Drew Pinsky

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

David Drew Pinsky

Pinsky holding a producer credit for The 1 Second Film in January 2007
Born September 4, 1958 (1958-09-04) (age 49)
Pasadena, California, United States

Dr. David Drew Pinsky (born September 4, 1958[1]), popularly known as "Dr. Drew", is an American board-certified internist and addiction medicine specialist. He teaches at the Keck School of Medicine at USC, but is best known as a host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show, Loveline, where he offers advice on a wide array of lifestyle issues.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Personal life

Pinsky was born in Pasadena, California and attended Polytechnic School; his father, Morton Pinsky, was employed as a physician while his mother, Helene Stanton, was a singer and actress. He majored in biology at Amherst College, graduating in 1980, and earned his M.D. at the University of Southern California School of Medicine in 1984[citation needed]. He served his residency at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, and eventually became chief resident there before moving into private practice. Pinsky married in 1991, and he and his wife Susan had triplets Douglas, Jordan, and Paulina in 1992. Pinsky has stated several times on Loveline that he was a contestant on an episode of Wheel of Fortune in 1984, where he received 40 gallons of Sunny Delight and a year's supply of Turtle Wax as consolation prizes.

He lives in Pasadena, California.

[edit] Loveline

While still a medical student, Pinsky began co-hosting the advice show Loveline on local radio station KROQ, with co-hosts Poorman and Scott Mason with no pay at first. Loveline went national in 1995, and the television version launched on MTV the following year, hosted by Pinsky and Adam Carolla. The MTV show ran for four years, while the radio show continues on today with KROQ radio DJ, Stryker. A companion volume, The Dr. Drew and Adam Book: A Survival Guide To Life and Love, was published in 1998.

Although referred to by patients as Dr. Pinsky, the name "Dr. Drew" came about as he started his radio career while attending med school. Not wanting to promote his own name or practice, Pinsky took the over-the-air title of Dr. Drew to separate his professional medical and radio careers. (However, like many a medical practice in which kin work in the same office, when Drew Pinsky shared office-space with his father, he was also called "Dr. Drew" there and his father "Dr. Mort.")

See also: Loveline

[edit] Other media

In addition to his radio show and medical career, Pinsky also has gained fame on television talk shows, where his medical expertise and relationship counseling abilities are highly valued. He served as "health and human relations expert" on the first season of the U.S. TV series Big Brother in 2000.

A frequent guest speaker on CNN, Pinsky has also hosted his own television series, Strictly Sex with Dr. Drew, on the Discovery Health Channel. His latest series on the same network is called Strictly Dr. Drew, addressing everyday health issues, premiered on July 25, 2006, and continues to air weekly on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm PT.

Amid the dot-com boom, Pinsky co-founded an Internet-based community and advice site for teenagers called DrDrew.com with a friend named Curtis Giesen. Among their early backers was Garage.com.[2] DrDrew.com soon ran out of funding, and the company was sold to a corporate restructuring firm called Sherwood Partners Inc., which sold the remnants to DrKoop.com in November 2000.[3] Pinsky no longer maintains any affiliation with the site, though they continue to run articles he wrote for the service in 2000-2001. In addition, Pinsky has recently become a self-proclaimed "MySpace addict"; He has publicly said he is in love with the amenities MySpace provides to Loveline.

In 2003, Pinsky authored Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again, recounting his experiences as the Medical Director of the Department of Chemical Dependency Services at the Las Encinas Hospital drug rehabilitation clinic in Pasadena, California. He also contributed to the book When Painkillers Become Dangerous: What Everyone Needs to Know About OxyContin and Other Prescription Drugs, published in 2004.

During The Real World Hollywood Joey goes to a rehab center where it turns out his Doctor is Dr.Drew Pinksy

On November 27, 2007, he began another nationally syndicated talk radio show also focusing on relationships and mental health, originating from KGIL in Los Angeles, airing weekdays from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PT.[4]

The same year, Pinsky filmed Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, a reality television show which involves celebrities in a rehab facility. The show was filmed at Pasadena Recovery Center. He served as the resident medical expert. The series premiered January 10, 2008 on VH-1.

[edit] Other work

Pinsky is a trained opera singer.[5] He made his acting debut in 2004, playing the father of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's characters in New York Minute. He has also made acting appearances on The Man Show, Wild Hogs and Dawson's Creek and as a voice actor on Family Guy, Robot Chicken, and Crank Yankers. He frequently makes appearances on MSNBC, The Tyra Banks Show and Tom Green Live. Pinsky is also a producer of The 1 Second Film, the world's largest nonprofit collaborative art film.

Pinsky frequently speaks on college and university campuses throughout the United States, on his own and, previously, with his former Loveline partner Adam Carolla.

Asteroid 4536 Drewpinsky is named in his honor.[6]

[edit] Credentials

[edit] Current positions

  • Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, *Keck School of Medicine of USC
  • Medical Director of the Department of Chemical Dependency Services, *Las Encinas Hospital
  • Active Staff Huntington Memorial Hospital
  • Host/Addiction Medicine Specialist on "Loveline" on KROQ
  • Host/Addiction Medicine Specialist on "Dr. Drew Live" on KGIL
  • Host/Main Addiction Medicine Specialist on "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" on VH1

[edit] Works

[edit] Radio

[edit] Television

[edit] Film

[edit] Books

  • Pinsky, Dr. Drew; with Robert Meyers and William White (July 2004). When Painkillers Become Dangerous: What Everyone Needs to Know about OxyContin and Other Prescription Drugs. New York: Hazelden Publishing & Educational Services. ISBN 1-59285-107-X. 
  • Pinsky, Dr. Drew (September 2003). Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again. New York: Regan Books. ISBN 0-06-009655-1. 
  • Pinsky, Dr. Drew; with Adam Carolla and Marshall Fine (1998-10-13). The Dr. Drew and Adam Book: A Survival Guide To Life and Love. New York: Dell. ISBN 0-440-50836-3. 
Preceded by
Jim Trenton		 Co-Host of Loveline
1984 –		 Succeeded by
Incumbent

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ According to the State of California. California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com
  2. ^ E-Commerce News: News: Heavyweight Investors Back Loveline's Doctor Drew
  3. ^ InternetNews Realtime IT News – Is drkoop.com Out of Sick Bay for Good?
  4. ^ "On the radio: Dr. Drew Pinsky adds KGIL to his practice", Orange County Register, November 22, 2007
  5. ^ About the Show
  6. ^ http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=4536 (See the full list of asteroids named after people)

[edit] External links

Languages