Above: Bastyr University President Daniel K. Church, PhD, honors Wayne Jonas, MD, at Bastyr University's 2009 Spring graduation ceremony.
Wayne B. Jonas, MD, renowned speaker, author and advisor, provided the keynote address at the University’s 28th annual Spring commencement exercises, on June 22 at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle.
Dr. Jonas is the president and chief executive officer of the Samueli Institute, a nonprofit scientific research organization in Virginia that investigates healing processes and their applications in promoting health and treating disease. He is widely known for his work as the Director of the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the late 1990s and for his current role as policy advisor on the Wellness Initiative for the Nation (WIN.) His experience includes work as an investigator, practitioner, administrator, speaker, peer reviewer and author of books and scientific articles on conventional and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) topics.
Before this year’s graduation ceremony, Dr. Jonas answered a few questions about the future of natural medicine and role Bastyr University and its graduates will play in shaping our nation’s healthcare picture:
What role do you think integrative medicine will play in the future of our nation’s health care system?
Integrative medicine will have a slow and steady growth and will increasingly become part of our health care system. William James said if you want to see what the future is going to look like, you need to pay attention to things in the periphery. Natural medicine remains in the periphery, but it holds the seeds for what is necessary to create a healthy society and improve health care delivery. The growth will be slow because people are unfamiliar with Natural Medicine and the body of evidence to support it is modest and still growing. It will definitely not go away because it holds the core parts of many of the reforms that are needed for effective health care delivery.
Why is natural medicine a key component of preventative medicine?
Natural medicine has always included diet, lifestyle and environment as core components of treatment and prevention. There is now considerable scientific evidence to back this up. Lifestyle plays a major role in the development and evolution of disease. As the role of prevention increases in health care delivery, the role of natural medicine will also increase.
What role do you see Bastyr University playing in the advancement and integration of natural medicine?
For decades, Bastyr University has been the leading university for teaching natural medicine in the U.S. Over the years, Bastyr has established the core curriculum and core competencies of natural medicine and has established a growing group of individuals who are trained experts. The University has always been a leader in this field, and I hope they will have a key role in bringing natural medicine to the mainstream.
There has always been a separation in the health care system between prevention and treatment, and Bastyr University has bridged that gap. Preventative health is often left to public health departments and work-place wellness programs. People who end up in the medical system get disease treatment, but the long-term underlying factors of their illness are not addressed. Many of the same factors that provide wellness also improve function when you have a disease. Bastyr has always taught methods without artificial separation of prevention and treatment.
How important is the research work being done at Bastyr to the integration of natural medicine into the current health care system?
Research is essential for the successful integration of natural medicine into the current health care climate. Without research, we are unable to separate “fads” in health promotion from those things that have durable, lasting value. Research is important to maintain open and critical perspective on our own practices as health care practitioners. Without self critique, you can’t improve and get better; quality assurance and quality improvement rise out of this critical perspective. Research is important to deliver good care and understand what works. From a conventional medicine perspective, Bastyr University’s research is frontier. It is focused on wellness and how healing happens, whereas conventional medical research focuses on disease and mitigating degeneration.
How important do you think Bastyr has been in legitimizing natural medicine as a scientifically backed form of heath care?
The research performed at Bastyr University has improved the credibility of the field. The University’s educational programs have legitimized natural medicine in a different manner by establishing core competencies and professional and ethical standards in natural medicine. Bastyr University has raised the bar for those practicing natural medicine, and this has also helped legitimize the field.
What advice do you have for Bastyr University graduates as they go on to be practitioners in today’s health care environment?
New graduates will find increasing competition in the field of natural medicine. As our country moves into wellness and health promotion, Bastyr graduates will find their principals are being adopted by the mainstream. In this health care climate, the quality, cost and evidence-based aspects of your profession will be scrutinized closely. Graduates need to pay attention and ensure they have quality-controlled, cost-effective measures in place in their own practices. They should look to join other practitioners in true integrative teams. “Team Care” will be an increasingly important way in which health care will be delivered. The government will be expanding its definition of who is on these health care teams, and natural medicine practitioners will increasingly be called on to be a part of those teams. In short, do quality science-based work, get in the sand-box with other practitioners, and be proud of your work and practice.
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