Last month, in his final post to the Integrator Blog, John Weeks wrote about the Osher Center from its start to present day. Weeks paints a colorful picture of the Center’s evolution over the past 20 years, since it was founded by David Eisenberg, MD, in 2001, to it’s current state under the direction of Peter Wayne, PhD.
“[The Osher Center] declared itself a Center without walls,’ Weeks stated, ‘The Center has invested in the model in multiple ways. They developed two interactive maps to help connect the integrative community in the greater Boston area, famous for its cluster of medical delivery organization and academic medical centers – and their rivalries. The Research Map and Clinical Map (the latter currently being restructured) each make the basic point of the abundance of activity. Available here, one quickly sees that the connected networks in both areas are significantly more substantial than any one of these researchers, educators, or clinicians, wrapped up in their own work, is likely to have imagined. To date, the center has awarded over $1,000,000 across multiple pilot grants to seed new collaborations across the research network. Every second year, the Center hosts a “Harvard Center Network Forum” to bring together, feed, and develop the communities.”