Integrative Medicine, Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Health Round-up #65: March 2013
Written by John Weeks
Integrative Medicine, Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Health Round-up #65: March 2013
Policy -Perspectives of 8 clinician leaders offer whole system view of the policy priorities for the integrative medicine and health community -Website open for muti-stakeholder campaign promoting IOM's recommendation of integrated pain care -Loan repayment: DCs, LAcs and NDs in Indian Health Servicesprogramrenewal; NDscut by CMS fromOregon rural health program
Ben Kligler, MD, MPH: calling for economic data
Integrative Care -From Google Alerts: Links to Integrative Medicine in Health Systems and Communities: March 2013
-Academic integrative medicine leaders top list of new advisers to American Botanical Council -Integratoradviser Glenn Sabin on the branding of integrative centers -Communications primer for "CAM" professionals seeking relationships with conventional MDs Philanthropy -Bravewell to honor Tracy Gaudet, MD and Miles Spar, MD at final awards banquet -Nominations open for 2013 $250,000 Dr. Rogers Prize Academic Medicine -IOM workshop reveals that integrating interprofessional education has kindred challenges with integrative care -Naturopathic doctor selected to direct HSA-funded National Coordinating Center for Integrative Medicine -Alliance for Massage Therapy Education publishes teacher standards -Student leads naturopathic medical school (Bastyr) and conventional medical school (UCSD) to form joint integrative medicine club Industry -Forbes portrays new "patient engagement" movement as powered by big industry -The CHP Group recognized as a top place to work in Oregon
Nancy Gahles, DC: urges action on non-discrimination
Professions
-Holistic and environmental medicine associations join forces for Gateway Medical Conference in St. Louis, April 17-21 -The bull by the horns: naturopathic association engages member survey on vaccination practices Research -Nine integrative centers in BraveNet launch patient outcomes registry -Mayo study of cardiac patients shows 82.5% use "CAM" and 31% use chiropractors Media -Burn down the mission: conventional medical system torched again in Time article Natural Products Industry Awards -American Botanical Council's Blumenthal honored; ABC announces its 2013 awards -American Herbal Products Association announces herbal industry awards for 2013 People
-David Eisenberg, MD now executive vice president at the Samueli Institute -Jeffrey Bland, PhD, shifts professional center to Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute
___________________________________
Policy
Biggest conference yet in 10th year
Perspectives of 8 clinician leaders offer whole system view of the policy priorities for the integrative medicine and health community
Eight clinicians from 5 disciplines is hardly a significant sample. Yet in Integrative Medicine Clinicians on Policy: Bland, Gahles, Hui, Kligler, Luck, Hudson, Gorman, Jones, the short comments from the 8 clinicians, all but one of whom are not principally involved in policy, offer a rich composite of what the integrative medicine and health community might set as a strategy were it to act as a coalition. Each was interviewed at the 2013 Integrative Healthcare Symposium which drew over 1000 clinicians.Those interviewed were Jeffrey Bland, PhD, Nancy Gahles, DC, CCH, Wendy Warner, MD, ABIHM, Ben Kligler, MD, MPH, Tori Hudson, ND, Ka-KIt Hui, MD, Susan Luck, RN, MS, CHN and David Jones, MD.
Ka Kit Hui, MD: focus on the Triple Aim
The strategic elements are found in the repeated themes. One is to look beyond typical clinical
boundaries into connection with families and communities. This is linked to the need to develop and create evidence
of quality integrative clinical models that move us toward a strategy that is fundamentally aligned withBerwick's Triple Aim. The critical importance ofgenerating data on cost-saving to advance access, even if not a clinician's favorite subject, is high-lighted.An opportunity to jointly work to promote the value in the non-discrimination in health care provision of the Affordable Care Act (Section 2706) is suggested as an opportunity for action now. Suggestions of two others underscore that coordinated action may be somewhat premature. They argues that community must figure out what its joint messages are and then put its weight behind some form of organizationalor lobbying entity.
Comment: I was struck by these patterns in this rather random sample among the 1000 potential interviewees at the 10th annual IHS event in New York, February 28-March 2, 2013. Their responses aren't a bad start for a policy strategy. Theconference, with which I contributor, is affiliated with IntegrativePractitioner.com/IHS. Each are business lines of Diversified Business Communications. Interesting that a private business has become the most significant aggregator of the integrative health community.
Multistakeholder group pushes integrative pain strategy
Website open for muti-stakeholder campaign promoting IOM's recommendation of integrated pain care
Martha Menard, PhD, CMT: integrative practice voice on PAINS steering group
Comment:Pain treatment has been at the front edge of integrating "alternatives" since the emergence of chiropractic and more formally with the inclusion of manipulative therapies, massage, acupuncture and some mind-body in the Joint Commission's 2000 pain guidelines. The true measure of greatness for Christopher and PAINS, relative to its "integrative" model, will be whether it is able to imbed the concept of a therapeutic order into integrative treatment.
More chances for NDs. LAcs, DCs
Loan repayment: DCs, LAcs and NDs in Indian Health Servicesprogramrenewal;CMS cuts NDs despite Oregon state rural health inclusion
Sources credit "spirited work of Alaska chiropractors" for the decision of the U.S. Indian Health Services (IHS) to keep chiropractors, acupuncturists and naturopathic doctors in the IHS loan repayment program. The inclusion allows clinicians from these fields to have some loans forgiven if IHS centers and clinics hire them with their limited resources. Data are not readily available on the extent to which practitioners from these fields are expected to find their way into these programs. In related news, a recently
replenished pot of $4-million to the state of Oregon from the Center
for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will re-open a state-run
loan-payback program for serving rural areas in that state. However, CMSoverruled that state's inclusion of naturopathic physicians in that program and rule them out of participation in using the federal funds.
Comment:States' rights anyone?
Integrative Care From Google Alerts: Links to Integrative Medicine in Health Systems and Communities: March 2013
This
monthly report includes 16 selected segments on integrative medicine
developments in health systems and the community for February 11,
2013-March 7, 2013. These came via Google Alerts requests for"integrative medicine," "integrative oncology" and "complementary and integrative medicine." Surprise of the month is the development reported in Kentucky hospitals.
Adrams: new ABC adviser
Integrative medicine leaders top list of new advisers to American Botanical Council
When the American Botanical Council recently announced 17 new members of its Advisory Board,
the list was remarkable for the penetration of integrative medical
doctors. Among the 17 were: UCSF integrative oncologist and former head
of the Society for Integrative Oncology Donald Abrams, MD;
Scripp's-based integrative cardiologist Mimi Guarneri, MD; Gary Asher,
MD medical director of integrative medicine services at University of North Carolina’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Support
Program; Alan M. Dattner, MD, a pioneer in holistic dermatologyat Albert Einstein College of Medicine; and Robert Alan Bonakdar, MD, the director of pain management
at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine. Another academic with an integrative medicine affiliation, William Morris, PhD, DAOM, LAc, president of the Academy of Oriental Medicine
at Austin’s (AOMA) Graduate School of Integrative Medicine, was also among those named.
Sabin: blogs on branding integrative centers
Integratoradviser Glenn Sabin on the branding of integrative centers Integrator adviser and and integrative center consultant Glenn Sabin has posted a perspective on the optimal naming of integrative centers.He dismisses "alternative" as a relic. Of "holistic" he writes: "It’s a whole person, 'holistic' approach we are aiming for. But for your
center’s name, let’s not harken back to 1960s vernacular. Dig? Using 'holistic' in your collateral, communications, and if you have to, in
your tagline, is perfectly fine. But leave it out of your brand name." In his piece, How to Improve Your Integrative Medicine Brand Identity he argues that "integrative medicine' and 'integrative health' are the most
contemporary and appropriate terms for most integrative-directed
providers." The work includes a link to Sabin's own list of some of the centers nationwide, using the integrative term, or offering integrative services. Communications primer for "CAM" professionals seeking relationships with conventional MDs
Columnist and consultant Christian Nix has produced a useful column for training acupuncturists and other licensed integrative health practitioners on how to work with conventional medical doctors. It's called "10 Cardinal Sins Acupuncturists Make: Learn to Interact with Mainstream Physicians the Right Way."Part tactics in interprofessional education and part marketing, Nix's guide begins with a hard fact: success in integration is more about"how you present
yourself and explain what it is you do than ... clinical
outcomes."He warns against spending much time explaining clinical philosophy. He throws down the gauntlet: "Reaching physicians is about asking and then shutting up and listening." Nix, author of a book called The Tao of Integration, states in his bio that he is the founder of the first hospital-based acupuncture residency in the country.
Comment: The educators from the licensed "CAM" disciplines in the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC)developed a document entitled Competencies for Optimal Practice in Integrated Environments. The goal was not unlike Nix's.Competence in one's clinical skills is assumed. The trick is to have the cross-cultural skills to enter another nation state. These range from interprofessional communication to knowing about the language and practices of mainstream medicine. Nix's sometimes uneven 10 point list has the flavor of real world experience to serve as study material or curricular content for any "CAM" person prepping for such relationships.
Philanthropy
Tracy Gaudet, MD
Bravewell to honor Tracy Gaudet, MD and Miles Spar, MD at final awards banquet
The Bravewell Collaborative of philanthropists in integrative medicine has announced that it will "confer its final leadership
awards" to Tracy Gaudet, MD, director of theVHA Office of Patient-Centered Care and
Cultural Transformation and to Myles Spar, MD, director of integrative medicine at
Venice Family Clinic's Simms/Mann Health and Wellness Center. The event, announced as the Bravewell's last gala, will take place on November 7, 2013 in
New York City.Mehmet Oz, MD,
will master of ceremonies and Harvey Fineberg, MD, president of the
Institute of Medicine, will deliver the keynote.
Myles Spar, MD
Comment: Gaudetpartnered with Andrew Weil, MD in October 1996 in the initial days of the development of the integrative medicine program at the University of Arizona before leading the Duke Integrative Medicine program funded by Bravewell president Christy Mack. She is a no-brainer as an award winner. In her present post, Gaudet is translating that integrative health and medicine background onto a much larger playing field. The selection of Spar is something of a surprise, though fun to see the integrative care leader in the nation's largest free clinic awarded. With these final award decisions, Bravewell will have honored eight men and 3 women (Gaudet, Mimi Guarneri, MD and Rachel Remen, MD) since the first award in 2003. Of these, 10 are medical doctors and one a PhD (Jon Kabat-Zinn).
Canadian prize open for nominees
Nominations open for 2013 $250,000 Dr. Rogers Prize
The call for nominations for the largest prize in complementary and alternative medicine, the 2013
Dr. Rogers Prize, is officially
open. Dr. Rogers Prize winner receives a $250,000 award for work in Canada in the integrative health and medicine field. In 2011, Marja Verhoef, PhD,research chair in complementary medicine at the
University of Calgary and a leader in real world health services and whole systems research received the prize. Previous recipients include: Alastair Cunningham, MD (2007), Abraham Hoffer, MD (2007), Hal
Gunn, MD (2009) and Badri (Bud) Rickhi, MD (2009). Entries must be submitted by May 31, 2013. Questions may be addressed to Kate MacDonald, the Prize Coordinator at
. The winner(s) will be announced at the Dr. Rogers Price Colloquium and Gala in Vancouver, B.C. on September 26, 2013.
Comment: Interesting that Canada has a prize of this size while the Bravewell Award, the parallel in the US, is $100,000. This differential in the amount of the philanthropic awards recalls to mind the disparate levels of Canadian and U.S. governmental contributions to promoting the movement toward fostering a transformative movement toward interprofessional education and practice (team care). Health Canada dispensed $20-million a decade ago to moive that nation's IPE agenda. Per population size, this would be similar to $200-million here. Per percent of the GNP spent on healthcare - which after all the behemoth that needs transforming - Canada's contribution would be closer to half a billion dollars here. What
was the comparative U.S. grant? The U.S. Health Resources Services
Administration dispensed $4-million last year to start up the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education. This takes nothing from the generosity of the members of the Bravewell.National priorities are different. There is less "perverse incentive" in the Canadian system, and more of the good kind. Good for the Dr. Rogers Prize. Good for the Canadians.
Academic Medicine
Initiative reveals IPE and integrative medicine alignments
IOM workshop reveals that integrating interprofessional education has kindred challenges with integrative care
The Institute of Medicine Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education is rootedin the necessary movement out of professional silos via interprofessional practice and education (IPE). Areport prepared by this writer on the second in a series of Global Forum workshops, Profound Culture
Change: IOM Workshop Reveals Alignments in Interprofessional Practice and Integrative Medicine/Health,underscores parallels in this field's struggles to gain traction with the struggles in integrative health and medicine. Touchstones include financial barriers to payment for teams, clinical questions on who belongs on teams, and research challenges in examining complex interactions in a reductive environment. Meantime, each field is bracedby values-based visions and commonsense beliefs that thesedirections are the right ones for health care. Each fieldis also bolstered by the excitement of students ingetting out of their silos to meet practitioners from other disciplines.
An integrative health voice at the IOM roundtable
Comment: As an alternate member of the Global Forum on behalf of the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC), I from time to time suggest to one or more Forum members that the licensed practices of integrative health and medicine represent significant "innovations in health professional education" that bear examination. Odd that the familiar issues haven't bred familial engagement. The work would be advanced if the academic integrative medicine community had choosen to prioritize participatingdirectly in the IOM forum.
Selects ND to run HRSA-funded initiative
Naturopathic doctor Tennifer Trask selected to direct HRSA-funded National Coordinating Center for Integrative Medicine
The American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) has announced that itselected Jennifer Trask, PharmD, ND to direct the National Coordinating Center for Integrative Medicine program backed by the U.S. Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA). The ACPM has dubbed its programIMPriME - Integrative Medicine in Preventive Medicine Education. Trask earned her naturopathic medicine degree from the Southwest College of
Naturopathic Medicine and her doctor of pharmacy degree from the
University of Colorado.
Comment: It's a historic sign of integrative times that a medical specialty, ACPM, has chosen to select a naturopathic physician to head up a key initiative. The double doctorate helps for bridge builders like Trask.
Teacher standards published
Alliance for Massage Therapy Education publishes teacher standards
In an additional move to professionalize the massage field, the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education has published Core Competencies for Massage Therapy Teachers. In a release on the subject, the Alliance called thedocument, long in development, "the first of its kind in the massage
therapy field." The document describes the "foundational knowledge, skills and attitudesneeded for teachers to produce successful and consistent outcomes with
adult learners in a variety of educational settings."
Comment: This is another is a series of smart steps the young Alliance has taken since it became the stand-alone, not-for-profit arm of the massage field as it continues to straddle the divide between trade and profession.
Aubrecht: lead student-to-student integrative effort
Student leads naturopathic medical school (Bastyr) and conventional medical school (UCSD) to form joint integrative medicine club
Serena Aubrecht, a first year naturopathic medical student at the new San Diego campus of Bastyr University is credited with leadership in creatingan integrative medicine club between
students at Bastyr and those at the University of California San Diego medical school. UCSD has an integrative medical program. Aubrecht's motivation is to foster relationship building and understanding that will lead to better clinical teamwork. Early steps are social gatherings such asa mixer in January, a bar night scheduled for March and future beach barbecues. The organizers anticipate creating joint volunteer projects. The article notes that the integrative medicine club "hopes to build relationships with other conventional
medical (MD) and osteopathic (DO) programs and holistic health schools
such as Pacific College of Oriental Medicine." Bastyr University California, the state's only accredited program in naturopathic medicine, is one of seven medical schools in southern California.
Comment:This step by Aubrecht and her fellow students is one more in a series that suggests that
San Diego may take inter-institutional and interprofessional
relationships in integrative health and medicine to a deeper level than we have seen elsewhere. Notably, at a recent Institute of Medicine Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education reported here, students are recognized as the drivers of interprofessional education (IPE) of all sorts. Attendees joked of the need for a student-led "IPE Spring" to push the prior generation into action. Happily, the administrative leaders of both Bastyr and UCSD integrative medicine seem primed for this direction. Of course, if this integrative effort proves to be extraordinary, naysayers will write it off as an outlier due to the beach barbeques.
Industry
Forbes portrays new "patient engagement" movement as powered by big industry
The article in the business magazine Forbes is entitled Money and Power Embraced Patient Engagement. The piece documents this movement in US medicine through the lens of big business. Noted are involvements of major foundations, quasi-public agencies, multi-billion dollar health systems, and pharmacuetical firms. Thesehave shifted the view meaning of patient engagement at a recent conference: "Warm and fuzzy was out. Big and important was in. Health Affairs editor-in-chief Susan Dentzer set the tone by noting patient engagement has been called 'the blockbuster drug of the century.'” The leadinghealth policy journal Health Affairs recently devoted its February 2013 issue to A New Era in Patient Engagement. The shift is attributed to the crushing economic burden of chronic disease and the critical role of patients in taking care of themselves.
Comment: The integrative health and medicine fields may be viewed as part of the "warm and fuzzy" era of this movement. It remains to be seen whether the rising tide of interest in patient engagement will lift the boats of integrative health and medicine practitioners through reflecting the "secret sauces" through which the value sets and practices of these practitioners engage patients in habit change.
CAM management company honored
The CHP Group recognized as a top place to work in Oregon
The CHP Group, with over 20 years of experience managing a network of credentialed complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) providers, was recently recognized byOregon Business Magazine as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in Oregon. The firm helps health plans and large employers to understand how to work with and cover the disciplines of chiropractic,
naturopathic medicine, acupuncture, and massage therapy. President and CEO Michell Hay said of the recognition: "Employee
engagement and job satisfaction are vital to our success." The firm was
founded by a group of chiropractors, including current vice president
and chief medical officer Chuck Simpson, DC, and includes respected leaders across those disciplines in employment and advisory roles.
Holistic and environmental medicine associations join forces for Gateway Medical Conference in St. Louis, April 17-21
The American Holistic Medical Association and the American Association of Environment Medicine are joining forces to host the Gateway Medical Conference in St. Louis on April 17-21, 2013. The speakers include a who's who of clinical leaders from the two overlapping fields including Alan Gaby, MD, Hal Blatman, MD, Mimi Guarneri, MD and AHMA's current president Molly Roberts, MD. The AHMA's March newsletter featured the conference alongside a column from Roberts on unity among principally MD/DO integrative medicine organizations. Her column was based on her comments on mending the town-gown split in the Integrator.
Comment: This meeting follows the 4-organization iMosaic conference hosted by these two organizations and two others in 2011. From the perspectives of both organizationalcultural and budgeting - conferences can be significant revenue generators for professional organizations -such joint ventures can be risky. Yet I suspect these meetings are playing a useful role in the ability of these diverse organizational forces in integrative-holistic-environmental medicine to figure out the shared message Wendy Warner, MD, former president of another of the organizations, the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine, calls for in her comments on policy priorities for the integrative health community.
Organization explores hot button issue
The bull by the horns: naturopathic association engages member survey on vaccination practices
The lead article in the February 26, 2013 e-news from the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) begins bluntly: "Vaccination
plays a critical and controversial role in public health and naturopathic
history. Increasing pressure for clarity in the naturopathic perspective on
this issue has revealed the glaring reality that even naturopathic policy
activists are uncertain of the stance or practices of naturopathic physicians
regarding vaccinations and vaccines." To "close the gap," the AANP and the Naturopathic Physicians Research Institute (NPRI)
are collaborating in a survey of vaccination viewpoints and practices among a
random sample of a third of AANP members. The project is expected to "help the profession's
leadership to understand licensed AANP members on this unavoidable issue,
guide practice improvement efforts for the profession and inform internal and
external policy."
Research organization partners on project
Comment: Those who heard the impressive March 1, 2013 presentation by Bill Walter, ND at the 2013 Integrative Healthcare Symposium on integration of naturopathic doctors into Oregon's Coordinated Care Organizations will recall his critical tip to his fellow doctors: don't fight the vaccination issue. Notably, at a workshop 10 days earlier organized by the American College of Preventive Medicine, the potential non-alignment between naturopathic and chiropractic physicians on this issue was underscored as a hotspot in integrating these disciplines with the preventive medicine specialty. Knowing the potency of the issue, the AANP passed a position paper on vaccinationsin 1991 that recommended "informed consent." (It is available in a document file via an internet search.) Yet some vaccination advocates suggest that naturopathic doctors are not balanced in their informing and dwell too much on known and potential problems from vaccines to isolated individuals rather than benefits to the general public. Kudos to the AANP for choosing to discover the real world state of practices. Curious to see the findings. (Alignment of interest disclosure: I am on the board of NPRI.)
Research
Sponsored clinical network announces project
Nine integrative centers in BraveNet launch patient outcomes registry
The Bravewell Collaborative has announced that "in one of its final initiatives" it has directed BraveNet, its practice-based research network, to
launch a new data gathering project. The effort is called PRIMIER (Patients Receiving Integrative Medicine Interventions
Effectiveness Registry).According to the February 13, 2013 Bravewell newsletter, the centers will "uniformly collect
patient-reported outcomes and extracted electronic health record data
into a large dataset." They will use the Patient-Reported Outcomes
Measurement System (PROMIS) developed by the National Institutes of
Health (NIH). Bravewell anticipates that "this registry will not only deliver the desired
patient outcome information, it can also be used for quality
improvement, evidence-based research and the determination of best
practices."
Comment: Delivering a mechanism for understanding best practices in integrative medicine is a fine penultimate initiative forBravewell.
Researcher finds high use of chiropractic in heart patients
Mayo study of cardiac patients shows 82.5% use "CAM" and 31% use chiropractors
An article entitled Most cardiac patients report using alternative treatmentstold of a study
out of Mayo clinic that found that 82.5% reported use of "CAM
therapies." This was led by dietary supplements (75.4%), chiropractic
therapy (31%), mind-body therapies (23.9%) and massage therapy (19.2%). For those with merely cardiacsymptoms, the
top treatments were relaxation, stress management, meditation and
guided imagery. Only 14.4% spoke with their conventional doctors about
the use.
Comment: I shared the outcomes with a set of chiropractor doctor
educators and researchers. The use rate of chiropractic in these
patients is 3-5 times the national average. One wrote back: "Cardiac
patients are usually in poor general health and older, so are not like
the
general population. Spine problems are related to poor general health. I
would
like to see the specific wording of the questions, but I doubt that all
those
chiro users were doing it exclusively for their cardiac problem." On the other hand, an educator responded that this finding underscores the mistake in thinking chiropractic can only be useful for people with spine-related conditions.
For cardiac symptoms, the top four treatments were relaxation techniques, stress management, meditation, and guided imagery.
Burn down the mission: conventional medical system torched again in Time article
Comment: The highly-regarded documentary movieEscape Firerecentlyshined both light and heat on the now acutely chronic problems of our medicaldelivery and payment practices. Now Time magazine steps in to reach its broad, silent majority of an audience with a special issue: Bitter Pill-Why Our Medical Bills Are Killing Us. MD Anderson takes the first scorching. Writer Stephen Brill dissembles a cancer patient's $83,000 hospital bill in what must been tortuous cigaratte lighter scarring to the hospital's CEO Ronald DePinho. DePinho makes a sweet $1,845,000 a year, not including 3 highly lucrative side-deals with pharmaceutical companies. The case builds that DePinho's pharmaceutical contracts are not conflicts of interestbut alignments of interest. MD Anderson, a so-called not-for profit, had a $531-million operating profit in 2010.
The direct assault on this cancer temple recalls to mind the Biblical story of the overturning of the tables of the money changers. Time and Brill were attempting to do just that. It is long past time to end what policy wonks have for decades attacked as the "perverse incentives" our economic offers forprofit mongering on people in their times of distress and weakness. When else do we use the term "perversity" in this culture? This is terrific company for health care.This article, as Brill notes, "breaks these trillions down into real bills going to real patients
and cuts through the ideological debate over health care policy." Credit Time, and Brill, for this special issue. We need a health care policy aimed, if not at burning down the money-making missions, then at least at returning health to communities, to community providers, to families, and to thepeople, and to finding better use for those temples. This is a call for patient engagement of the political kind.
Natural Products Industry Awards
American Botanical Council's Blumenthal honored; ABC announces its 2013 awards Shortly after the National Products Association ( NPA) announced that Mark Blumenthal, the founder and executive director of the American Botanical Council (ABC) would be a 2013 recipient of NPA's Industry Champion award, Blumenthal and his ABC team announced the ABC's own 2013 awards. The James A. Duke
Excellence in Botanical Literature Award recipients areMedicinal
Plants and the Legacy of Richard E. Schultes co-edited by Rainer W.
Bussmann, PhD, and Bruce E. Ponman. Also honored,in the consumer
books category is Smoke
Signals: A Social History of Marijuana - Medical, Recreational, and Scientific by
Martin A. Lee.
Gladstar: renown herbalist honored
The Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award recipient is professor De-an Guo, PhD, of Shanghai, China, a researcher in traditional Chinese medicine quality control and phytochemical investigations. The Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in
Phytomedicinal Research Award went to Swiss-based Horphag Research,the
producer of Pycnogenol® French maritime pine bark extract. Finally, ABC's first Mark Blumenthal Herbal
Community Builder Award will be given to Rosemary Gladstar, "the renowned
herbalist, teacher, and author known to many as the Godmother of American
Herbalism." American Herbal Products Association announces herbal industry awards for 2013 TheAmerican Herbal Products Association (AHPA) has announced the following 2013 award winners for their contributions to the industry: Herbal Hero-Award to Sidney and Elan Suberg, developers of Alkemist Laboratories and significant volunteers on herb quality issues; Herbal Insight Award went toJoseph Brinckman, an activist in bio-diversity efforts; Industry Award recipient was Trout Lake Farms' Martha Jane Johnson, an early organic producer; and the Visionary Award went toLynda LeMole, a founder of Traditional Medicinals, a former AHPA president and co-founder and executive director of Plant-Savers.
LeMole: Plant Savers and Traditional Medicinals founder
Comment: In the late 1980s, I had a chance to work alongside LeMole and others on the board of AHPA in early maturation of the organiation. We created a plan for the then virtually all-volunteer organization to bring on "ED" as LeMoledubbed it: an executive director (E.D.). AHPA has become a robust and responsible
industry association since Michael McGuffintook the reins and brought in the likes of former InnoVision
executive Frank Lampe to work with him. Given the growth, our late 1980s guilty pleasure in using what seemed an extraordinary $400+ of AHPA resources to pay for all the volunteer board members to have a good dinner together the night before the annual meeting seems to have been money well spent. That amount was then roughly the set price for annual dues. Someone dubbed the meal "eat a member."
People
Eisenberg: VP position at Samueli Institute
David Eisenberg, MD now executive vice president at the Samueli Institute
David Eisenberg, MD, whose 1993 article on use of unconventional medicine in the New England Journal of Medicine stimulated the movement by conventional institutions to integrate "CAM" with medical delivery organizations is now an executive vice president for health research and education at the Samueli Institute. Eisenberg's work with healthy eating was featured in this Samueli Institute newsletter. Eisenberg remains affiliated with his successful and ongoing Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives conference, a joint venture between the Culinary Instituteof America and the Harvard School of Public Health. He maintains a Harvard affiliation as an associate professor.
Jeff Bland, PhD: new base in personalized medicine
Jeffrey Bland, PhD, shifts professional center to Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute
The founder of the Institute for Functional Medicine, Jeffrey Bland, PhD, has created a new organizational center for his work: The Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute. His focus is on management of the chronic diseases that are responsible for 78% of healthcare expenditures, "each of which are linked to the food we eat and the decisions we all make at the plate, at the table, at the ordering counter." Bland announced this during the opening plenary of the 2013 Integrative Healthcare Symposium.
Comment: Among Bland's other contributions to the integrative health field was to serve on the first board of directors of what was, in 1978, founded as the John Bastyr College of Naturopathic Medicine. One of that institution's co-founders, Joseph Pizzorno, ND, subsequently service IFM as board member and president while another, Sheila Quinn, was managing editor of the well-received Textbook of Functional Medicine. Bland's move into the "personalized medicine" space, co-habited on the high-tech and genomic side by the first Bravewell Award winner, Ralph Snyderman, MD, will be interesting to watch.
From Google Alerts: Links to Integrative Medicine in Health Systems and Communities: March 2013
Forbe
American Bota
American Herbal Produ
