Harvard investing in alternative medicine programs
By Lisa Lipman, Associated Press, 05/14/01
BOSTON -- Harvard Medical School, acknowledging that patients are increasingly experimenting with holistic and other forms of alternative treatments, is creating a new institute for nontraditional medicine.
The program, established with a $10 million gift from San Francisco philanthropist Bernard Osher, will work in conjunction with a similar one at the University of California at San Francisco. Harvard also is putting $2 million toward the project.
Harvard researchers will examine the effectiveness of such alternative treatments as acupuncture, herbal therapies and massage, and look at how those treatments work or interact with traditional medicine.
"You can't practice medicine these days without knowing what patients are doing, and a tremendous amount of them are doing it," said Dr. Dan Federman, who helped start Harvard's integrative medicine program.
Many patients are sheepish about admitting to a traditional doctor that they've been seeking alternative forms of help, he said.
"They think they'll be rebuffed, because they think the doctor won't be sensitive or empathic about their use of it," Federman said.
Americans made an estimated 600 million office visits to practitioners of integrative medicine and spent $30 billion on complementary care, according to a recent Harvard study.
The school decided to start its own integrative medicine program to learn more about how pharmaceutical drugs and herbal medicines interact with each other, and whether or not herbal medicines live up to their reputation for fighting ailments.
The $10 million gift will enable Harvard to boast one of the most well-funded complementary medicine programs in the country, said Dr. David Eisenberg, who will head up the new institute. The UCSF also received $10 million in 1998 from Osher for an alternative medicine program.
Many faculty members are skeptical about nontraditional medicine.
"I personally feel that a lot of alternative medicines are placebos," said Dr. Tom Delbanco, a professor of general medicine, who supports the new institute. "My worry is that people trying to make money often claim they are more than that."
The University of Arizona was one of the first schools to start an integrative medicine program. Founded in 1994, it now includes a month-long rotation for medical students that exposes them to nontraditional medical practices.
The University of Pennsylvania also has a program devoted to alternative medicines. Some other schools are incorporating naturopathic medicine, Chinese medicine, and chiropractic techniques into the medical school curriculum.
Beginning Thursday, Harvard and UCSF will sponsor the International Conference on Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine in San Francisco.
Dr. Monica Aggarwal recognizes the need for such programs. She wasn't taught about nontraditional medicine when she was in medical school. Now that she's in her residency, however, she regularly sees patients who are taking some sort of herbal concoction to ease their ailments.
"I think a lot of it is hodgepodge medicine," said Aggarwal, who works at New England Medical Center. "They are taking all these medications, and they have no idea what they are and if they are causing these problems. And we don't know what's in whatever they've taken."
That kind of miscommunication has prevented Nikki Davis from choosing a new doctor. She used to talk to her doctor about herbs and other holistic treatments, but when he died, she says she couldn't find another doctor as open-minded.
"I miss him so much, because he was really wise," said Davis, a 38-year-old counselor in Newton who advises her own clients about holistic treatments. "But it's really hard to find someone like that. ... I prefer a doctor who speaks both languages. That's always the best."
