Dr. Bill
Dr. Sears, or Dr. Bill as his “little patients” call him, has been advising busy parents on how to raise healthier families for over 50 years. He received his medical training at Harvard Medical School’s Children’s Hospital in Boston and The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, the world’s largest children’s hospital, where he was associate ward chief of the newborn intensive care unit before serving as the chief of pediatrics at Toronto Western Hospital, a teaching hospital of the University of Toronto. He has served as a professor of pediatrics at the University of Toronto, University of South Carolina, University of Southern California School of Medicine, and University of California: Irvine. As a father of 8 children, he coached Little League sports for 20 years, and together with his wife Martha has written more than 40 best-selling books and countless articles on nutrition, parenting, and healthy aging. He serves as a health consultant for magazines, TV, radio and other media, and his AskDrSears.com website is one of the most popular health and parenting sites. Dr. Sears has appeared on over 100 television programs, including 20/20, Good Morning America, Oprah, Today, The View, and Dr. Phil, and was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine in May 2012. He is noted for his science-made-simple-and-fun approach to family health.
Martha, RN
Martha is the mother of eight children, a registered nurse, a former childbirth educator, a La Leche League leader, and a lactation consultant. Martha is the co-author of 25 parenting books and is a popular lecturer and media guest drawing on her 18 years of breastfeeding experience with her eight children (including Stephen with Down Syndrome and Lauren, her adopted daughter). Martha speaks frequently at national parenting conferences and is noted for her advice on how to handle the most common problems facing today’s mothers with their changing lifestyles. Martha is able to connect with both full-time, stay-at-home mothers and working mothers because she herself has experienced both styles of parenting. Martha takes great pride in referring to herself as a “professional mother” and one of her favorite quips when someone voices their concern about her having eight children in an already populated world is: “The world needs my children.”
Dr. Jim
James M. Sears, MD or “Dr. Jim,” as he is known in the office, has many titles that he is proud of including: father of three, busy pediatrician, Emmy award-winning talk show host, best-selling author, podcaster, and motivational speaker. Dr. Jim and his wife (a nurse) enjoy working together running the Sears Family Pediatrics practice that his dad started over three decades ago.
Dr. Jim Sears earned his medical degree at St. Louis University School of Medicine in 1996 and completed his pediatric residency at Northeastern Ohio University College of Medicine, Tod Children’s Hospital in Youngstown, Ohio in 1999. During his residency, he received the honor of “Emergency Medicine Resident of the Year.”
Dr Jim has been featured on Parenting.com’s “Ask the Experts,” and has written for “Parenting” and “BabyTalk” magazine. Dr Sears’ medical advice has been featured on “Dr. Phil” and the PBS parenting series, “Help Me Grow.” He is an active contributor to the content of AskDrSears.com, and is co-author of The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood (Little, Brown 2006), Father’s First Steps – Twenty-Five Things Every New Father Should Know, (Harvard Common Press 2006). The Premature Baby Book (Little, Brown 2004), The Baby Sleep Book (Little, Brown 2006) and the best selling The Baby Book – Updated and Revised Edition (Little, Brown 2013).
Previously, Dr Jim was co-host of The Doctors TV show, the nationally syndicated daily talk show. Today, he frequently travels the country speaking about the importance of good family nutrition. In his entertaining lectures, he shares many of the nutritional changes that keep his family healthy and helped him lose more than 40 pounds! He is most passionate about the vital role that nutrition plays in a variety of medical and behavioral problems.
Dr. Jim’s personal passions include endurance cycling, triathlons, sailboat racing and musical theater with his daughter, Lea. His favorite role has been Harold Hill in “The Music Man.” Other recent favorite productions include “Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat” (French brother), “The Wizard of Oz” (Cowardly Lion), “Annie” (Rooster), “Fiddler on the Roof” (Lazar Wolf) “Oliver! (Mr. Bumble) and Big River (King). In his free time, Dr. Jim enjoys snow skiing, hiking, and mountain biking (especially during a beautiful sunrise!).
Dr. Bob
Robert W. Sears, MD, is a father of three, practicing pediatrician, and a co-author in the Sears Parenting Library. “Dr. Bob,” as he likes to be called by his little patients, earned his medical degree at Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1995. He did his pediatric internship and residency at Children’s Hospital-Los Angeles, finishing in 1998. Dr. Bob is the proud father of three active boys, Andrew, age 25, Alex, age 22, and Joshua, age 16. He and his wife, Cheryl, reside in Dana Point, CA. In his spare time, Dr. Bob enjoys the California waves, mountain biking, coaching his kids’ football teams, trying to keep up with his three children, and getting lost in science fiction novels when all else is quiet.
Dr. Bob enjoys a very unique approach to pediatrics by providing a combination of alternative and traditional medical care. He has a passion for healthy natural living and incorporates this knowledge into a style of disease treatment and prevention that you won’t find in most doctors’ offices. By limiting antibiotic use, using science-based natural treatment approaches whenever possible, and focusing on good nutrition and immune system health, Dr. Bob takes preventative medicine to a whole new level. As a medical advisor for La Leche League International, he is committed to breastfeeding success for all his patients to help babies get a right start in life.
Dr. Bob has a particular passion for helping parents understand childhood vaccines and the options open to them in choosing the safest possible vaccine schedule for their child. As the solo author of The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child, his in-depth knowledge of vaccines and the diseases they prevent has helped parents nationwide get a better understanding of this complex and confusing issue.
He is also the author of The Autism Book: What Every Parent Needs to Know About Early Detection, Treatment, Recovery, and Prevention. Dr. Bob is a medical advisor for TACA: Talk About Curing Autism and speaks at TACA conferences around the country to help parents understand autism therapies.
Having had the privilege to help raise three active boys, Dr. Bob has grown fond of the “parenting” side of pediatrics. He especially enjoys talking to parents in his practice about the joys, and trials, of watching their little babies and toddlers thrive through the first several years of life.
Dr. Bob has appeared on the “Dr. Phil” show to offer advice on child behavior and parenting issues. He has also appeared on the “Ellen DeGeneres” show, CNN’s “House Calls” with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the CBS “Early Show,” and PBS’s “A Place of Our Own.”
He has written for “Contemporary Pediatrics,” “Newsweek Japan,” and dozens of regional parenting magazines across the nation. Dr. Bob is co-author of The Baby Book, The Allergy Book, The Portable Pediatrician, The Premature Baby Book, The Baby Sleep Book, and Father’s First Steps: 25 Things Every New Dad Should Know, and author of “The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for your Child” and “The Autism Book: What Every Parent Needs to Know About Early Detection, Treatment, Recovery, and Prevention.”