with an out-of-the-box concept for Dr. Schweitzer. 

** PLAYBOY Case Study and program topics go here: **

DR. Schweitzer MEDIA TOPICS INCLUDE:

TOPIC:  Natural Morality or 'TICKETS TO HEAVEN'

 FAITH or FACT:   Where does our 'Natural' morality come from?

Over the past 2000 years, The Bible has remained a #1 BEST SELLER.

Most would agree, morality by "The Book”  obviously does not work. Since a master painter like Picasso would never "paint by numbers” — why should we use an outdated “morality by numbers”  approach to improve our quality of life— it just doesn’t add up.

Morality By Numbers

Historically, countless leaders, using “hand-me-down" religious doctrines, have skillfully suppressed the natural ability of an individual to organize and rationalize their own moral outcomes. Using far out Fantasia like fables, established as “truth” over generations-- leaders confuse, control and convince the mind into believing their “synthetic” moral codes come directly from God. Regardless of good or bad motives, these same religious leaders end up gaining extreme power, riches & fame— all at the expense of others. The greater losses occur when leaders convince large populations to defend these antiquated religious beliefs in large scale wars or persecutions. To date, death toll statics estimate as high as 195 million humans perished directly or indirectly to a religious based morality conflict. Perhaps “morality by numbers” is humanities very first Weapon of Mass Destruction. 

(why just take their “WORD" for it )

The Science Behind 'Natural Morality’ -  it’s in our DNA

New scientific evidence clearly demonstrates that nature has been rewarding species who reject un-rational beliefs like these and instead organize and work together for the common good. As with dolphins, who evolved a highly effective natural moral code over the past 35 million years -- incremental improvements towards longer life spans get recorded deep in our genetic code. These true to life survival success stories of mutually beneficial community building behaviors get passed down through DNA every time we reproduce. As we become more willing to let go of outdated religious beliefs superimposed on us — the innate 'Natural Morality' recorded in our DNA can once again "kick in" — providing each individual with a more authentic sense of connection to one another and the environment.

TOPIC:   POLITICS & RELIGION - A Toxic Relationship

Over the past 2000 years, The Bible has remained a #1 BEST SELLER.

Most would agree, morality by "The Book”  obviously does not work. Since a master painter like Picasso would never "paint by numbers” — why should we use an outdated “morality by numbers”  approach to improve our quality of life— it just doesn’t add up.

Morality By Numbers

Historically, countless leaders, using “hand-me-down" religious doctrines, have skillfully suppressed the natural ability of an individual to organize and rationalize their own moral outcomes. Using far out Fantasia like fables, established as “truth” over generations-- leaders confuse, control and convince the mind into believing their “synthetic” moral codes come directly from God. Regardless of good or bad motives, these same religious leaders end up gaining extreme power, riches & fame— all at the expense of others. The greater losses occur when leaders convince large populations to defend these antiquated religious beliefs in large scale wars or persecutions. To date, death toll statics estimate as high as 195 million humans perished directly or indirectly to a religious based morality conflict. Perhaps “morality by numbers” is humanities very first Weapon of Mass Destruction. 

TOPIC:   The Curse of FALSE EQUIVALENCIES

 When opinion gets equated with fact: all reality is lost.

1.     The media have made a tragic error in creating a false equivalency between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

2.     Clinton is by any definition qualified to be president, hate her or not. Senator, Secretary of State, veteran of a previous presidential campaign, a major player on the global stage, Clinton has the history and experience typical of presidential candidates consistent with all who have come before.

3.     In stark contrast to Clinton or those who came before her, Trump has no credentials that would make him a viable candidate for president. The huge and potentially existential mistake the media have made is to include Donald Trump in that group of qualified candidates.

4.     With the exception of some vocal opposition, coming, incidentally, from traditionally conservative press, most media outlets are failing their mission to question Trump’s qualifications by giving his campaign extensive coverage, while ignoring or laughing off gaffs that would destroy other candidates.

5.     Media with a liberal bias make the mistake of reporting on Trump as a legitimate candidate in an effort to be “impartial” and “fair” thereby committing the sin of assuming that every debate has two sides, that all arguments are equally valid.

6.     Both left and right-wing media are biased. But in total, there is on the left no equivalent of the massive, organized, intentional bias seen on the right.

7.     Compared to the never-ending coverage of the deaths of four Americans in Libya, I can find not one single Fox News or conservative media reports on the eight Americans killed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; not one story of Jim Mollen’s murder, and none on the murder of Edward Seitz. Are their lives less worthy than those who died in Libya?

8.     Fox aired hundreds and hundreds of segments on an alleged cover-up and stand-down order that they knew to be wrong.

9.     Fox News gleefully covered the Benghazi hearings with no filter. Bradley F. Podliska, a staffer to the committee, openly stated that the investigation was designed to harm Clinton politically. (

10.  In our brave new world, the collective opinions of thousands of professional meteorologists studying our climate have been equated to nothing more valid than the uneducated opinion of a radio host.

11.  We falsely equate opinion with fact. Donald Trump is not the problem, we are.

Related Dr. Schweitzer articles published on the Huffington Post web site:

• 09/07/16  -  Media Bias & The Curse Of False Equivalency

• 11/10/16  -  Requiem for an American Blogger

• 11/02/16  -  Asymmetric Warfare: Trump vs. Clinton

• 10/26/16  -  Asymmetric Warfare: The Fight Against Conservative Smear Campaigns

• 10/11/16  -  I Have More Respect For Trump Voters Than Undecided Ones

• 08/08/16  -  Opinions Are Overrated

TOPIC:   VOODOO MEDICINE

A candid look into the unregulated multi billion supplement industry. Modern day 'Snake Oil'?

1.     Swimming powerhouse Michael Phelps, purple-spotted from cupping therapy, and an old uncle with a beer gut share a bond: weakness to the allure of voodoo medicine.

2.     Modern-day snake oil salesmen hawking quick cures and TV doctors peddling the latest diet miracle with blatantly ridiculous claims are everywhere on the tube, social media, the supermarket and old-fashioned billboards.

3.     Evidence-based medicine (often called western medicine) has, of course, its own set of serious problems and significant limitations.

4.     Flaws in modern medicine are, in theory, amenable to improvement because the foundation is evidence-based, which is not the case for claims that are made with no attempt at rigorous evaluation—like cupping.

5.     There is no credible clinical evidence that cupping is anything more than a placebo—or one big hickey—with no medical benefit at all.

6.     If this ancient Chinese treatment really worked over millennia, why aren’t Chinese athletes doing cupping therapy?

7.     Like their cousin cupping, faddish cryotherapy and chelation also offer an alternative to actual medicine, with no scientific support of the benefits they claim to provide. And the list goes on and on: Ayurvedic medicine, aromatherapy, homeopathy, shamanism, naturopathy, Hopi Indian ear candling, Sekkotsu, Christian faith healing, stem cell therapy, probiotics…

8.     These therapies and treatments all share the same fatal flaw; none has undergone rigorous clinical studies to determine safety and efficacy.

9.     It’s like claiming that eating a bag of peas each day will cure your ills, but only if eaten at noon. This claim becomes convincing if the familiar face of a celebrity or if an actor dressed as a doctor, removing a pair of glasses to simulate intimacy, solemnly testify to the benefits of this practice.

10.  Intersection of Voodoo Diet and Medicine: Of all the voodoo treatments mentioned, my personal favorites are those meant to address the curse of “inflammation,“ because these claims are the perfect confluence between voodoo medicine and diet.

11.  Voodoo Nutrition and the Curse of Supplements: We are sold hormone supplements, told the benefits of “anti-inflammatory foods” and promised results if we only would take acetyl coenzyme A. These promises cannot be kept because they defy the simplest laws of biology and physics.

12.  Not only do you not know if the supplement you take has any health benefit at all, you actually don’t know if you are taking the supplement you intend.

13.  Dr. Oz is conning you, feeding you pure nonsense, selling miracle cures no better than snake oil vendors.

14.  Cupping, Ayurvedic medicine, hormone supplements, anti-inflammatory foods are just a small sample of crazy. It’s not even the tip of the tip of the iceberg.

Related Dr. Schweitzer articles published on the Huffington Post web site:

• 08/12/16  -  Voodoo Medicine: Time To Stop

TOPIC:   DEADLY NEW CLIMATE DISEASES

 What climate deniers & anti-vaccine movements all share in common.

1.     The anti-vaccine movement gives us the clearest picture of how the far left and extreme right have become one stubborn bloc of boneheads impervious to the inconvenience of objective truth.

2.     The anti-science rants from the right about climate change and the far left campaign against vaccines meet at a common point of ignorance about tropical disease.

3.     Why Zika now? As with the emergence of West Nile in the United States, we are witnessing the inevitable march north of tropical diseases as a direct result of a warming planet.

4.     Vaccines are the most important, effective, and safest medical advance in all of human history.

5.     If enough people do not get vaccinated, the entire community may suffer because “community immunity“ becomes jeopardized.

6.     Ignorance, false claims to expertise and scientific illiteracy are threatening our children’s health.

7.     If you oppose vaccinations you are willfully condoning the death of an additional 3 million children every year

8.     Repeat after me: there is no evidence, none, zero, absolutely nothing, to link vaccinations with autism. It is a myth, a fallacy, factually incorrect.

9.     Of course absolutely nothing is 100% safe and effective; sitting on your couch with a helmet does not guarantee an airplane tail won’t fall through your roof and kill you.

10.  The awesome, amazing benefits of vaccines vastly, incredibly, outrageously outweigh any potential risk.

TOPIC:   BE SKEPTICAL ABOUT CLIMATE DENIERS

(and the politicians who get paid to lie to us)

1.     Few concepts are more poorly understood or more abused than skepticism.

2.     Saying that “I am a skeptic” has little meaning because that is a stance; more meaningful is a statement like, “I am open to accepting a claim if presented with sufficiently convincing evidence.”

3.     Ordinary incredulity (what people typically call skepticism) arises when in principle doubt can be removed by discovering the truth of some claim or statement.

4.     Climate change deniers do not have the high privilege of being called skeptics. No amount of data, no convincing evidence, and no degree of proof would ever convince a denier that climate change is real.

5.     It is perfectly reasonable to start out unconvinced that humans are causing our climate to change. But that shifts to cynicism and faith-based opposition with the inability to modify that position in the presence of overwhelming evidence.

6.     Climate change denial is a form of cynicism and as such is the antithesis of skepticism; it is the closed-minded pre-determined rejection of any and all data that might validate the claim that our climate is changing.

7.     We must not confuse an open mind with gullibility. A mind open to change in the face of convincing data is not equivalent to credulous acceptance of a claim absent of evidence.

8.     We have the circumstance in which deniers reject a conclusion for which we have overwhelming evidence but accept wild claims for which there is none.

9.     Ironically, the demand for proof is conspicuously and gloriously absent when the question turns to patently false claims about fat-burning foods or a host of bogus promises relating to diet and nutrition, or the link between autism and vaccines, or the economic viability of nuclear power, or clean coal, or alien landings, or the Bermuda Triangle, or virtually anything that is not climate change.

10.  There are no climate change skeptics; only faith-based climate change cynics.

Related Dr. Schweitzer articles published on the Huffington Post web site:

• 08/18/16  -  Skeptical About Climate Deniers

TOPIC:  SCIENTIFIC ILLITERACY

What happens when political opinion trumps scientific fact.

TOPIC:   DETOXING THE PLANET

How to sustain the planets resources & escape extinction. 

SCIENCE & THE WHITE HOUSE

Pandemics         Health Care         Abortion         Vaccinations         Climate Change

Science is public health, security, national security, food, economy - everything about our future depends on it.  In a world increasingly reliant on science and technology, marshaling the benefits of science to improve society is critical if we want to advance the American century.  Only at the national level can we implement policies allowing us toswitch to renewable energy, conserve clean air and water, protect biological diversity, enhance food production to feed a growing population, improve education, cure cancer and other diseases, protect all the resources that sustain us.  

When it comes to all things SCIENCE AND THE WHITE HOUSE, Dr. Jeff Schweitzer is one of the most qualified media guest around. 

TOPIC:     SCIENCE FRICTION

TOPIC:    THE MYTHS OF LIFE & DEATH

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