http://www.newsday.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-apn-alternative-
medicine,0,1431956.story?coll=sns-ap-science-headlines



By JOANN LOVIGLIO
Associated Press Writer

June 5, 2005, 2:33 PM EDT


PHILADELPHIA -- Once largely dismissed as a leftover fad from the
Age of Aquarius, acupuncture, herbal remedies and other forms of
alternative medicine are finding their way into curriculums at
traditional medical schools -- most recently the University of
Pennsylvania.

Doctors at Penn are working with Tai Sophia Institute, an
alternative medicine school in Maryland, on a program to teach
medical students about herbal therapies, meditation and other
approaches that are increasingly popular with the public but largely
exist outside the realm of mainstream medicine. It will start in
August.

"We're not going to turn great surgeons into acupuncturists or
herbalists; that's not the idea," said Robert Duggan, co-founder of
Tai Sophia. "The goal is that Penn medical school graduates will be
highly able to speak with patients about how to guide these things
into their overall care."

More than a third of American adults have tried alternative
therapies -- including yoga, meditation, herbs and the Atkins diet --
according to a 2002 government survey of 31,000 people, the largest
study of its kind in the United States.

Universities nationwide, in response to the burgeoning numbers, are
increasingly focusing on complementary medicine (used along with
conventional treatment) and alternative medicine (used instead of
conventional treatment). Some are creating their own programs and
others are working with alternative medicine practitioners, said
Aviad Haramati, a professor at Georgetown University's medical
school.

"More and more there's a willingness by conventional schools to
recognize the CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) schools
as having this expertise," Haramati said. "And there's a recognition
by the CAM disciplines that linking with conventional academic
centers to foster research is a good thing."

Georgetown students work with a massage therapy school, for example,
and Tufts University students work with an acupuncture school, he
said.

"It made perfect sense to us," said Dr. Alfred P. Fishman of Penn's
medical school, co-director of the collaboration. "We thought, why
start from scratch? This is a very respected organization with 30
years of hands-on experience."

More than 95 of the nation's 125 medical schools require some kind
of complementary and alternative medicine coursework, according to
the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The new partnership will offer a master's degree in complementary
and alternative medicine. The degree, offered to the university's
medical and nursing students, will come from the Tai Sophia
Institute; the schools will exchange faculty members and students.

"If you had raised this 10 years ago everyone would have sneered at
it," Fishman said. "Today, we're moving away from being completely
focused on preventing disease and toward looking at what it takes to
(achieve and maintain) wellness. ... I think patient care will
improve enormously."

One critic of the trend is Dr. Steven Barrett of Allentown, a
Columbia University-trained psychologist who runs the Web site
Quackwatch.

Alternative medicine programs are finding their way into mainstream
institutions not because there's proof the therapies work, Barrett
said, but because skeptical voices are squelched and "administrators
see it as a way to jump on the bandwagon and get grant money."

Penn and Tai Sophia are also developing postgraduate and continuing
education courses on complementary and alternative medicine. One
program, for example, will teach doctors about herbal medicines so
they can better serve their patients who are already taking them.

In addition, cardiologists at Penn's Presbyterian Medical Center are
working with Tai Sophia to integrate alternative therapies into
traditional care for heart patients. The idea is to teach the
cardiology staff how to develop personalized therapy plans --
including everything from meditation and massage to reflexology and
aromatherapy -- to decrease patient stress, pain and anxiety.

"We get the benefit of their extraordinary research capabilities and
educational facilities. They get the benefit of an institution that
understands the world of (unconventional medicine)," Duggan said.

Fishman said the research possibilities are exciting as well. For
example, new brain imaging technology will allow researchers to
physically explore how things like herbs, acupuncture, even prayer,
can make people feel better.

"In the days before we could image the brain it was very hard to
know about how these things worked, why placebos work in some
people," he said. "We can image the brain now and see why they feel
better. Nothing is off limits."