PennMed’s Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program

Penn Medicine and the Tai Sophia Institute for the Applied Healing Arts of Laurel, Maryland, have signed an affiliation agreement to collaborate on education, research and clinical activities in complementary and alternative medicine.

Three initiatives relating to medical education, clinical activities and the monitoring of the quality of herbal medicines and herbal products are initial targets for the program. The initiatives will include the creation of a Master’s Degree in Complementary and Alternative Medicine, to be offered by the Tai Sophia Institute and developed in collaboration with Penn School of Medicine faculty. “This degree program is one of the first of its kind in the nation,” said Dr. Alfred P. Fishman, senior associate dean for program development at the School of Medicine and co-director of the collaboration. “It will afford a solid background for Penn’s medical and nursing students in their understanding of alternative healing arts.”

A second initiative will be the creation of an “Optimal Healing Environment” at the Presbyterian Medical Center. This will be developed by the Division of Cardiology at Presbyterian Medical Center and the Tai Sophia Institute and will integrate Complementary/Alternative Medicine into conventional cardiac care. Robert M. Duggan, president of the Tai Sophia Institute is the other co-director.

The third part of the collaboration will consist of the development of postgraduate and programs in continuing education. One program currently under development will provide physicians with ready access to clinically important information about herbal medicines and promote the use of online herbal databases. The School of Medicine’s highly rated Continuing Medical Education Program (CME), which has recently received re-accreditation with a commendation and rating of exceptional by the Accreditation Council for CME, will play an important role in this phase of the collaboration.