Academic Notes: AMSA & NMSA, UCLA, Harvard, NUHS, NIH-Yoga, Yale, NYCC, New Consortium Members, plus
Written by John Weeks
Integrative Advances: AMSA & NMSA, SPARC, UCLA, Harvard, NUHS, NIH-Yoga, Yale, NYCC, New Consortium Members, plus
Summary: Breakthrough:
American Medical Student Association formally recognizes the
Naturopathic Medical Student Association as an affiliate ... Fønnebø to propose a "peace treaty" in "research battleground" at May 18 SPARC meeting ... Harvard
integrative clinic featured ... UCLA program offers seven approaches to
back pain in consumer-focused event ... Formerly chiropractic-only
schools gain recognition for AOM and ND programs ... Yale's kick-off
event draws overflow crowd ... NIH to have May Yoga week ... U Mass
natural products Master's degree now largely internet-based ... BU and
Northwestern Feinberg medical schools bring to 41 the members of the Consortium of
Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine ... Master's in
Integrative Health in development for 2008 at National University, San
Diego.
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Naturopathic student leader Cheri King
1. MD and ND Student Associations Forge Formal Ties
Over
the past few years, naturopathic medical students representing most of the
North American naturopathic programs and organized as the Naturopathic Medical
Student Association (NMSA) have made pilgrimages to the national conferences of
the American Medical Student Association(AMSA). Their goal: secure formal
standing to participate in programs and dialogues with AMSA’s members. One, as shared with the Integrator by Cheri King, NMSA president, is participation in AMSA’s leadership programs and other activities that
are part of the 68,000 member organization’s $3.3 million budget. (NMSA, by
comparison, is a recently established, almost entirely volunteer operation.)
NMSA views participation with AMSA as a way of forming relationships that will
allow them to begin to participate more deeply in diverse healthcare
initiatives.
At the March 12-16, 2008 AMSA convention in Houston, much of NMSA's work to gain standing came to fruition. In a report on the conference, King, a second year
ND student, shares that, by separate resolutions of the AMSA House of
Delegates, both NMSA and the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians(AANP), with which NMSA is affiliated, have been accepted as official liaison
organizations by AMSA. In addition, a naturopathic physician who is now a
conventional medical school student, Red Hoffman, ND, was selected to serve as
AMSA’s coordinator for Humanistic Medicine. Finally, NMSA’s co-chair for its work
with AMSA was selected to serve as “group coordinator” for AMSA’s Naturopathic
Interest Group. King also reported that numerous webs of relationship were formally established.
Comment: Kudos to students in both of these
disciplines for this initiative to connect with each other formally. Quality
relationships between disciplines are optimally formed through respectful
inter-relationships in one's formative years as students. I am reminded of the increasingly evident truism that paradigms shift when the old finally die. The
corollary here is that they shift when the young break the bonds of past prejudices and forge new relationships.
2. Fønnebø, at the Interdisciplinary SPARC to Propose "Peace Treaty in the Research Battleground"
The cluster of academic centers behind the Symposium for Portland Area Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine(SPARC)
represents a unique collaboration between conventional medical,
naturopathic, Oriental medical and chiropractic schools, plus a health
plan. May 18, 2008 will be the third annual SPARC conference, keynoted
this year by Vinjar Fønnebø, MD, PhD a leading international figure in promoting the expansion of whole practice and whole sysetms research. Fønnebøis director of the Norway's National Research Center in Complementary and Alternative.
The SPARC group is a national leader in this area. In fact, one of
their presenters last year, Lynn Shinto, ND, MPH, is keynoting this
topic for a research meeting hosted by Bastyr University on April 25,
2008. A great, short audio-visual clip
from Fønnebø speaks of the "battleground" between conventional research
and what is needed in the CAM worlds. Fønnebø
promises to propose what he calls a "peace treaty" between the two
perspectives which will "move the whole field forward." Be there or be
square.
Pioneering dance therapist Lucy Gonda
3. UCLA Collaborative Centers: Seven Views on Back Care
One
direct-to-consumer approach to opening eyes to complementary therapies was
offered recently through the UCLArts & Healing and promoted in the Spring 2008 issue of the newsletter of the UCLA Centers for Complementary and Integrative Medicine. The program offered, in one
evening, seven different approaches via a panel led by
Alexander technique expert Jean Louis Rodriguez. Approaches demonstrated,
beside Rodriquez' specialty, were Feldenkrais, physical therapy, pilates,
Iyengar yoga, Tai chi and Dance Movement Therapy. The latter was offered by my
long-time colleague Lucy Gonda, a pioneer in that field, which is led, nationally, through the American Dance Therapy Association.
The program maxed out
attendance with over 350 attendees. The sessions were taped and will be
available as streaming video through the UCLArts & Healing website. Disclosure: I am pleased to be integrating my (distant) past as
a would-be poet/artist with my current work via an invite from Ping,
which I accepted, to serve on her board at UCLArts & Healing.
4. Harvard Integrative Clinic Subject of Lengthy Feature
This belated notice is simply to let any of you know that the Boston Globe ran a long feature on the new integrative medicine clinic developed by David Eisenberg, MD, and associated with the CAM exploration at Harvard University. Entitled 'Sticking His Neck Out," the December 17, 2007 story documents the arrival of the Osher Clinical Center for Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies. The center is located ast a principal Harvard teaching affiliate, the Brigham and Women's Hospital. The clinic's medical director is long-time integrative medicine physician Donald Levy, MD. Eisenberg is quoted as describing the clinic as "comprehensive care ... optimal care,
given what we know now and all the therapies available."
Membership climbs to 41 academic centers
5. Conventional Academic Consortium Admits Two new Members - Now 41 Med Schools
Boston University School of Medicine. The program is led by Robert
P Saper, MD
Northwestern
University Feinberg School
of Medicine. The program is led by Melinda
Ring, MD, FACP.
The two new members brings to 41 the number of
academic health centers in Canada and the United States which are part
of the now 76-year-old Consortium. Roughly 30% of the US medical
schools have programs which are members - up from a dozen when the
group was incorporated.
6. Expansion of the Multidisciplinary Complementary Academic Center/University Model
Two recent notices on accreditation-related action at
schools which were once stand-alone chiropractic colleges underscore the emergence
of academic health centers which feature multiple complementary and alternative
healthcare disciplines. In March 2008, the naturopathic medicine program in the
college of professional studies at Lombard, Illinois-based National University
of Health Sciences(NUHS) was granted candidacy for accreditation by the Council
on Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME). (This brings to 7 the number of North
American ND programs with some standing with the CNME.) NUHS, formerly National
College of Chiropractic, also boasts new acupuncture and Oriental medicine
(AOM) programs which are about to face candidacy review by the Accreditation
Commission on Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine(ACAOM). Meantime, New York
Chiropractic College (NYCC), located on 300 acres in upstate New York, received
news that its AOM school gained accreditation from ACAOM. NYCC has no plan at
this time for changing its name, however, to reflect its broader offerings.
Sponsorting Yoga week at the NIH
7. Yoga Week Promoted
at the NIH
John
Kepner, MBA, executive director of the International Association of Yoga
Therapists (IAYT) notified me that National Institutes of Health
Recreation and Welfare Office is the primary sponsor of “Yoga Week” at the
NIH, May 19-23, 2008. An announcement entitled “NIH Debuts First Annual Yoga Week,” creditsRachel
Permuth-Levine, PhD, MSPH, acting director for the Office of Strategic and
Innovative Programs at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute(NHLBI) with originating the idea.
She is quoted: "Yoga is an energizing activity to incorporate
into your lifestyle. Whether you're a novice or experienced student, we
encourage you to learn from and enjoy the activities during Yoga Week."
According to the note, participants will not
only learn about the benefits of yoga but also "experience them first-hand
through stretching and practice." Kepner, who was the leading force behind the 2006-2007
Integrator series which exploring the maturation of Yoga Therapy, sent the Integrator a quick note on the program which
stated: “I have found your open letter to the new NCCAM director and the
related articles quite interesting, including your thoughts on the issue of the
lack of first-hand experience many may have with actual CAM practices and research. That series has thus made me more sensitive and appreciative of the
upcoming Yoga Week debuting at NIH,
including firsthand experience.” IAYT is
helping to sponsor the event.
Comment: This is an excellent step. I would suggest that, if all goes well, the Community Acupuncture Network should volunteer to offer some weekly group acupuncture sessions onsite, for stress reduction if for nothing else. After all, it must take a toll, routinely rejecting 90% of those who come knocking.
First conference a success
8. Yale Integrative Medicine Program A Success
The
first Integrative Medicine Symposiumat the Yale School of Medicine was a success, more than filling
the space allowed. Ather Ali, ND, MPH, a program leader, shared that the room held just 155 but "we let in 170-175."Attendee Jim Lehman, DC, a member of the faculty in the
chiropractic program at the nearby University of Bridgeport, reports that the
event “was a success in my
opinion.” He adds that “the Dean [Richard Belitsky, MD] was quite supportive and
enthusiastic” and that “everyone expressed their appreciation for the work of
[medical student] Rachel Friedman” who was the most significant force in creating Yale's IM program. (See "Yale Integrative Medicine: A Story of Growing Acceptance from Medical Leaders," November 14, 2007.) Lehman notes that, representing his own field of chiropractic, Anthony Lisi, DC,
"gave an excellent evidence-based presentation that discussed the strengths and
weaknesses of chiropractic care." Added Lehman: "The workshop presentation and his
plenary presentation of a chiropractic managed case were well received by the
attendees." Some of the content is available here on YouTube.
9. U Massachusetts Masters in Applied Natural Products More Accessible Via New Format Lana Dvorkin-Camiel, PharmD reports that the Master of Applied Natural Products Degree
was "launched successfully" last year through the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. A new plan, to commence Fall 2008, will make the program more accessible via the web. In the new format, "most semesters will combine a 5-day hands-on, on-campus intensive
experience" which will then be "complemented by online course work."Dvorkin-Camiel directs the program. Areas of focus include Herbal
Medicine, Pharmacognosy and Phytopharmacology, Dietary Supplements, Functional
Medicine, Natural Products Informatics and Epidemiology. Information is available here. 10. National University in San Diego to Offer Masters in Integrative Health
San Diego's National University has issued a preliminary announcement of a new Master's Degree in Integrative Health which is proposed ot start in Fall 2008. Among the topics are global whole medical systems, integrative and holistic healthcare, spirituality and health, and integrative health practice management. Students will have a practicum at the University's Center for Integrative Medicine.
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