MS-CAM program leaders initiate relationships

Student A completes an academic Masters of Science program at a highly esteemed academic health center. He or she is wondering her/his future. The program focused on the science of complementary and integrative medicine. But what does the individual's future hold? Go on to medical school? Personnel with the program lay out options. Among them, without prejudice: Have you considered this naturopathic medical school?

Meantime, Student B is considering naturopathic medical college. The field of complementary and alternative medicine intrigues. But is he or she ready to make the jump for that 4-year, residential commitment? Is naturopathic medicine or regular medical school or chiropractic medical education what they want?  Personnel with the naturopathic medical program say: You might consider this year-long Masters of Science in complementary and alternative medicine at this academic health center.

Naturopathic program the focus of the inter-institutional agreement

An inter-institutional relationship such as this is the gist of an agreement recently established between Georgetown University School of Medicine and Bastyr University. Georgetown offers a CAM MS in Physiology program, initiated in 2003 under an NIH NCCAM R-25 grant. Bastyr University offers a naturopathic medical education among its dozen degree programs.

A new threshold of mutual respect

While neither binding, nor formal, the Georgetown-Bastyr relationship marks what appears to be a new threshold of mutual respect between a conventional academic program and a "CAM" school.

The relationship was conceived by Aviad "Adi" Haramati, PhD, co-director of the Georgetown program with Hakima Amri, PhD. Georgetown plans to forge similar relationships with vetted, top-quality schools that train professionals for the distinctly licensed complementary and alternative healthcare disciplines.

Haramati: Long involvement in building bridges between disciplines

Haramati, previously the PI on the NCCAM grant, has been a major force for inter-professional action and dialogue since he chose to enter the integrative education field roughly a decade ago. He brought Georgetown in as a co-sponsor of the multi-stakeholder and multidisciplinary National Policy Dialogue to Advance Integrated Healthcare in 2001. (Interestingly, Bastyr was another co-sponsor.) He threw Georgetown's support behind the National Education Dialogue in 2005, for an invitational meeting involving integrative practice academics`from 11 disciplines. As the founding vice chair and leader of the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine, Haramati has promoted closer relationships with the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care.

Breaking down the silos between disciplines

Asked why he is promoting the linkages, Haramati smiled: "I love the idea of a conventional school like Georgetown training people for the broad array of health professions. Ten years ago this would have been unthinkable." Haramati expanded on his vision:

"These linkages are a way to break down the silos that hold the disciplines apart. We are creating relationships between the disciplines and between the universities. The fact that a student at an academic health center is counseled to consider training as a naturopathic doctor or a chiropractor or a medical doctor or pursue a research career is what will serve to bridge the chasm between the health professions. We're seeing it happening now. We counsel many of our students to suspend their judgment about their future career plans until they have some more information about the broad disciplines. Increasingly students are comfortable saying they don't know which of these professions they will choose until they learn more."

Amri: Co-chair of Georgetown's MS-CAM program

The Bastyr linkage and those in discussion with other universities are not a marketing gimmick for Georgetown. The $45,000, 11-month Georgetown program, limited to 30 students, has been full since 2006. They don't plan to expand it. Rather, the Georgetown team wants these agreements to be a model: "We'd like nothing more than to see similar programs develop in other academic health centers."

Non-binding, non-exclusive agreements

The Integrator was provided with email

"The fundamental aim of this program is to provide students with competencies in three areas:  grounding in science (especially systems and cell physiology), introductory exposure and understanding of CAM disciplines and philosophies, and the ability to rigorously assess the state of evidence regarding safety and efficacy of various CAM therapies." 

"With regard to the health professions, we would hope that exposure to various CAM disciplines may stimulate some students to pursue a career in one of the CAM disciplines, including chiropractic, naturopathic medicine or acupuncture and oriental medicine among others." 

Callahan: Point for Bastyr

A letter to Haramati from Bastyr's senior vice president and provost Tim Callahan, PhD spells out the relationship, affirming it's non-binding nature. The letter closes simply: "We look forward to this association with Georgetown University."