Paul M. Gahlinger

Paul M. Gahlinger, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., FACOEM, (born August 5 1953 in Green Bay, Wisconsin) is an American scientist, physician, and author. His books include Computer Programs for Epidemiologic Analysis (1993), Northern Manitoba from Forest to Tundra (1995), The Cockpit: A Flight of Escape and Discovery (2000), Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to Their History, Chemistry, Use and Abuse (2001) revised edition (2004), Health for Pilots: A Complete Guide to FAA Medical Certification and Self-Care (2002), and ''Drugs and Justice: Seeking a Consistent, Coherent, Comprehensive View” (2007).

Introduction
Paul Gahlinger is the son of Anton Gahlinger and Margrit Frei, both of whom were citizens of Switzerland. His father was a career military man who commanded the Swiss cavalry during World War II and later served as the Captain of the Swiss Guards under Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII. The family subsequently emigrated to Canada, where his father worked a farm until his death in (1959). The father’s early death plunged the family into poverty. Paul Gahlinger left school at age 14 to become a farm worker, and later worked underground at Giant Mine gold mine near Yellowknife in the Canadian Northwest Territories and a logger for MacMillan Bloedel Limited in British Columbia. At age 20, he gained entry to college despite lacking a high school education or diploma. He eventually achieved a B.A. philosophy, M.A. and Ph.D. anthropology, M.P.H. epidemiology, and M.D. degrees. He studied at numerous universities, with degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Davis. (Information taken from “The Cockpit”). In 1984, he was awarded the annual prize in Philosophy of Science by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his paper, “The Assignation of Cause” arguing that causality is an operational construct that cannot be determined empirically. In 2001, he was elected to Fellow and Master of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Dr. Gahlinger is a citizen of Switzerland, Canada, and the United States. In 1992, he attained notoriety when he flew a small airplane from California to Egypt, which is described in The Cockpit.

In 1996, Gahlinger became Chief Medical Officer of Johnston Atoll, a chemical weapons demilitarization site in the mid-Pacific. Under his stewardship, the island obtained JCAHO (Joint Commission) and ISO-9000 accreditation and certification by the Chemical Weapons Convention for healthcare. For these achievements, he was awarded a medal of distinguished service by the United States Army.

Current work
Dr. Gahlinger is best known for his research and publications on substance abuse and illegal drugs. In particular, his popular textbook Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to Their History, Chemistry, Use and Abuse 2004, New York: Penguin Group, Plume is regarded as the most comprehensive reference on illegal drugs and is used for courses at hundreds of universities and colleges in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. He is co-author of Drugs and Justice: Seeking a Consistent, Coherent, Comprehensive View Oxford University Press, 2007. His commentary on illegal drugs has been presented in numerous television and radio programs on topics ranging from Opium production in Afghanistan to the influence of cocaine on Robert Louis Stevenson Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of Utah a Biomedical Space Research evaluator for NASA, and consultant on medical tourism. He is listed by Consumers’ Research Council of America as one of “America’s Top Physicians.”