I have had the pleasure of serving the Samueli Institute as an unpaid adviser on multiple occasions.

Henry and Susan Samueli

The Institute,

Wayne Jonas, MD

Jonas was considering leaving the rough-and-tumble of the nation's Beltway. Leadership of the NIH's Congressionally-forced entry into exploring alternative therapies and providers had proved, for all its fascinations, a continuous gauntlet. Advocates of whole person, holistic and energetic approaches complained that Jonas kowtowed to the reductive NIH. Antagonists argued that anything other than a reductive, basic science and controlled trial agenda was an affront to the NIH mother ship. Jonas brought his rigorous training in basic research at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research to his job. He also allowed his leadership to be shaped by his experienced view that there was value in the subject matter he was to research. The politically-charged research climate of 1998 couldn't admit the potential use to human health of "alternative medicine."

Note: I asked Wayne Jonas, MD, the Institute's executive director to imagine it is 2021. What would the Institute have accomplished? He had no need to shoot from the hip. The Institute had already developed these success measures, which he then sent.  

In 2021 the Institute's goal is that wellness and healing have become a formative concept  in society. The following are the major success indicators of the Institute's work. These are the Institute's "Big Hairy Audacious Goals" for the next decade.

• The Departments of Defense and Veterans Health Administration have established 10 major initiatives or centers of excellence to deliver wellness and healing to service members and their families. These Centers are improving wellness, healing, human resilience and performance in the military. The Total Force Fitness paradigm is an established doctrine and being used at over half the major installations in the country.
• Ten percent of all health care systems are striving to become "optimal healing environments" (OHE) and using Systems Wellness Action Training (SWAT) teams to train in healing and integrative health care services as part of their routine care.
• Five to seven government and non-government organizations are using the Institute's SEaRCH program for vetting claims of healing, evaluating their evidence basis, and connecting this evidence to decisions on policies and appropriateness of practices.
• The Institute has developed a Systematic Review and Integrative Medicine Research Training programs that is being used by multiple organizations and individuals worldwide.
• One fifth of the Fortune 500 companies are moving into health promotion and integrative health care or are investing in development of a wellness capacity for their own employees.
• Seven to ten major new "Service Value" initiatives have been started by companies and they are developing new business opportunities to build the foundations of a wellness industry.
• Governments are implementing incentive policies that encourage development of a wellness industry and healthier communities, including programs for families and children. 
• The U.S. National Prevention Strategy has created a new set of action items based on a vision facilitated by the Institute's work on Whole Community Wellness and Resilience.
• Ten Foundations are supporting innovative projects that seek to achieve maximum increase in human health and flourishing in local communities, especially for the underserved, women and children, and the military.
• Seven clinical trials are being conducted by the Institute and its partners on nutritional, dietary supplement or herbal interventions for national or international health improvement.
• The Institute is conducting a major four step program on sustainable health care for children in underserved communities and the developing countries.
• The Institute has been the primary researcher on high nutrition, and high omega-3 foods for the industry.
• Government and non-government agencies are funding research on mind-body practices and consciousness. Four grants on the physics and neuroscience of consciousness have been funded by the National Science Foundation or similar organization.
• A program on clinical hormesis (low-dose protection and treatment) has been established and is funded by both private and public funding. Within this research program are projects on the rapid induction of protective tolerance (RIPT) as a new paradigm for managing pandemics and environmental toxin exposure.
• The media is increasingly advertising and reporting on integrative health care and health promotion practices investigated by the Institute and its partners in a positive light. Channels like OWN, HBO and Discovery and influential medical communication programs like TED and the Dr. Oz Show are regularly discussing integrative health care and optimal healing environments.
• There are eleven community leader training projects implementing whole community wellness and resilience assessments using Institute developed tools. These communities have provided instrumental input into the National Prevention Strategy.
• The Institute is the "go-to" organization for vetting claims on healing and providing scientific advice to government and non-government organizations establishing policies and guidelines on wellness and healing practices.
• The public wants to have "well-being" and they are willing to seek out and participate in healthy behaviors and purchase wellness and healing products for improving health - physically, psychologically, socially and spiritually.
• At the Institute's invitation, national and international cultural change leaders are gathering both inside and outside their official duties to support social behavioral change toward wellness and healing.
• There are standard measures and benchmarks for tracking health, healing and well-being in a whole systems manner with the Institute's major stakeholders.