A Message from Our Director – Peter M. Wayne, PhD
I am so proud of the achievements, resilience, and vision of our Osher Center for Integrative Health team over this past year. Despite significant uncertainty in the fundamental structure of healthcare research along with the merger of Massachusetts General Hospital with Brigham & Women’s Hospital, we have continued to stay true in our efforts to carry out our mission of: ‘Advancing a model of health that recognizes the interconnections of the body, mind, and spirit to enhance resilience and promote health and healing in individuals, communities, and the environments that support them.’
Our research portfolio, now comprising 69 studies, added multiple new exciting initiatives supported by the National Institutes of Health
and foundation support, while completion and publication of findings from ongoing studies have helped advance research evidence and inform policy related to whole person health.
Noteworthy educational initiatives this year included our forward-looking and highly successful 2024 Integrative Medicine Network Forum entitled “High-tech Medicine, Soft-touch Healing: Advancing Innovation in Integrative Health.” And the findings of our 2023
international conference on the “Science of Tai Chi and Qigong as Whole Person Health” were synthesized into two landmark White Papers that map out the current and future state of the field. Our thriving pool of postdoctoral trainees and junior faculty are further
gems in our educational program, along with our monthly Integrative Medicine Grand Rounds showcasing leading-edge ideas and frontline leaders.
And I am more excited than ever about new initiatives at our Osher Clinical Center. Harnessing the combined vision and practical skills of our Medical Director (Darshan Mehta, MD, MPH), Core Leader focused on Leveraging Technology for Integrative Health (AndrewAhn MD, MPH), and our founding Associate Clinical Director (Matthew Kowalski, DC), our clinic is providing excellent care for a growing number of patients while exploring and testing new models of care and incubating our next generation of providers.
Finally, under the lead of Aterah Nusrat, MSc, Director of Programming in Integrative and Planetary Health, we have made significant strides in raising awareness of the bidirectional relationship between the health of people and planet through national conferences, alliance building, publications, pilot research studies, and hospital-based educational initiatives. In a recent trip to the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington DC, a plaque quoting Thomas Jefferson reminded me of the deeper context of the Whole Person Health paradigm we ‘whole-heartedly’ embrace, which includes social imperatives of equity and justice.
“Liberty is the great parent of science and of virtue; A nation will be great in both always in proportion as it is free” –Thomas Jefferson
I hope you enjoy reading this report, continue actively engaging with us as part of our ‘center without walls’, and consider lending your
financial support to help us discover and implement solutions to the broad healthcare challenges facing our society today.
Access the complete Osher 2024 Annual Report here.