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some CAM/IM publication links |
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Integrative Medicine, Complementary and Alternative Health and Medicine Round-up #93: July 2015 |
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Written by John Weeks
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Integrative Medicine, Complementary and Alternative Health and Medicine Round-up #93: July 2015
Policy
-Turn toward
Darkness: Regular Medicine Takes Hits on Evidence and on Industry Influence
-ABC Publishes Report on the NY Attorney General and His
Campaign Re Supplement Quality
Integrative Care
-Health Affairs
Features Katherine Gergen Barnett, MD on BMC's Integrative Group Visits Program
-Quick Links
to Integrative Medicine News in Medical Systems and Communities: June 2015
-Northwestern Health Sciences University Sells
Woodwinds-Based Integrative Care Center
 Editor lambastes state of science
Research
-National College of Natural Medicine Announces
$3-million of NCCIH Research Grants
-Natural Medicine
Journal Integrative Medicine Research Series: Dugald Seeley, ND on Whole
System Research and the Ottawa Integrative Cancer Center
-Acupuncture Group's Response to 2014 Article Questioning
Acupuncture for Chronic Knee Pain Published in JAMA
Academics
-AIHM Starts Historic Interprofessional Fellowship with
Tieraona Low Dog, MD as Director
-American College of Lifestyle Medicine Offers Training
in Lifestyle Competencies
-Metabolic Medical Institute Offers Fellowship in
Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine
-AAMC Looks at Mindfulness in Medical Schools: From a Disease to a Health Focus?
Professions and Organizations
-Midwifery, Education, Regulation and Association (MERA)
2015 Report and Priorities
-Chanda Plan Foundation Integrative Program Receives
Continued Medicaid Funding in Colorado
.jpg) $3-million from NCCIH
Philanthropy
-New Jersey's Riverview Medical Center Receives
$10-Million for Integrative Center
- Emerson Ecologics
Announces $25,000 of Grants: Projects of Natural Doctors InternationaI,
Michigan NDs and Maryland University of Integrative Health Benefit
International
-John Weeks' GAHMJ Global Integrator Round-Up for
June 2015
-Wellness and Yoga
between War and Work: AIHM's Friedland Promotes the Annual June Event on
Turkish TV
People
-Susan Samueli Honored for Her
Visionary Work by UC Irvine System
-Haramati Receives Honorary Doctorate from Maryland
University of Integrative Health
-Mimi Guarneri, MD Listed as Top Female
Physician in Integrative Medicine in Newsmax 100 List
-NCNM Grants
Integrator's John Weeks an Honorary
D.Litt.
_____________________________
Policy
.jpg) Richard Horton, MD: Lancet editor-in-chief
Turn toward Darkness: Regular Medicine Takes
Hits on Evidence and Industry Influence
Two recent news items eat at the already unsteady
foundation of medicine as usual. Writing in the Lancet on May 31, 2015, editor Richard Horton, MD, blasted current
scientific research: "The case against science is straightforward: much
of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue." He
clarifies: "Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid
exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an
obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has
taken a turn towards darkness."
Roughly a month later the LA Times ran an article on a
government report that "doctors and teaching hospitals received $6.5 billion
last year from drug companies and medical device firms for research, consulting
and other reasons, new federal data show." About half of the $6.5 billion in
payouts were classified for research purposes. More than $2.5 billion was
labeled as "general payments," and $703-million represented "ownership or
investment."
 $6.5-trillion of industry dough
Comment: "General payments" is the most queasy-making category,
though "for other reasons" produces its own brands of odor. That being said, in
the light of Lancet editor Horton's
note on "flagrant conflicts of interest" riddling much of research, the half of
the $6.5-million spent on research may also reasonably be approached with a
nose-clip. Integrative care research is hardly off these hooks. One might
reasonably guess that all science related to integrative care may be part of
what Horton lumps as "fashionable trends of dubious importance." The 19th
century French poet Charles Baudelaire speaks in one poem in the translation I
grew to love of being "on a monstrous sea without a bourne." Other translators
put it as "shore" rather than "bourne." Either way I believe he's nailed it. (Thanks
to cunao Stephen Campbell for the Times piece.)
 Great summary of DNA testing battle
American Botanical
Council Publishes Report on the NY Attorney General Schneiderman's Campaign Re
Supplements
The activities of New York Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman relative to the dietary supplement industry since February 2015 are
characterized in the opening of this
review of his activities and industry responses as "an unprecedented legal and public relations
campaign against the American herb industry." This timely review was
written by Tyler Smith for the American Botanical Council. Schneiderman's
actions were based on a controversial DNA barcoding testing method. Smith's article
includes sections on: initial and then later reactions of the herb industry;
General Nutrition Centers' agreement with Schneiderman; the group of other
attorney generals from additional states who joined in asking Congress to
investigate the supplement industry; and anticipated next steps. ABC's founder
and executive director Mark Blumenthal is quoted as stating that "in my experience over
41 years in the herbal community, this is the biggest issue that has been on
the table.
Comment: The
article is an exceptional service from ABC. For those who are not directly in
the industry, the piece is particularly useful for background on what has been a
gross public relations disaster.
Integrative Care
.jpg) Katherine Gergen Barnett, MD: integrative group visits
Health Affairs Features Katherine Gergen
Barnett, MD and BMC's Integrative Group Visits
The title of the
Health Affairs Blog post on
"innovations in care delivery" claims a good deal: "The Call To A New Kind Of
Care: Integrative Medicine Group Visits Offer Promise In The Treatment Of
Chronic Pain And Depression." The work portrayed is led by the author,
Katherine Gergen Barnett, MD, a clinician with the integrative
medicine program at the Boston Medical Center. In the article, she
positions the model as an antidote to the fractionating of patients via disease
codes and 15 minute visits. The BMC model stands on 3 legs: group visits,
integrative medicine, and the mind-body stress reduction programs (MBSR)
developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD. Early outcomes found that "the majority had a
statistically significant decrease in pain and depression,
and clinically significant improvements in sleep quality and perceived stress."
In addition: "Across the board, those
who suffered from high blood pressure had a decrease in both their systolic and
diastolic blood pressure." Gergen-Barnett notes that the work has more recently
been funded by a nearly
$1.9-million PCORI grant.
 Great column choice: integrative groups
Comment:
Terrific to see this component of integrative care getting this type or
research, and visibility. Integrative group visits fit beautifully with the
mission and values at the root of integrative services. It is a wonder that so
few are engaging them. While Gergen Barnett's program focuses on the
underserved, group care can be valuable to those at any income level. The
Boston Medical Center, which is about to host the 2015 Integrative Medicine for the Underserved, continues
to do leading edge work. In December
2013 CMS administrator Don Berwick, MD said he wasn't quite sure what the
strategies would be that would allow us to move away from our disease focus
toward "salutogenesis" or health creation. Integrative group visits are a part
of the answer. We have not even begun to explore what is the ultimate reach of
their optimal use. Congratulations for great work and the best sort of
practical placement.
 33 links to IM news
Quick Links to Integrative Medicine
News in Medical Systems and Communities: June 2015
This typically monthly Integrator feature is, for June 2015, a quick capture from various sources relative to "integrative medicine." Here are 23 links from health system activity and 10 more in communities. Among these: a feature in The Atlantic on "The Evolution of
Alternative Medicine;" and a strategic investment from the George Family
Foundation to allow Minnesota Native Americans to learn to provide mind-body
services to their members via James Gordon, MD's Center for Mind-Body Medicine.
 University retrenches
Northwestern
Health Sciences University Sells Woodwinds-Based Integrative Care Center
Colleague Stephen Bolles, DC sent news that Northwestern University of Health Sciences,
one of the most significant universities of natural health sciences in the
country has sold off its once pioneering, Woodwinds health system-based integrative
care center. In this
blog piece, "Requiem for an Integrative Dream," Bolles, a former
Northwestern VP who was key to development of the clinic, reflects on the
change as well as the context in which the clinic was created as part of the Health
East system. He reports that the
clinic "will be reconfigured and moved a few blocks away, preserving the same
clinical services it has offered for years."
After his reflections, Bolles provides five "precepts
that can serve as a functional guide" to the future for integrative health and
medicine investment. Here are abstracts of Bolles' comments:
-
The basis (clinical paradigm) for
integrative health care needs to focus on value, not volume.
- A derivative precept is that
integrative providers are likely going to need to be very disciplined in what
their focused, clinical contributions are.
- Management of the costs of care (and
payment options) will be enormously important.
- With employers limiting benefit option
choices less and less and online shopping comparison sites for health care
poised to take off, how integrative services are packaged and presented to
consumers in private health exchanges will be important for business
success.
- And finally, the form care coordination
takes will matter. Is a common EHR required? Is greater involvement and
stewardship of individuals' PHI required with consumers more actively involved?
This is an area that is going to emerge as very, very important over the next
several years.
 Stephen Bolles, DC: astute observer
Comment:
Bolles is an astute, leading edge observer and commentator on the integration
movement. His perspectives merit consideration particularly following his stint
at United Healthcare in a consumer and market-focused position relative to
complementary and integrative care. He's ahead of mostof the field in, for
instance, this: "How integrative services are packaged
and presented to consumers in private health exchanges will be
important for business success."
Meantime, the decision by Northwestern is of concern. The
once leading edge university of natural health sciences has seen a series of
troublesome changes since Christopher
Cassirer, PhD came in from another field and took the helm. The Gert
Bronfort, DC, PhD/Roni Evans, DC, PhD heart of Northwestern's once top-flight
research department moved
to the University of Minnesota. The university dropped its membership in
the interprofessional Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative
Health Care for which its personnel have in the past served in multiple
leadership roles. And now this. The retraction at Northwestern, perhaps due to
necessary scrambling at the bottom line, is presently a loss to the
movement. Here's hoping the University
will find its way back.
Research
.jpg) David Schleich, PhD: proud NCNM president
National College
of Natural Medicine Announces $3-million of NIH Research Grants
The NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative
Health (NCCIH) has awarded $3,092,898 to the Helfgott Research Institute at the National
College of Natural Medicine (NCNM) for two, five-year complementary and
integrative health (CIH) research grants. According to this
NCNM release, the new grants "will provide funding for studies involving
mindfulness-based stress reduction for people with multiple sclerosis; and
clinical research training for naturopathic doctors, Chinese medicine
practitioners, as well as training in naturopathic and Chinese medicine
modalities for conventional medicine researchers." Heather
Zwickey, PhD directs Helfgott. NCNM senior investigator Ryan
Bradley, ND, MPH was instrumental in bringing in the training grant via a
partnership he first established with the University of Washington.
Comment: Great
to see these grants from the NCCIH, especially the investment in capacity
building for the NDs and licensed Chinese medicine practitioners via the
training grant. The success speaks to the impressive base that Zwickey is
building, including bringing in Bradley, at NCNM. The training grant supports
the bold note in the 2011-2015 NCCIH strategic plan led by director Josephine
Briggs, MD that states that "CAM
clinicians
 Dugald Seely, ND: whole systems research leader
Natural Medicine Journal Integrative
Medicine Research Series: Dugald Seely, ND on Whole System Research and the Ottawa
Integrative Cancer Center
The ongoing series of the Natural Medicine Journal on integrative medicine last month featured
an interview with Dugald Seely, ND, the director of research at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM)
and head of CCNM's Ottawa
Integrative Cancer Center. Seely and his team had a significant whole
practice controlled trial published last year in Canadian Medical Association Journal as part of a significant body of work
related to grants from Canada Post. In the interview, Seely describes an
eight-site study on use of melatonin. Then he speaks to a separate multi-site
pragmatic research design looking at the whole system of naturopathic care for
cancer care engaged in partnership with Bastyr University.
Seely notes that one of the challenges in the kind of research
that most interests him is looking at multi-modality programs: "Typically individual
therapies are not provided in isolation. They are in a package. Isolating them
is very difficult and not really reflective of practice in the real world." He
speaks to the value of "pragmatic design." These are "more patient centered and
reflective of practice in the community." These pragmatic approaches, says
Seely "will help us bring proof of principal" that integrative medicine works.
Then, he adds, more specific studies to parse out the most significant individual
therapy contributors may be in order.
Comment: Seely
and the CCNM research team have steadily produced a very important base of
research in whole person, whole t and whole system care. This 15-minute
interview is a good listen for anyone who views whole systems research as the
direction we need.
 Publishes complaintsof bias on acupuncture study
Acupuncture
Group's Response to JAMA on 2014 Australian Article Questioning the Value of Acupuncture
for Chronic Knee Pain
The monthly Acupuncture
Today has published Chinese
Doctors Poke Holes in Australian Study regarding response to a 2014
study by Rana Hinman et al that
concluded that acupuncture had no value in knee pain. The team included Lixin
Lao, PhD, LAc, former professor at University of Maryland where he was
located for 21 years as an integrative acupuncturist and researcher. The group of Chinese researchers and
clinicians question both "the quality of the trial and the integrity of the
researchers." The language is strong: "Hinman appears to have the intention to
mislead the editors and readers." In Lao's letter
to JAMA, published February 10, 2015, he questions the protocol: "More frequent and short-term reassessments
during and after acupuncture treatment may have better captured the treatment
and maintenance effects of acupuncture."
The Traditional
Chinese Medicine American Alumni Association, supported by nearly two dozen acupuncture organizations, sent a letter that was even stronger: "We believe that the report by Dr. Hinman
and her colleagues regarding acupuncture for knee pain is highly biased and possibly
manipulated." The Acupuncture Today article
is written by acupuncturist Bill Reddy, LAc, a leading policy player in the AOM field.
Comment: Nice
reporting work from Reddy, and defensive organizing from the group whose work
he reports. I found it notable that Dr. Lao was less vociferous in his personal
letter than others. It is intriguing that this publication came out of the very
polarized Australian "CAM" environment where the high public use of alternative
medicine is combined with heightened antagonism by government agencies.
Academics
 Tieraona Low Dog, MD: 2nd major fellowship lead
AIHM Starts
Historic Interprofessional Fellowship with Tieraona Low Dog, MD as Director
On July 1, 2015, the Academy of Integrative Health
and Medicine (AIHM) announced
that it is getting into the fellowship business. This Integrator article suggests AIHM is
doing so with a double splash. The interprofessional AIHM, founded in 2013 as a
"big tent" for all in integrative health and medicine, plans to offer
the fellowship to members of multiple professions. These will include,
according to the release, "medical, osteopathic, naturopathic and
chiropractic physicians, dentists, advance practice registered nurses,
physician's assistants, licensed acupuncturists, registered dietitians,
pharmacists, licensed clinical social workers and psychologists." In
addition, AIHM has brought in as director Tieraona
Low Dog, MD, the former head of the presently standard-setting fellowship
at the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. Low Dog will be
teaming with AIHM's director of education Tabatha
Parker, ND. AIHM's details about the program, including costs, are online here. The AIHM Fellowship is
open for applicants.
 Getting into the fellowship business
Comment:
Fascinating to think of a fellowship in IM that is fully interprofessional. As
noted in my comments
here, the challenges of such a pioneering task relate to both content and
cost. Low Dog and Parker hold the promise of being an exceptional set of interprofessional
team leaders. I am a particularly interested party as I am a member of the AIHM
board who chose to get involved in part due to my view that deep
interprofessionalism, such as AIHM aspires to manifest, is one of the best ways
to disrupt the negative cascade of the medical industry.
.jpg) Teaching lifestyle medicine competencies
American College
of Lifestyle Medicine Offers Training in Lifestyle Medicine Competencies
On August 23-24, 2015 the American College of Lifestyle
Medicine and the American Academy of Preventive Medicine is offering a conference to
share the field's core competencies. Three of the 13 learning objectives are
to: "describe the fifteen LM competencies for providing quality lifestyle
medicine services and explain how to integrate the competencies into clinical
practice; apply practical solutions and tools for competency implementation;
and perform lifestyle assessments and evidence-based lifestyle prescriptions."
The sponsors thank natural products company Metagenics for being "the generous
sponsor of the 2015 symposium."
Metabolic Medical
Institute Offers Fellowship in Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine
Through collaborations with George Washington University
and the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, the Metabolic
Medical Institute is fellowship
program in Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine that can connect to masters-level
degrees in integrative medicine. The seven modules are described
here. This is the 5th fellowship
that the young MMI is offering.
Comment:
Notably, the Metabolic Medical Institute website does not appear to address
whether this fellowship will be acceptable as a basis for being boarded in
integrative medicine through
the American Board of Physician Specialties.
 Featuring mind-body in medical schools
AAMC Focuses on
Mindfulness in Medical Schools: From a
Disease to a Health Focus for Mindfulness?
The Association of American Medical Colleges has
published a recent article entitled "Bringing
the Lessons of Mindfulness to Medical Schools." The author describes the experience at a 2015
meeting of the AAMC's Council of Faculty and Academic Societies (CFAS). The
meeting included a program entitled "Optimizing the Learning Environment:
Faculty and Resident Resilience." The need for the content is pegged to the
fact that "emotional exhaustion, burnout, and job dissatisfaction are not
uncommon in the halls of teaching hospitals and schools of medicine."
Mindfulness programs at Mayo and Georgetown are touted in the article.
Comment: It
has intrigued me that mindfulness is most likely to gain traction in regular
medicine when pegged to disaster: the negative, disease-oriented foci of
burnout, stress, resident suicides and the like. How nice to consider medical
schools choosing mindfulness (merely) for the potential positive desire to
create health. It is notable that when former Center for Medicare and Medicaid
Services administrator and Institute for Health Improvement founder Donald
Berwick, MD shared his
vision of a system based on "salutogenesis," his short list of mentors was
dominated by mindfulness experts (Kabat-Zinn, Ornish, Jonas, Benson among
them). Good that mindfulness is finding its way in, through whichever gap in
the industry's disease-focused armor. Here's looking forward to the day when
such programs are engaged (merely) whole-heartedly for the purposes of health creation.
I wager that such a move is a necessary antecedent to health system
transformation.
Professions and Organizations
.jpg) Certified Professional Midwives: key role in MERA group
Midwifery,
Education, Regulation and Association (MERA) 2015 Report and Priorities
The US
Midwifery Education, Regulation and Association (MERA) of nurse midwives
and certified professional midwives (CPMs), begun in 2013, has published
its 2015 report. The report includes
priorities for the group moving forward. These include: development and implementation of a Midwifery Bridge Certificate that
will create a bridge for CPMs who have not completed an accredited education
program but wish to be licensed in states with that requirement; finalization and distribution of a Consensus Statement on
Principles for Model Midwifery Legislation and Regulation; convening of the
Direct Assessment Task Force to develop a model to increase access to and
affordability of midwifery education; launch
of a US MERA website; development of an Equity
Task Force to develop guidance for addressing equity issues within the US MERA
collaboration; and, development of a US MERA
strategic plan for the next 5 years
Comment:
Terrific that the two, formerly frequently warring groups of midwives - Hatfields
and nurse-Hatfields, in this case - are continuing their commitment to
collaboration, and upping the ante. Good also to see the elevation of both
access and equity for the field's future in their strategic planning.
.jpg) Chanda plan's founder
Chanda Plan
Foundation Integrative Program Receives Continued Medicaid Funding in Colorado
The Chanda Plan Foundation reports to those on its list that "Colorado Governor [John] Hickenlooper
signed Senate Bill 15-011 into law on June 5th, which renews the Spinal
Cord Injury waiver." The foundation provides integrative treatments for people
with physical disabilities. The treatments are mainly acupuncture, massage, and
chiropractic care. The program is funded by Medicaid. The Chanda Plan
Foundation has advocated for these approaches through its "Systemic Change
Program."
Comment: This story is one of the more
remarkable, among many, in which one individual's personal passion, in this
case of Chanda herself, is converting into public good for many. If you are not
familiar with Chanda's work, or that of the foundation, and the breakthroughs
she has created in the legislature there, take a look. Remarkable.
Philanthropy
 Announced winners of $25,000 in grants
New Jersey's
Riverview Medical Center Receives $10-Million for Integrative Center
In a June
17, 2015 medical release, Riverview Medical Center Foundation announced two
$5-million gifts that they expect "will significantly impact the way health
care is delivered in our community." The first gift was from Joan and Robert
Rechnitz, founders of the Two River
Theater Company. It targets the support of the launch of an integrative
medicine program. Subsequently, "inspired by the couple's gift, and with the
program underway, an anonymous donor provided an additional $5-million donation
toward the initiative."
Comment: In
this case, when the other shoe dropped, it powered up rather than neutralizing
the impact of the first. Wonderful. I hope everyone within miles benefits from
Riverside's great good luck. The vision of "significantly impact(ing) the way
health care is delivered in our community" is a good starting place!
.jpg) Robert and Joan Rechnitz: $5-million gift
Emerson Ecologics
Announces $25,000 of Grants: Projects of Natural Doctors InternationaI,
Michigan NDs and Maryland University of Integrative Health Benefit
The natural products distribution firm Emerson Ecologics has announced
recipients of its $25,000 of corporate grants awarded for 2015. Beneficiaries
are, according
to the release: the Michigan Association of Naturopathic Physicians, $10,000 to support licensing efforts; Natural Doctors International (NDI), $7,500 to expand recruiting efforts for
additional integrative disciplines, "including acupuncture, massage therapy,
nutrition, herbalism and conventional medicine;" and Maryland University of Integrative Healthcare, Dispensary Department,
$7,500 to aid in developing a training program for current Good Manufacturing
Process (cGMP) requirements.
Comment: These
are precious, precious dollars to recipients. Few in regular medicine can
understand well big a deal $7500 can mean to organizations that have no
significant governmental or foundation backing.
Yet this is much-ado about not very much from the perspective of
Emerson, a dominant distributor in the field. Their program does set an example
for other companies. More should follow suit. At the same time, Emerson might show
leadership and up the ante by doubling down to (at least) $50,000 next year.
International
.jpg) GAHMJ: Global Integrator Blog sponsor
John Weeks' GAHMJ Global Integrator Round-Up for June 2015
The Global Integrator Blog posts for June 2015 include: Two Global Days in June
Celebrate Health: Wellness Day & the U.N.'s International Day of Yoga; Blackmores Stimulates Furor in $1.3-Million Grant for
U Sydney Integrative Medicine Chair; Cuba Formally Recognizes 10
Alternative Practices;
Quick Links to Global News (75 links);
and Ebola, Ambassador Andrew Young,
and the Potential Role of Native African Medicine.
Comment: Fascinating to see Ambassador Young, a hero
since his days speaking truth about human rights, and racism - though it got
him removed from office at the United Nations - in this role as a global health
promoter of research on traditional medicines. Meantime, those of you who have
followed or visited and observed the integrative care in Cuba may be surprised,
as I was, to learn that many of the integrative practices there, despite their
inclusion in system services, did not yet have official standing. They do now.
.jpg) Belgin Askoy: founder of International Wellness Day
Wellness and Yoga between War and Work:
AIHM's Friedland Promotes the Annual June Wellness Event on Turkish TV
June is proving to be the
month for health and wellness with Global Wellness Day
featured on the second Saturday of the month and now the UN's International Day of Yoga appended last
fall to every June solstice. The former is the brainchild of Turkish spa owner
and wellness advocate Belgin Askoy, the founder of Global Wellness Day.
People in over 70 countries on 5 continents took part in the wellness
celebration in 2015, according to Global Wellness Day speaker and promotor Danny Friedland, MD, the chair of the
U.S.-based Academy for Integrative Health and Medicine. This news show on Turkish
television features an interview with Friedland, and Askoy. Friedland's 15
minute keynote from Istanbul is here.
Comment: As I
noted in my Global
Integrator Blog piece on these activities, in the U.S. where Memorial Day
(honoring those who fought in war) and Labor Day (honoring work) bracket the
summer months, it is a move toward balance to insert days to memorialize and lift
up wellness and yoga between war and work. With the empathy associated with
mindfulness and wellness, this a sort of "global warming" that appeals.
People
.jpg) Susan Samueli receiving her award
Philanthropist
Susan Samueli Honored for Her Visionary Work by UC Irvine System
On June, 2015, Susan Samueli,
founder of the Susan Samueli Center
for Integrative Medicine, was granted an award at the
UC Irvine Health Heroes Gala "for her visionary role
in helping people discover and experience wellness." Samueli funded the
start-up of the Center at the medical school and has continued to nurture its
development. Roger Steinert, MD, the UC Irvine dean, noted that "we are
indebted to Susan Samueli for her sustained contributions to healing mind, body
and spirit."
Comment: The
award focused on Samueli's local work in Orange County, and at UC Irvine. Those involved nationally will know her
better from her support, with her spouse Henry Samueli, of the Samueli Institute, in Alexandria, Virginia, led by
Wayne Jonas, MD. Kudos to this philanthropic partner to the integrative health
and medicine field are well-earned for her bi-coastal investments.
 Aviad Haramati, PhD: MUIH honorary degree
Adi Haramati Receives
Honorary Doctorate from Maryland University of Integrative Health
One of the most significant door-openers for
interprofessionalism in integrative medicine, Georgetown University's Aviad (Adi)
Haramati, PhD, was granted an honorary doctorate by Maryland University of
Integrative Health following his commencement
talk at that institution in June 2015. Haramati is a highly honored
educator who has played significant roles in the development of multiple
integrative health and medicine initiatives. These include the Academic
Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health, the CAM M.S. in Physiology program at
Georgetown, and multiple strategic initiatives with the Academic Consortium for
Complementary and Alternative Health Care. MUIH, with now over 1,000 onsite and
online students from 18 countries and over 40 states, is emerging as a leading
educational provider in integrative health and medicine.
Comment: Fun to think of Haramati with a
doctorate from MUIH, this rapidly growing, increasingly interprofessional institution
in the integrative health space. Haramati's contributions to inclusion have
been many, and significant, particular his multiple convening of
interprofessional gatherings at Georgetown. The most recent grows also from his
long-time work promoting mindfulness, the CENTILE conference. It will take place this October with
MUIH side by side with 5 mainline academic health centers as an institutional
co-sponsor. The conference is titled: "2015 International Conference to Promote
Resilience, Empathy and Well-Being in the Health Professions: An
Interprofessional Forum." Alignment of
interest note: Haramati is a long-time associate and I consult with
MUIH.
.jpg) Mimi Guarneri, MD: named top female IM doctor
Mimi
Guarneri, MD Listed as Top Female Physician in Integrative Medicine in Newsmax
100
An outfit called Newsmax has printed a
list of what it considers the Top
100 Physicians Who Embrace Integrative Medicine. Number 6 in the list is the first female
noted: former Scripps integrative cardiologist and president of the Academy of
Integrative Health and Medicine Mimi
Guarneri, MD. A release on Guarneri's listing as the
top
female is here. The top 5 are medical doctors Mehmet
Oz, Mark Hyman, Deepak Chopra, Andrew Weil and Michael Roizen. The list
includes no mention of the methodology through which people were selected.
Comment:
First, Guarneri merits this recognition. Congratulations! Yet how can one not ask: how did they come up with such a list?! The next female after Guarneri is one Erika Schwartz, MD,
an HCG diet doc, at #10 and the next is #31, Sue Decoittis, MD,
also a diet doctor. Fascinating. Notably, the very influential Joseph Pizzorno, ND
shows up at #19, as the first non-MD on the list. The also very influential Joseph Mercola, DO, is the
first D.O., at #22. Two other NDs make the list. One Doctor of Oriental
Medicine is included: Tony Wilcox, Ac. No chiropractic physicians do. It's hard
to say whether the list is most strange for those who are on it, or those who
aren't. Feels a little, for those not well known, like the product of a
solicitation to get into some Who's Who in Integrative Medicine. Please pay
ahead.
.jpg) Weeks with spouse Jeana Kimball, RDH, ND, LM (midwifery), MPH
NCNM Grants Integrator's John Weeks an Honorary D.Litt.
The Portland, Oregon-based National College of Natural Medicine granted Integrator publisher-editor John Weeks
an honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) following his delivery of the
commencement speech at NCNM's June28, 2015 graduation of 187 doctoral and
masters' level students. The NCNM release on the subject was entitled "NCNM Commencement to Pay
Tribute to Medical Heroes Past and Present." The family of the founder of naturopathic
medicine in the U.S., Benedict Lust, MD, ND, was also honored. NCNM President,
David J. Schleich stated: "John understands the historically, deeply entrenched
complexities of interprofessional relationships, like those within the natural
medicine and Western medicine fields. We've come to trust his insights."
Comment: I have had a few life-times worth
of honors this past year following the tribute last May - though my gluttonous pleasure
in them continues! Witness this brief! This award was particularly nice as I spent
my first 10 years in the integrative health field (1983-1993) working in the resuscitation
and rebirth of the naturopathic medical profession. NCNM is the profession's "mothership."
There was a time from 1957-1978 when no other recognized school existed.
I was also
very happy to finally have a full on spousal "duh" moment when I took in how
deeply my spouse Jeana Kimball, RDH, ND, LM
(midwifery), MPH and I have
been partnered, professionally, these last 26 year. I balanced a wee bit of
karma by dedicating the doctorate to her. She has been my consultant and
confidant on every significant question regarding strategy and people. And she
has heard me prattling on ad nauseum
on roughly one-zillion topics and themes. Consider how useful all of her clinical
and research training and experience has been for a person such as myself who
has had no formal education in either. Thanks to Jeana, and to Dr. Schleich and
the NCNM faculty.
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