Dodgen lecture--2002 vaccine controversies: Past and present.

Stephanie F. Cave

Stephanie Cave was born in New Orleans, Louisiana--the second of four children. She had considered majoring in journalism in college, but her older sister talked her into a career in medical technology. The first three years of college were in Baton Rouge at LSU. The clinical year was done at Ochsner Foundation Hospital, where she graduated in 1966 with honors.

Prompted by her husband in 1978, Stephanie applied to medical school and fulfilled a dream. She attended LSU Medical School in New Orleans for four years and graduated with an M.D. in 1983. The next three years were spent at Earl K Long Hospital in a Family Practice Residency. In 1986 she was board certified in Family Practice.

In 1967 she married Donald Cave, attorney, and had three sons over the following four years. At that time she was also working in laboratory medicine. Clinical chemistry was always a favorite of hers. She taught medical technology, pre-med, and pre-dent students in the Allied Health Department at LSU for ten years. During that time she obtained a Master of Science in clinical chemistry from the LSU Medical School in New Orleans, Louisiana.

From 1986 to the present time, Stephanie has been in the private practice of medicine in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is also on the clinical faculty at LSU Medical School in New Orleans. Her practice started out as a typical family practice but it has evolved over time into an integrative medicine practice. Because her main interest for years had been chemistry, she incorporated metabolic treatment into her practice, using very few prescription drugs. Most of her practice involves mapping and normalizing biochemistry.

For the past five years, one focus of the practice has been the treatment of autism spectrum disorder. She and her associate, Dr. Amy Holmes, see and treat over 900 autistic children. The realization that children received high levels of ethylmercury in a number of vaccines led them to establish a protocol for the removal of the metal. As a result, many of the children have normalized in physical characteristics and behavior.

Stephanie testified in a Congressional hearing on mercury in vaccines in July, 2000 and has just finished a book entitled What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations. In the book, she gives parents information about the vaccines in the hope that they can make intelligent choices on how to safely vaccinate their children.

She and her associate travel extensively, giving seminars and talks to educate the public about the vaccines and the treatment of autism. In addition to autism. She treats a variety of other medical problems using the metabolic mapping including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, hormone imbalances, and allergy. Stephanie Cave describes her practice as enjoyable, satisfying, and stimulating. In spite of having had several careers, she still describes herself as "an old med tech."