Background Statement from Publisher-Editor John Weeks

See sample experience below

Resumes are useful in employment decisions. I provide this background so that you may understand what informs the work which you may employ in your own.

I have been involved as an organizer-writer in the emerging fields of complementary, alternative and integrative medicine since 1983. Happily, I have learned some things. I was once called an "expert in alternative medicine" by Medical Economics and later an “alternative care (integration) expert" by Modern Healthcare. The name-calling was proud-making, even if I was so-dubbed by reporters who were on their first forays into the field.

John Weeks

Both anointed me before I went on sabbatical in Costa Rica and later Nicaragua with my family in 2002. Part of the reason for sabbatical was that whatever expertise I may have developed often ran frustratingly short of being able to offer robust, successful business models with readers and clients. More than once I counseled people against the initiatives they planned. Trends taught me to recognize the invisible handwriting of a sure failure event behind the bubbling enthusiasm of an initiate. I needed a break from the work. My family and I took it!

I was away from the United States for three years. I had my hand back in things for the last 2.5 years. I assisted a philanthropist on her integrative medicine investments in community clinics, CAM schools and academic health centers. From early 2004 forward, and out of home offices in Monteverde, Costa Rica, and then Granada, Nicaragua, I helped organize and direct the National Education Dialogue to Advance Integrated Health Care: Creating Common Ground. This ongoing project, involving leaders of 12 disciplines (IM, massage therapy, holistic nursing, AOM, ND, DC, direct-entry midwifery, holistic medicine, public health, yoga, occupational medicine, whole person nutrition) will inform The Integrator Blog copy.

I come back to writing these News and Reports and to managing the blog enthused to discover and share with you what I can which can serve your work. We are all in a new, more seasoned phase of this integration work with its own insights, opportunities, edges and challenges.

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Sample consulting, writing, speaking in integrative medicine, 1996-present

My writing is informed by a variety of professional experiences in integrative medicine, some of which are included here.  

Hospitals and Integrative Clinics

• HealthForum/American Hospital Association
• St. Joseph’s Health System (CA)
• Catholic Healthcare West/Arizona Center for Health and Medicine (AZ)
  
• Deaconess Hospital (IN)
• Catholic Health Initiatives (CO)
  
• Baptist-St. Vincent (FL)
  
• Integrative Medical Clinic of Santa Rosa (CA)
• Sisters of Providence/Franciscan Health System (WA)

Managed Care/Insurance

• National Managed Health Care Congress
• Pacificare of Washington
• First Choice Health Plans of Washington
  
• Alternare Health Services
• Behavioral Health Care Alliance

Academic Medicine/Academic Health Centers

• University of Maryland
• Stanford University
• Bastyr University
• National Education Dialogue to Advance Integrated Health Care
  

Government – Local, State, National

• Seattle-King County Department of Public Health
• Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner
• Arizona Department of Health
  
• National Institutes of Health/Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Convening and Organizing

• Integrative Medicine Industry Leadership Summits
• National Policy Dialogue to Advance Integrated Care
• Collaboration for Healthcare Renewal Foundation
• Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium
• National Education Dialogue to Advance Integrated Health Care: Creating Common Ground
• Academic Consortium of Complementary and Alternative Health Care

Speaking and Presentations

• White House Commission on CAM Policy
• American Massage Therapy Association
• University of Arizona Program in Integrative Medicine
• American Association of Health Plans
  
• Massachusetts Society of Acupuncture
• US Bureau of Primary Health Care
• American Association of Naturopathic Physicians
• Loudon County Healthcare
• HealthForum
• Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Alliance
  

Writing/Publications

• The Integrator for the Business of Alternative Medicine
• Health Forum Journal
  
• Medical Economics
  
• Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients
• Alternative Healthcare Management
  
• Physician Executive
  
• Drug Benefit Trends
• Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine
• Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Integrative Medicine Consult
  
• Integrating Complementary Medicine into Health Systems (chapter)
• The Managed Health Care Handbook (chapter)
  
• Best Practices in Medical Management (chapter)
  
• Current Medicine (chapter)

Present Affiliations

• National Education Dialogue to Advance Integrated Health Care
  
• Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium
  
• Academic Consortium of Complementary and Alternative Health Care

Conflict of interest notice

As I am a participant-observer-reporter in this field, I sometimes will have conflicts of interest in what I report. I will note direct involvements.

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