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Advisory Projects
Albert Einstein School of
Medicine Greyston Foundation
Centre for Integrated
Healing
Albert Einstein School of Medicine
The Institute for Integrative Medicine is currently advising the Handler Endowment, which is funding and guiding the development of a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) component in the curriculum of the
Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York City. The initial program is designed as an introduction to complementary and alternative medicine for first and second year students, and to provide opportunities for students to work with primary care physicians that include CAM in their practices.
The long-term goal is to integrate evidenced-based complementary and
alternative medicine into the education of medical students. In the initial phase of this project, the CAM component has been introduced into the elective segment of the curriculum, with a 100% increase in student participation in the second year of the project. Laid out below is the current CAM curriculum at Albert Einstein School of Medicine:
First Year
Introduction to Clinical Medicine, inclusive of CAM
Workshops on Spirituality-Energy and Healing; Cultural Diversity, CAM section; Ethics-CAM case
Principles of Preventive Medicine
Second Year
Clinical and Developmental Anatomy – clinical use of anatomy in treatment –
osteopathy, massage.
Nervous System and Human Behavior – acupuncture and osteopathy in cases of back
pain
Cardiovascular Medicine – CAM approaches to hypertension and mind-body approaches
to coronary artery disease
Third Year
Family Medicine Clerkship, including CAM in clinical practice
Fourth Year
ISP projects and electives, including a clinical rotating elective with primary
care providers using CAM and with CAM practitioners
The Institute for Integrative Medicine will focus on the development of the Einstein curriculum, and will also help develop continuing medical education (CME) courses for the future. The Global Academy has plans to increase its involvement through public conferences to which other medical schools and treatment centers will be invited.
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Greyston Foundation
The Global Academy Institute for Integrative Medicine provided
advice and catalytic funding to the Greyston Foundation to assist in the implementation of its program linking spirituality with social action. The Greyston Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Yonkers, N.Y. The Foundation acts as an umbrella organization to administer the social mission of Greyston Bakery, a storefront bakery that opened in 1982 to provide employment for local homeless people. Today, it is a multi-million dollar operation. All profits from the bakery go to the Greyston Foundation which supports diverse programs, including housing for the homeless, child care, employment and job training, and health care, including a treatment facility, and a hospice service for low-income patients and people living with HIV/AIDS.
Since 1999, the Greyston Foundation has offered complementary medical services as part of the Adult Day Care Program at its Maitri Center, a residential facility for homeless people with AIDS. The day
care program offers acupuncture, herbal and nutritional assessment, and massage therapy to an economically challenged population of HIV positive African-American,
Latino and White women, men, and transgendered individuals. In order to consolidate these services and to expand them to the greater Greyston community, as well as other service organizations, the Foundation inaugurated the Healing Center in April 2001.
Patients attending Maitri Day Care Program and the Healing Center benefit in demonstrable ways.
In 2002 the Center plans to implement primary HIV care, Vidacare, into its program and to create systems that integrate its complementary service with primary western medical practice.
Greyston launched its Public Programming Initiative in 2001 with the intent to explore creativity and spirit, and to promote learning and dialogue. The programming is offered to the community at large, and will include an author series, discussions on complementary health services, and a complementary health fair. The Global Academy Institute for Integrative Medicine supports Greyston’s Public Programming Initiative.
Walter Link, Chairman of the Global Academy, is on the Board of Directors of the Greyston Foundation.
For further information visit
Greyston Foundation’s website.
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Centre for Integrated Healing
The Global Academy Institute for Integrative Medicine provided catalytic funding to the Centre for Integrated Healing as well as ongoing strategic planning and organizational development advice. Founded by Dr. Hal Gunn and Dr. Roger Rogers in 1999 to encourage a holistic, healing approach to cancer care, this unique medical facility based in Vancouver, British Columbia specializes in providing integrative cancer care for patients and their families. It is considered by Canada's National Cancer Agency to be a successful model for combining conventional and complementary and alternative medicine that could be replicated throughout the Canadian healthcare system.
 At the heart of the Centre’s vision is the creation of a bridge between complementary care providers and the conventional medical system. The medical philosophy upon which the Centre bases its program recognizes that mind is not separate from body, and how a person feels impacts the healing process. The Centre recognizes that the healing process is unique to each individual and works with each participant to develop a recovery program best suited to his or her needs.
Recognizing that self-care, personal autonomy and personal choice play an essential role in the healing process, the Centre’s complementary cancer care program uses certain essential aspects of the holistic process to provide a foundation for recovery, including will to live, hope, spiritual connection, personal autonomy, avoidance of physical and mental toxins, healthful diet and exercise, rest and relaxation, vitamins and supplement.
The Centre has received high praise from patients, families, and officials alike, for providing excellent care at very low cost. In 2001, British Columbia awarded Dr. Roger Rogers its highest award, the Order of British Columbia, in recognition for his work as an alternative cancer therapy pioneer.
Based on principles of treating the "whole patient," the Centre for Integrated Healing epitomizes the goals of integrative medicine.
For several years the Global Academy Institute for Integrative Medicine has promoted the Centre’s sustainability in a number of ways:
Supplied catalytic funding to provide salary support for a key administrator engaged to develop an efficient organizational structure, excellent internal communications, and successful outreach programs.
Principals of the Institute for Integrative Medicine provided extensive organizational development support and strategic planning advice, and they continue to advise the Centre for Integrated Healing on its strategic plan.
Based on its extensive experience in the complementary and alternative education field, the Institute assisted in the development and implementation of the Centre’s education program.
The complementary cancer care provided by the Centre for Integrated Healing has proved so effective that it now must seek a means to expand its services to a larger patient base. Acting as a consultant, the Institute for Integrative Healing will provide strategic and implementation advice so that the Centre can achieve this objective.
The Centre for Integrated Healing epitomizes a model that makes affordable treatment available to the general public. Developing such models is a long-term objective of the Global Academy Institute for Integrative Medicine. The Institute continues to provide administrative support, catalytic funding, and ongoing strategic guidance to the Centre for Integrated Healing, as well as to look for opportunities to use this model as a basis to expand the availability of integrated medicine.
Global Academy president Tom Valente is on the board of directors for the Centre, and
chairman Walter Link is co-chair of the international board of advisors.
For further information visit the
Centre for Integrated Healing
website.
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