Dr. Drew
Pinsky in January 2007.
Born	David Drew Pinsky
Career
Show	Loveline
Station	KROQ-FM
Network	Westwood One
Country	United States

David Drew Pinsky (born September 4, 1958^[1]), is an American board-certified internist and addiction medicine specialist. He is much more widely known in the U.S. as radio and TV personality "Dr. Drew", the co-host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show, Loveline. On television he produces and hosts Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.

In his role as a medical doctor, Pinsky is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Keck School of Medicine at USC, Medical Director for the Department of Chemical Dependency Services at Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena, California, staff member at Huntington Memorial Hospital, and a private practitioner.^[2]

Career

My goal was always to be part of pop culture and relevant to young people, to interact with the people they hold in high esteem.

— Dr. Drew Pinsky, The New York Times, February 2008.^[3]

As The New York Times described it in February 2008, Pinsky's dual career in medicine and the mass media has required him to "navigat[e] a precarious balance of professionalism and salaciousness."^[3]

Loveline

In 1984, while still a medical student, Pinsky started appearing in "Ask a Surgeon", a new segment called of a Sunday night KROQ show hosted by Jim "Poorman" Trenton and Swedish Egil.^[4] "Ask the Surgeon" soon combined with "Loveline", another Sunday night segment, into a show of its own, co-hosted by Trenton and Pinsky.

Loveline went national in 1995, and the television version launched on MTV the following year, hosted by Pinsky and Adam Carolla. The exposure on both radio and television made Pinsky the "Gen-X answer to Dr. Ruth Westheimer, with an AIDS-era, pro-safe-sex message."^[3]

The MTV show ran for four years, while the radio show continues on today with KROQ radio DJ, Stryker.

Although referred to by patients as Dr. Pinsky, the name "Dr. Drew" came about as he started his radio career. 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.^{[citation needed]}

Other radio work

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.^[5]

Other television work

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

Pinsky starred in Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, a reality television show which involves celebrities in a drug rehabilitation 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.

Dr. Drew also has a 30 minute TV series on MTV called Sex with Mom and Dad. It airs weekdays at 7PM EST.

Other work in the media

Amid the dot-com boom, Pinsky co-founded an Internet-based community and advice site for teenagers called DrDrew.com with Curtis Giesen. Among their early backers was Garage.com.^[6] DrDrew.com soon ran out of funding, and the company was sold to Sherwood Partners Inc., a corporate restructuring firm, which sold the remnants to DrKoop.com in November 2000.^[7] Pinsky no longer maintains any affiliation with the site, though they continue to host articles he wrote in 2000-2001.

Career as actor

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.

Other work

Pinsky's $20 donation for paint gave him one of the thousands of producer credits for the The 1 Second Film.^[8]

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.

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

Honors

Asteroid 4536 Drewpinsky is named in his honor.^[9]

Dr. Drew was honored with the Larry Stewart Leadership and Inspiration Award at the 12th Annual PRISM Awards in 2008.^[10]

Credentials

• BA Amherst College^[11]
• MD University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine of USC
• Residency Internal Medicine, Huntington Memorial Hospital
• Board Certified, American Board of Internal Medicine
• Board Certified, American Society of Addiction Medicine
• Member of American College of Physicians

Feud with Tom Cruise

In June 2008, Pinsky found himself in what has been described as a feud,^[12] and a "war of words",^[13] after he stated in an interview in the July 2008 Playboy magazine that for actor Tom Cruise to be "drawn into a cultish kind of environment like Scientology", he was likely to have emotional problems. He said, "To me, that’s a function of a very deep emptiness and suggests serious neglect in childhood — maybe some abuse, but mostly neglect." In response, Cruise's lawyer Bert Fields, called Drew an "unqualified television performer" and said "He seems to be spewing the absurdity that all Scientologists are mentally ill."^[14] Drew, through his representative, apologized to Cruise, saying "Dr. Drew meant no harm to Mr. Cruise and apologizes if his comments were hurtful."^[15]

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^[11], 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. His hobbies include opera and traveling.^[4]

Works

Books

• Pinsky, Dr. Drew (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. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Pinsky, Dr. Drew (September 2003). Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again. New York: Regan Books. ISBN 0-06-009655-1. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Pinsky, Dr. Drew (1998-10-13). The Dr. Drew and Adam Book: A Survival Guide To Life and Love. New York: Dell. ISBN 0-440-50836-3. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Footnotes

External links

• Dr. Drew at IMDb
• Template:MySpace
• Dr. Drew Messageboard
• 2003 radio interview by Barbara Bogaev on Fresh Air
• "Dr. Drew's Celebrity Addiction Special" at the VH1 website
• Dr. Drew Pinsky Biography