Our vision

Advancing integrative health in patient care, education, and research to support and sustain well-being for all.

Our mission

We capitalize upon Oregon’s unique combination of conventional and complementary medicine colleges and universities to weave an integrative health network that encourages patient autonomy in developing an evidence-informed plan that supports a healthful, balanced lifestyle.

We aim to make integrative health care services accessible to all regardless of socioeconomic status, race, gender, sexual orientation, or abilities.

We strive to draw upon and celebrate wisdom from various cultures through offering a wide range of healing therapies including natural medicines.

Through excellence in innovation, we are continually transforming our knowledge through research endeavors and disseminating best clinical practice through education.

History of integrative health at OHSU

Integrative health efforts at OHSU span over 30 years. In the late 1980s, OHSU was awarded a collaborative research grant with the University of Western States for low back pain. In 1999, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health funded the Oregon Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Neurological Disorders and a T32 postdoctoral training program. In 2004, the first OHSU integrative medicine clinic opened, which was designed to deliver patient care utilizing expertise from both conventional and traditional medicine providers. The clinic was subsequently embedded into the OHSU medical system rather than siloed. Since 1980, integrative health continues to expand and thrive at OHSU.

To delve more deeply into the history of integrative health at OHSU, you can access OHSU's Oral History interview with Lynne Shinto, ND, MPH, now part of OHSU's oral history archives. During this interview, Dr. Shinto traces the early experiences that interested her in natural medicine, how she came to pursue naturopathy, her time at OHSU, as well as the role of naturopaths in academic health centers and how it has evolved in recent years. Additional points of discussion include naturopathic research, accreditation, academic instruction, and integrative medicine.

Integrative health today

OHSU has five integrative health clinics, clinical education for medical students and residents, and research training for medical students, residents, and postdoctoral fellows. OHSU is one of the few academic health centers that has created a clinical credentialing path for naturopaths, chiropractors, and Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors.

Partnerships

Since 2003, OHSU has maintained membership in the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health, which includes over 75 highly-esteemed academic medical centers, nursing schools, and health systems.

To ensure the integration of all types of medicine that offers choice and diversity in clinical care, research, and education, we have ongoing collaborations with:

National University of Natural Medicine (Naturopathic/Traditional Chinese Medicine) 

Oregon College of Oriental Medicine (Traditional Chinese Medicine)

University of Western States (Chiropractic)

Oregon Collaborative for Integrative Medicine, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that brings education and health system institutions representing all licensed health professions together to advance a model of whole person care through collaboration