Doctors in for a dose of alternative medicine

Doctors in for a dose of alternative medicine

Above is the link of an Australian news article summarizing recent trends in Integrative Medicine.  

Dr. Andrew Weil has provided leadership in the academic medical settings resulting in more than 20% of the U.S. Medical Schools belonging to a consortium in integrative medicine.  In addition, he has trained hundreds of physicians through the Program in Integrative Medicine.  

I feel fortunate to have completed two programs with Dr. Andrew Weil as an Osher Fellow.  The first program was a residential fellowship program where I saw patients with Dr. Weil at the University of Arizona's Medical Center.   This option is no longer available due to the expense of running a residential program.  In addition, to the residential fellowship program, I also completed Associate Fellowship (now referred as Fellowship) using internet distance learning model.

The article also updates evidence based approach to integrative medicine.  Not surprisingly, acupuncture has strong base of evidence.  I have written several review articles evaluating the effectiveness of acupuncture for treating numerous conditions including weight loss, back pain, asthma, knee osteoarthritis, and depression.  

In Georgia Integrative Medicine, we provide integrated assessments including:

• Western Medicine
• Chinese Medicine
• Classic Homeopathy
• Energy Medicine
• Medical Intuition
• Nutrition 

Since there is no studies looking at an integrated approach, it is not possible to comment on the effectiveness.  However, if the separate components work, then it is likely that a well-orchestrated variety of healing modalities will likely to help. 

There is a growing consensus that the tools of science is too limited to study complex phenomenon.  I think this is true.  

John Kim, MD MPH FAAMA