Integrator Reader Suggestions for the Top 10 from 2009
Written by John Weeks
Integrator Reader Suggestions for the Top 10 Events/Action and People from 2009
Summary: The annual publication of an Integrator
Top 10 list always leaves room for reader submissions of their
recommendations. This year brought some excellent suggestions, for both
Top 10 Actions and Events and the first time, Top 10 People. From the responses, we have proved
that we are well integrated into popular culture: the People list
stimulated more responses. Here are the Integrator reader nominations from 2009.
Send your comments to
for inclusion in a future Integrator.
This year the Integrator, taking the
lead from the Academy Awards which is doubling the number of Best Picture nominees, broke with tradition and published not one but two Top
10 lists. The first is the original Coming of the Light list which focuses on Top 10 Actions and Events from 2009. The second was a Top 10 People from 2009.
In both cases, the list had just 9 slots filled, leaving one for
readers. Here are your nominees, some given anonymously, and some for
which I sought and obtained a right to print the attribution. Enjoy
reflecting on these contributors to our work - plus Taylor Walsh's set of a other top 10 lists which might be interesting which might be interesting in the future.
____________________________
Integrator Reader Nominees for Top 10 from 2009
Under Top 10 Events and Action, readers submitted the following:
Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine
The phenomenal engine for change in medical education and practice that is the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine was directly recommended by one reader while another recommended the Center's founder, Andrew Weil, MD (see below). The Integrator reporting has touched on some of the array of work the Center has accomplished in the era of executive director Victoria Maizes, MD, MPH,
including development and expansion of an integrative medicine in
residency program and the Corporate Health Improvement Program located
there. The group of ACIM program directors speaks of the richness of the Center's activities. ACIM has been under-reported. More in 2010!
Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium
"I would nominate IHPC for
giving
integrated healthcare patients and providers a direct line to The Hill.
I
believe this is the first time we have been able to speak together as
the
diverse community we are." This nomination came in prior to the Top 10 People list in which Janet Kahn, PhD, IHPC's executive director, was honored. IHPC, the leading multidisciplinary
organization which is representing integrative practices and integrated
care on Capitol Hill was instrumental in inserting inclusive language in a healthcare workforce section of US Senate legislation, supported successful work to get some non-discrimination language
in the bill (though less than what IHPC sought), was part of the
coalition which the Samueli Institute organized to support the Wellness Initiative for the Nation, urged stakeholder response to the NCCAM strategic plan and supported their work with a series of Action Alerts.
Two nominated the same organization with which they - and I - happen to be involved. This one's up to you: Do you think it deserves inclusion?
Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care
"I nominate ACCAHC for its first formal consortium to consortium
joint working meeting with the (Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine-CAHCIM)
at the North American Research Conference on Complementary and
Integrative Medicine!" This first time event, involving some 80
educators was noted in the Top 10 People via the honoring of Victor Sierpina, MD,
the immediate past chair of CAHCIM who was instrumental in making the joint meeting
happen. In addition, a massage therapist educator recommended ACCAHC
for its role in placing the only CAM stakeholder on the planning
committee for the February 25-27, 2009 National Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public.
The individual who served, Elizabeth Goldblatt, PhD/MPA/HA was
successful in helping increase the inclusiveness of the Summit
participants.
A nomination that is part Events and Action and part Top 10
People is a mind-body program in which a major health system is linking
with a major corporation, via an entrepreneurial healer.
Robert Levine, PhD and Chrysler's Mind-Body Health Program
Program developer Robert A. Levine, PhD
Like ACIM, an area under-reported in the Integrator but
rightfully nominated this year is the remarkable group services program
Robert Levine, PhD has developed through his employer, the Henry Ford
Health System, and offered to Chrysler employees. The initiative which
has continued since was covered here in 2007.
Levine took the Top 10 invitation as a time to remind me about a unique program
to which I will soon return for a follow-up even as Levine works to expand and offer
it to employees with Dow Chemical:
"I am pleased to nominate myself for #10 (you know how modest
I am ...!) This would be a great way to bring more notice to the
group programs I have been offering and won awards for. So far we have
offered 14 programs to nearly 1,000 employees of Chrysler and Henry Ford Health
System. Every program has been effective for pain elimination (between 35-55%
of chronic pain conditions). All programs had significant reductions in
perceived stress, disability, and depression symptoms. Sleep quality improved
significantly in all programs. We are also, as far as I know, the first to
track stress ELIMINATION, which we define as a person being free of automatic
unhealthy reactions circumstances (stress definition) greater than 95% of the
time. I think this will turn out to be a big deal when we publish what we are
doing in this regard. Recent programs where we have been tracking this have
been between 15 and 30% stress ELIMINATION by participants- pretty fantastic!! ... We are starting to get some real traction for helping large
numbers of people with our group programs."
"Fun list and happy to see several people on it, including my dear
friend and colleague Karolyn Gazella. I am a fan of David Matteson for
consideration. He has consistently worked behind the scenes of several
influential developments in integrative medicine. This past year, he
has supported the emergence of the AANP into its governance model, he
helped to connect the [Natural Products Association] to practitioner
organizations including the AANP. He helped to orchestrate the
inclusion of Tai Sophia and Bob Duggan, president, into integrated
discussions on the Hill and inter-organizationally. And, he was very
influential in bringing together the AHMA, ACAM, AANP, AHNA, ACCAHC and
CAHCIM in our convention (2008) and the subsequent on-going
collaborations that have followed.He has also continued to work with
the massage therapy association in Washington State and has worked with
the chiropractors in the past."
Bill Manahan, MD, a family medicine educator at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, holistic medical leader and Integrator adviser sent the following:
"Nice job with your top ten.
Most of us love lists, so your top ten people and events is fun to read
(and, of course, agree or disagree with). I have a few names that I
think have done great work in advancing integrative medicine this past
year. Here are the four that I nominate:
Robert Anderson, MD
Robert Anderson, MD
"Bob Anderson
will be stepping down as Executive Director of the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine. He was done on
December 31, and Nan Sudak, MD will be taking over as
ED. Bob began that certification process for integrative holistic
physicians over 10 years ago, and there are close to 1500 diplomats now.
As soon as Andy Weil gets on board and learns to encourage his graduates to
take the test, Board Certification will become even more
popular. Bob has been a quiet, yet incredible and inspirational leader in
the field for over 30 years.
Andrew Weil, MD
Weil: perennial influencer
"Andy Weil continues
to do amazing work in spreading the word of integrative holistic
medicine. With the beginning of his on-line integrative residency, I
think he has truly helped move integrative medicine out to masses of
physicians. Andy is on my top ten list every year, but his expanded residency
makes him especially deserving this year.
James Gordon, MD
Gordon: for educational work and new book
"Jim Gordon also continues to do amazing work. His Food as
Medicine, Mind/Body, and Cancer Coaching courses continue to train
large numbers of practitioners with the skills needed to become
integrative practitioners. He also continues to do wonderful work
overseas with the poor and disenfranchised. Jim, like Andy, qualifies
for my top ten list every year because of what he continues to do in
the integrative field, but his excellent book on depression this past
year [Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey out of Depression] makes 2009 a special one for
him."
Manahan then added a note that "John Weeks
continues to do incredible reporting on the changes occurring in integrative
medicine. The Integrator Blog is the only national magazine, website or
newsletter that truly attempts to bring all the healers, specialties, and
modalities under one roof. John, you are the unifying agent
that is helping to promote true collaboration among all the disciplines, and
you deserve the award for 2009 because of the great reporting you continue to
do. These would be my top 4."
Along this same line, Lou Sportelli, DC, author and president of NCMIC, an Integrator sponsor, wrote: "No.
10 the personal success undertaken by
John Weeks 'who walked the walk' with his own journey back to health
by incorporating the entire gamut of 'traditional medicine,'
complementary medicine, and every aspect of mind-body intervention to
regain health and return to a position of doing what he loves and work
ceases to be work. That is a phenomenal
testimony to conviction and
courage put into action." [Editor's note: Manahan and Sportelli are
each individuals I have been lucky to consider as mentors though the
years. I am pleased, if a little embarrassed, that each took the time
to send these notes, particularly after the year that was.]
Taylor Walsh offers his own list ideas
Integrator contributor Taylor Walsh, whose last piece was on a meeting of scientists on the integrative medicine and comparative effectiveness research, took a different tack. He wrote: "Great lists" then added: "Regarding who/what else might be included, I thought of slightly different twists that suggest two other kinds
of lists (maybe for next year) ... "
LIST A. Top Health Trends That Need IM/IH Involvement
"1. The
employee-wellness initiatives rising out of Safeway's internal operations (that
gave rise to the "Safeway" component in the Senate bill. I don't know where that stands in the
legislation); three related outcomes: Bravewell's partnership, Dr.
Oz's "HealthCorps, and the
curious Center for Employee Wellness and Health Promotionin the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute that is apparently employing CAM therapies in
its planned research for 2010.
"2. Examples of
improved awareness and/or greater acceptance of CAM:
Inclusion of therapies in the spa industry
CAM
use in hospitals
Growth
of regional combo allopathic/CAM practices
Positive media accounts (the opposite of LIST B next)
Addition of healing spaces in facility and landscape/garden construction (i.e.,
"wellness centers" being added as part of hospital expansions; new
one here at a DC hospital")
LIST B. The Worst (Most Amusing? Least Helpful?) Misconceptions
about CAM in 2009"
1. Pick from
among news and other public descriptions."
Comment: These are all fine nominations and
suggestions. I am particularly interested in those like Anderson, Matteson and Levine who are less sung yet impact participants in our work.
No offense of course to Weil and Gordon. Maybe I should just say anyone who has a cash prize from Bravewell is off consideration, though their work - like Brian Berman's new Institute, can be considered. Regarding Walsh's list ideas: perhaps from time to time in 2010 the Integrator will send out queries to all of you on a list we can jointly build.
Send your comments to
for inclusion in a future Integrator.