Dr. Edell began his career as one of the first "media doctors" in 1978 of KGO Radio in San Francisco. He has been the host of numerous television series on health, including programs for the Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, and national syndication, and was the author of the Edell Health Letter, published from 1982 to 1994. Over the past 20 years of broadcasting, he has won numerous media awards for his on-air work, including the C. Everett Koop Media Awards competition, the Edward R. Murrow Award, a national Emmy, the American Cancer Society recognition award, the American Heart Association award, and other prestigious medical and media awards.

A native of New York, Edell studied zoology as an undergraduate student at Cornell University and then earned his M.D. at Cornell University Medical School in 1967. Edell moved to California to do his residency at the University of California at San Diego. An ophthalmologist and surgeon, he set up private practice in San Diego and served as an instructor of Anatomy and a clinical instructor at the Department of Surgery for the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine.

Edell gave up his private practice to pursue personal interests and eventually moved to Sacramento where he served as medical director of the County Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Center. He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1980.

In his personal life, Edell has designed custom jewelry, collected antiques, and been involved in organic farming over the years. He studied Fine Arts at the New School in New York City and has lectured on the subject at U.C. Davis. Edell's paintings and drawings have been exhibited at art galleries in Manhattan and elsewhere.