UA News

Integrative Medicine in Residency, the Program in Integrative Medicine's newest educational initiative under the leadership of new director Dr. Patricia Lebensohn has established partnerships with seven residencies for the project's initial pilot next summer.

Integrative Medicine in Residency (IMR) - the first program to bring in-depth integrative medical education to enrolled residents – will launch a pilot of IMR in July 2008 at seven family medicine residencies nationwide. Participating pilot sites include the family medicine residencies at The University of Arizona, Tucson; Beth Israel, New York City; Carolina's Medical Center, Charlotte, N.C.; Maine Medical Center, Portland Maine; Maine-Dartmouth, Augusta, Maine; Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minn.; and the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston.

IMR Director Dr. Patricia Lebensohn comes to the program from The University of Arizona College of Medicine, where she has served as residency director for the Family Medicine Residency since 1999. Dr. Lebensohn is a graduate of the program's Fellowship in Integrative Medicine and directs the Integrative Family Medicine program at the UA, as well as working as contributing faculty for the fellowship.

"Over the next three years, development of IMR into a nationwide, self-sustaining education program is a major goal for our organization," said Dr. Victoria Maizes, executive director of the Program in Integrative Medicine. We are so pleased Dr. Lebensohn has agreed to steward Integrative Medicine in Residency as it embarks on this important transition."

Integrative Medicine in Residency is a competency-based curriculum in integrative medicine (IM) that can be incorporated into the typical three-year residency program. The curriculum is designed to be woven through all three years of training with a common Web-based curriculum, in addition to program-specific experiential and group process-oriented activities.

Residents will learn how to incorporate IM concepts into their practices, including learning patient-centered care techniques, facilitating lifestyle changes, referring appropriately to complementary and alternative (CAM) practitioners, assessing scientific and historical evidence for allopathic and CAM approaches to specific diseases and syndromes, and appropriately integrating mind-body, botanical, nutrition/supplements and physical activity recommendations into their practices.

"The pilot program will follow ACGME guidelines in developing a competency-based curriculum through conducting a thorough needs assessment of curricular needs, defining of competencies based on the outcome project six domains, development of the Web-based curriculum and a comprehensive evaluation plan," Dr. Lebensohn said.

Participating programs and contact information:

University of Arizona:
Patricia Lebensohn: plebenso@u.arizona.edu
Victoria Maizes: vmaizes@u.arizona.edu

Carolinas Medical Center:
Dael Waxman
dael.waxman@carolinashealthcare.org

Maine Medical Center:
Craig Schneider
schnec@mmc.org

University of Texas Medical Branch:
Victor Sierpina
vssierpi@utmb.edu

Beth Israel:
Ben Kligler
bkligler@chpnel.org

Maine-Dartmouth:
John Woytowicz:
john.woytowicz@mainegeneral.org

Hennepin County Medical Center:
Selma Sroka
ssroka@earthlink.net

The mission of the Program in Integrative Medicine is to lead the transformation of healthcare by creating, educating, and actively supporting a community of professionals who embody the philosophy and practice of Integrative Medicine. The Program in Integrative Medicine defines Integrative Medicine as healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person (body, mind, and spirit), including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship and makes use of all appropriate therapies, both conventional and alternative.

To learn more about the Program in Integrative Medicine's educational offerings, visit our website at www.integrativemedicine.arizona.edu.