Maimonides many attributes include his being a practicing physician. While in Fez, Morocco, Maimonides learned medicine from Arabic sources. By the time his family settled in Cairo his reputation as a great physician was growing. He was appointed Court Physician to Al Malik Al Afdal Saladin, the Vizier of Egypt. Maimonides held many controversial views on the basic premises of medicine, some of which are still being debated today. He believed that the mind had a direct affect on the body and that the body could not be healed if the mind did not agree with the curative process. This was a revolutionary concept at that time. During the time he worked in Cairo, Maimonides authored twelve health treatises in Arabic, contributing much to the knowledge of medical science at the time. Included among his brilliant monographs were commentaries on asthma, hemorrhoids, hypochondria, poisons, and the concept of healing as an art. He also compiled the first organized glossary of medicinal drugs.

מתוך המבוא: הספר הזה אגרת הרפואה או הנהגת הבריאות... [נדפס] בכרם חמד ח"ג [תקצ"ח]... מתוך כת"י משובש וחסר... וזה מספר שנים... מצאתי את האגרת הזאת... מוגה ושלם באין מגרעות... והיום נתתיו... להדפיסו... עמ' 55: חתימה מפרקי אבוקראט. מרקחת בדוקה. נעימה ומתוקה. אוצר השירה והפיוט, ג, עמ' 182, מס' 2440. ווינער (עמ' 379, מס' 3197) רושם שם הספר "הנהגת הבריאה" ושנת הדפוס מפורשת: תרמ"ה, 1885. מספר העמודים 60.