Luke Weil | Co Founder

About five years ago, I travelled to the amazon in an effort to address some issues with which I'd long struggled. While there, I observed first-hand the incredible healing power of its plants and medical practioners.

I saw people getting treated, successfully, for illnesses far more serious than anything I was contending with, illnesses that I then thought untreatable. One case in particular, a woman with a serious and debilitating auto-immune disorder, was instrumental in transforming my beliefs around medicine and healing. She was suffering immensely when I arrived. She had tried multiple hospitals and doctors in France, none of whom could treat or even diagnose her condition. After seeming initially possibly close to death, in just two weeks she had improved dramatically, and ultimately made a complete recovery. 

I knew we had to build something. One of the healers had already put some thought into a proper clinic, and we parlayed this into the vision for Rios Nete: a modern clinic, up to Western standards, which would practice and study traditional Amazonian medicine within a Western medical framework, featuring Western doctors, a nursing staff, a clinical psychologist and laboratory. 

We partnered initially with my friend Tyler Gage and Runa Foundation, who brought critical know-how and expertise, and together amassed a medical advisory board, which includes doctors and medical professional from the VA, Stanford and Yale. With support from crucial allies, we have laid the foundations for the world’s first modern Amazonian medical research center.