Director, Research and Development

Dr. Ralph Locke
PhD., ND, B. Med. Sci, B.Soc.Sci [Hons], B.Div, OM

Dr. Locke has wide experience in social and psychological aspects of medicine, has conducted professional research in integrative medicine designing many leading educational and health-creation programs. He is a former professor of social and administrative medicine with over thirty years of experience in training and research. Dr. Locke was trained in Australia and the United States in anthropology, psychology and medicinal science as well as natural medicine.

After completing his doctoral studies in Australia, he was the recipient of a CSIRO post-doctoral fellowship, which he took up at MIT and Harvard. His subsequent career involved senior positions at a number of American and Australian universities. During this time he became intensely involved in working with indigenous people and research in traditional healing methods and their relationship to biomedical science, psychology and psychiatry. His work also included research in states of consciousness and human potentials at Duke University while also undertaking innovative work in medical education as professor in social and administrative medicine at UNC.

Dr. Locke brought this wealth of experience with him in setting up HealthQuest. As a result, HealthQuest has attracted staff who are interested in new and effective ways to deliver education and contribute to the development of the person and community. This has reflected Dr. Locke's long-standing interest in approaches to education, research and community building which stand alone and run in parallel to government and established interests.

In 1989, Dr. Locke established the Spirit of the Earth Medicine Society [SOTEMS] as a platform for teaching traditional spiritual and medical systems, integrating them with medicine and psychology and for developing an Australian spiritual philosophy and practice. SOTEMS now operates in all states of Australia and works in close relation to HealthQuest.