
He may look like your eccentric uncle but Hunter Doherty Adams, better known as Patch Adams, actually holds a doctorate in medicine courtesy of Virginia Commonwealth University. He is also the founder of the Gesundheit! Institute, an organisation aimed at integrating traditional medicine with Adams’ alternative treatments. Once a year, volunteers from the Institute dress as clowns and visit hospitals all over the world to entertain patients. In 2008, Adams was made honorary chairperson of the International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment (IAACM).