The Holistic Integrative Medicine world opened to me when I conducted research with Dr. Dean Ornish in 1996. Never would I have imagined that my life would transform from a conventional interventional cardiologist to a preventive cardiologist, board certified in Integrative Medicine. The history of Integrative Medicine in conventional medicine began with the formation of the American Holistic Medicine Association and the American Holistic Nurses Association in 1978 and 1979 respectively. Pioneers like Gladys McGeary, Norman Shealy, Scot Shannon and many others recognized the need for a more comprehensive approach to patient care that treated the whole person, body, mind and spirit and embraced all global healing traditions. The next key step to the emergence of Integrative medicine as a profession occurred in the year 2000.The need to train and certify physicians in Integrative Holistic Medicine became the charge of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine (ABIHM). ABIHM under the leadership of Robert Anderson and Lee Lipsenthal offered the first board certification exam in 2000. It was in 2000, when the first board certification exam was given that I attended my first ABIHM annual conference. Like the research I conducted with Dean Ornish, the lectures I heard from “card carrying” MDs were eye opening. It is said that when you are ready the teacher will come and that teacher came in the form of my ABIHM colleagues. Medical school prepared me for differential diagnosis and algorithms to treatment thousands of diseases; ABIHM taught me the importance of connection, love, the social determinants of health, the power of nutrition and opened up the world of other global healing traditions. Important milestones that followed included the White House Commission on Complementary Alternative Medicine in 2002, creation of the Integrative Health Policy Consortium (IHPC )in 2004 and the National Education Dialogue in 2005. The National Educational Dialogue called for “a healthcare system that is multidisciplinary and enhances competence, mutual respect and collaboration across all CAM and conventional healthcare disciplines…which deliver[s] effective care that is patient-centered, focused on health creation and healing, and readily accessible to all populations,” (Weeks, et al. 2005). The White House Commission on Complementary Alternative Medicine called for:
Education of CAM and conventional practitioners should be designed to improve the health and ensure the safety of the public.
Increase the availability of qualified and knowledgeable CAM and conventional practitioners
Enhance collaboration among different practitioner groups.
Develop curricula to facilitate communication and collaboration between CAM and conventional students.
Increased funding from the federal, state, and private sector to expand and evaluate CAM program development at accredited CAM institutions
As we began to gain traction in Integrative Medicine education, Integrative Medicine centers began to emerge within major healthcare institutions. Rauni King at I founded the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in 1996 and what followed was the emergence of centers though out the country. All of these centers survived on philanthropy as healthcare institutions gave “lip service” to health and wellness but were unwilling to support centers financially. The Bravewell Collaborative was pivotal in using the power of philanthropy to impact change. This daring group of philanthropist’s lead by Christy Mack and Penny George pooled philanthropic dollars to create a network of Integrative Medicine centers. This network met biannually to learn from each other and to share our stories of success and failure. The Bravewell Collaborative supported clinicians to attend Integrative Medicine fellowships and they pioneered an award winning PBS documentary titled the New Medicine. Prior to sun downing, Bravewell created the first Integrative Medicine Practice Based Research Network and provided leadership award money to advance the field of Integrative Medicine. It is safe to say, that without Bravewell, many early centers would not have survived and many clinicians would not have been fellowship trained. As a result of Bravewell’s commitment to clinician education, new fellowship trained clinicians are now the leaders of Integrative Medicine Centers throughout the country. The need for clinician specialty recognition was accomplished in 2014 when The American Board of Physician Specialists (ABPS) launched board certification in Integrative Medicine. This board certification occurred at the same time the AHMA under the leadership of Molly Roberts and the ABIHM under the leadership of Nan Sudak voted to realize my vision of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM). For years, I believed that inter professional training and collaboration was key to the success of the Integrative Health and Medicine movement. I always believed that united we stand and divided we will fall. Today the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine opens it arms to all clinicians who seek to create health for both humanity and the planet. AIHM is home to fellowship training, on-line learning and international conferences and summits. Under the leadership of Tabatha Parker the Academy is poised to work with all individual’s and organizations seeking to create health for generations to come.