Medical School Curriculum

Currently we have 16 hours devoted to complementary and integrative medicine education in the required curriculum as well as a month-long elective. In all our courses we draw upon a thorough investigation of the literature as well as our own research and clinical programs.

1st and 2nd Year Medical Students

Students are given basic guidelines for discussing complementary medicine with patients. They are also introduced to the main complementary medicine systems and therapies that are most widely used in the U.S. In the Pathophysiology and Therapeutics Course students utilize actual paper cases to discuss the use of complementary medicine in the treatment of chronic pain syndromes. We also use a student-driven, small group, problem-based learning process, which consists of 4 sessions over 4 weeks. Students are given a six page integrative medicine centered case which unfolds over the 4 weeks and involves them in setting learning objectives; determining differential diagnoses; researching topics and presenting their findings to the group; discussing actual outcomes of the case; and resetting learning objectives. We also work with colleagues at the School of Medicine to include complementary medicine information in disease-specific lectures.

3rd Year Medical Students

Lectures on various aspects of complementary and integrative medicine are presented to 3rd year medical students during the required Family Medicine clerkship.

Elective Complementary/Integrative Medicine Program for 4th-Year Medical Students

The 4th-year elective program has been offered since 1994. The course is one month long and offered two times during the year. It provides comprehensive exposure to complementary therapies, with a focus on personal experience of therapies, exposure to clinical practice, and research methodology.