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FON: THE BUSINESS OF INTEGRATIVE HEALTH & MEDICINE

New Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine Broadens Leadership Team

New Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM) broadens its leadership team: Wisneski, Snider and Weeks join board. In the fall of 2013, the American Board of Integrative Health and Medicine (ABIHM) announced that it was re-forming itself as the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM). In a speech announcing the new entity, the founding president Mimi Guarneri, MD mentioned three new areas of involvement beyond ABIHM’s historic education

Ruth Westreich Sponsors John Weeks’ The Integrator Blog: Why it Matters

This news largely flew under the radar. It shouldn’t have. Weeks’ steadfast publication of The Integrator Blog has been enormously helpful to the integrative health and medicine field for many years. Several years ago when I was planning the launch of FON, and ‘going to school’ on the emerging field of integrative health and medicine, I discovered the work of John Weeks and The Integrator. At the time, no outlet

Dr. Don Berwick’s Institute for Health Improvement Promotes New Delivery Principles “Beyond The Triple Aim”

The most progressive forces in U.S. medicine have signed on and are promoting a new strategy for medicine and health in the United States. In a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Institute for Health Improvement co-founder and former Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Don Berwick, MD published Change from the Inside Out: Healthcare Leaders Taking the Helm. They declare a set of eight

NIH (NCCIH) Releases 2012 Survey Results for Natural Health Approaches and Usage

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), along with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just released results from its 2012 National Health Interview Survey on the usage of complementary and integrative products and modalities among adults and children. Some interesting findings include: • 2012 overall usage is about the same, once

Thorne Research Partners with Mayo Clinic to Study Supplements

Thorne Research Inc. a leader in developing and manufacturing pure high quality nutritional supplements entered a new dietary supplement clinical study agreement with Mayo Clinic. Starting in January 2015 Thorne Research and Mayo Clinic began conducting a series of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials on a number of dietary supplements under a master clinical study agreement. Working with physicians and PhD scientists trials will be conducted at Mayo Clinic with

Pioneering Whole Systems Researcher Marja Verhoef, PhD, Retires

One of integrative health and medicine’s most significant, pioneering and visionary researchers, University of Calgary’s Marja Verhoef, PhD, is retiring. In 2002, Verhoef co-founded the international Whole Systems Research Group (aka the Island Group). Via this team she published and helped clarify “Methodological Challenges in Whole Systems Research.” A believer in the importance of building capacity through networks, Verhoef co-founded and was the first president of the International Society for

George Washington University Launches Online Integrative Medicine Program

In a partnership with the Metabolic Medicine Institute, George Washington University is launching an online integrative medicine program according to this April 24, 2014 news release. The release suggests that graduates will have the “requisite skills to oversee a practice in integrative medicine, as well as balance the business, regulatory, and legal aspects of clinical care.” In addition, they will learn to gather outcomes data. The later is presented as

Cleveland Clinic New Chinese Herb Program Makes Huge Waves in Media

The Time Magazine feature “Cleveland Clinic’s New Medicine” was here. The Wall Street Journal‘s “A Top Hospital Opens to Chinese Herbs as Medicines” is here. “Can Herbs Help? Dr. Oz Explains Eastern Medicine” is here. Katie Couric’s Today show piece on it, “Why One Hospital is Turning to Chinese Medicine” is here. Crane Herb Company will be the supplier of the products. Crane sources their supplies via KPC Herbs, which

The Impact of ‘Escape Fire’ and What Comes Next

In his excellent post, “Revisiting Escape Fire: The War to Rescue Our Health,” integrative health publisher and thought leader John Weeks questions the impact of this highly regarded documentary as a truly effective healthcare delivery game changer, and he appeals for a harder-hitting sequel to help finish the job. But before we discuss what a sequel might cover, it’s important to consider the uneven impact the original has had since