Steve Heilig

Ram Dass on Being a Patient

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics July 1, 2000 Steve Heilig

Ram Dass, formerly Richard Alpert, is a prominent American spiritual teacher who earned a Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford and taught there and at Harvard before traveling to India, where his guru gave him the name Ram Dass ("Servant of God"). He has been active in charitable service organizations, especially those providing healthcare to underserved populations. His books include Be Here Now, How Can I Help, Compassion in Action, and Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying, which addresses navigating life's later stages with spiritual wisdom.