175: Yes To Life Show with Robin Daly MBE and guests Dr Ron Hunninghake & Dr Kirsten West175: Yes To Life Show with Robin Daly MBE and guests Dr Ron Hunninghake & Dr Kirsten West
UK Health Radio Podcast
Robin Daly talks with Dr Ron Hunninghake and Dr Kirsten West about whole brain medicine, linking neuroscience, integrative care and cancer treatment. They discuss balancing mechanistic and holistic approaches, stressing purpose, connection and lifestyle alongside conventional oncology.
46:11•4 Jun 2026
Whole Brain Medicine: Joining Science, Spirit and Cancer Care
Episode Overview
- Whole brain medicine blends left brain precision (diagnostics, oncology protocols) with right brain perspective (context, meaning, relationships) for more rounded care.
- Focusing only on mechanistic, illness‑fixing medicine is linked by the guests to rising metabolic issues, cancer, depression and other chronic conditions.
- Addressing underlying factors such as sleep, diet, environmental toxins, stress, relationships and sense of purpose is framed as essential to long‑term cancer outcomes.
- Integrative medicine aims to combine conventional treatments with holistic approaches like nutrition, nature, music therapy and support groups, centred on each individual.
- Concepts like sublation and the corpus callosum are used as metaphors for moving beyond "I’m right, you’re wrong" thinking and finding higher‑level solutions in healthcare.
“If we don't address the underlying factors that allowed the tumour to emerge, we haven't done a full job for the cancer patient.”
Curious about how others manage complex illnesses like cancer beyond pills and procedures? This Yes To Life Show episode brings together Robin Daly with Dr Ron Hunninghake and Dr Kirsten West to chat about what Dr Hunninghake calls "whole brain medicine" – a way of caring for people that values both hard science and the bigger picture of a person’s life.
You’ll hear them trace three “medical revolutions”: the first, a mechanistic, illness‑fixing model that gave us antibiotics and sterile surgery; the second, a more holistic, right‑brain approach that asks what makes someone well; and the emerging third, which tries to unite the two.
As Dr West puts it, naturopathic medicine is about "what makes me well instead of what makes me sick," and she links our rising rates of metabolic illness, cancer and depression to a too‑narrow focus on fixing parts rather than caring for whole people. A big theme is the balance between left and right brain.
Drawing on Dr Ian McGilchrist’s work, they compare the left brain to an emissary – brilliant at detail, diagnosis and oncology protocols – and the right brain to the master, holding context, meaning and connection. The corpus callosum becomes the “bridge” that either lets these perspectives talk to each other or keeps them at odds.
As Dr Hunninghake says, "If we don't address the underlying factors that allowed the tumour to emerge, we haven't done a full job for the cancer patient." Expect talk of purpose, relationships, sleep, diet, environmental toxins, nature, music, and human connection, all woven together with examples like high‑dose vitamin C at the Riordan Clinic and the growing field of integrative medicine.
If you’re wondering how science, spirituality and everyday life might sit side by side in cancer care, this conversation gives plenty to chew on – where might whole brain thinking fit into your own health journey?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.
Related Episodes
Similar episodes from other shows in the catalogue.