EDCAM Grant Summary

In 2002, the American Medical Student Association/Foundation has received a five-year grant from the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) to develop, promote, and disseminate Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) education curricula and programs at allopathic and osteopathic medical institutions. The EDCAM curricular intervention ended in 2007; additional grant activities wrapping up the project extended into spring 2008.

• Improve medical student proficiency in CAM theory, methods, and practice;
• Enhance medical student education of preventive health, holistic care, and self-care through clinical examples using integrative medicine; and
• Improve cultural competence and comfort of future physicians increasingly exposed to a diversity of world populations and healing methods.

Multicenter Curriculum Project

With its panel of experts and consultants, AMSA is implementing a pilot CAM curriculum adapted by six different medical schools over a four-year period. The curriculum is a compendium of needs, requests, and demands for education compiled from a dozen national initiatives for curriculum, as well as recommendations from evidence-based educators.

AMSA provided guidelines and objectives for coursework in several areas of CAM and resources for existing courses at other medical schools. Using recommendations of the NIH National Conference on Medical and Nursing Education in Complementary Medicine in 1996, the Society for Teachers of Family Medicine, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Homeopathic Physicians Teachers Group, the Consortium of Academic Medical Centers, the American Board of Holistic Medicine, the Humanistic Medicine section of AMSA, and the White House Commission on CAM Policy, the following 6 courses (A-F) in 10 core areas (1-10) were recommended as part of the curriculum:

A. Stress Reduction, Relaxation and Wholeness: A didactic and experiential workshop

B. Introduction to Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine

C. Core Curriculum CAM Integration in 10 categories:

1. Nutrition and Lifestyle: diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management

2 Mind-Body Medicine

3. Alternative systems of Medical Thought: Traditional Chinese Medicine

4. Alternative systems of Medical Thought: Yoga and Ayurveda

5. Alternative systems of Medical Thought: Homeopathy

6. Bioenergetic Medicine

7. Pharmacologic/Biologically based: Herbal Medicine

8. Pharmacologic/Biologically based: nutrition, dietary supplements, and vitamins

9. Manipulative Therapies: Chiropractic, Osteopathic

10. Manipulative Therapies: Massage

D. CAM Clinical Interviewing:

1. CAM History Taking

2. Holistic Interviewing

3. Patient-Centered Interviewing

4. Cultural Competency Skills

E. Integrative Field Study:

1. Research in an established CAM research program

2. Case-based CAM Literature Search

3. Community Service Health Promotion/ Disease Prevention Project

4. CAM Mentorship

F. U.S. and International CAM Electives: clinical or exploratory

Using the standard request for proposals (RFP) process, AMSA invited schools to submit proposals demonstrating how the above courses would be integrated into their existing curriculum. Each proposal adapted AMSA's content-driven outlines for each of the above courses using guidelines for format, objectives, clinical relevance and applications, evidence based literature citations, and extensive resources.

The first year RFP was sent out November 2002 and the second year RFP was sent out November 2003. After proposals were received January 2003 for Cycle 1 and January 2004 for Cycle 2, a total of six schools were selected by the Advisory Committee as pilot sites for the EDCAM curriculum project. The three first-year grant recipients were University of Massachusetts Medical School, University of Connecticut Health Center and University of California, Irvine College of Medicine. The three second-year and final grant recipients were Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and Louisiana State University.

Awarded schools tailored their plans for integrating CAM education with their own curriculum style using guidelines from AMSA's suggestions. AMSA provided $15,000/year in funding for the EDCAM pilot schools.

AMSA conducted regular process and outcome evaluation of each customized program, and has disseminated results to institutions interested in creating CAM programs through AMSA's already established website, listserve programs, national/regional conventions, monthly magazine, newsletters and other professional conferences and journals. In 2007, AMSA contributed to a special issue of Academic Medicine on CAM in health professions education.

CAM Leadership Training Program

Since 2003, AMSA has offered an annual 5-day Leadership Training Program (LTP) focusing on CAM modalities, research and basic concepts, as well as leadership development skills for students interested in becoming leaders at their medical schools in the movement to introduce CAM curricula. The LTP has been held at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, NY each year.

Expansion of AMSA CAM Resources

Under the EDCAM initiative, AMSA expanded its available CAM resources, including:

• Comprehensive listings of the known loci of CAM research including funded grants, libraries, consumer havens, research centers, foundations, and online sources on AMSA HuMed (Humanistic Medicine) site;
• Revised and expanded sourcebooks of holistic medicine preceptorships;
• Facilitation of lectures and information sessions on topics related to integrative medicine, at AMSA conventions and regional meetings;
• Revisions of curriculum resources.

• Principal Investigator: Joan Hedgecock, MSPH. Hedgecock has been the Associate Director of the AMSA Foundation for over 18 years, where she serves as the director/ principal investigator of several primary care and medical education programs and grants.
• Co-Principal Investigator: David Rakel MD, director of the University of Wisconsin Integrative Medicine Program and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison.
• Educational Consultant: Wendy Kohatsu, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Oregon Health and Science University.
• Evaluation Consultant: Stergios (Steve) Roussos, PhD, MPH
• Project Associate and LTP Coordinator: Caitlin Phelps, MA

Additionally, a medical student was chosen each year to serve as the EDCAM grant Student Coordinator, and to assist in planning and implementing the LTP. Several student interns also assisted in grant activities throughout the project period.

• Connie Earl, Former EDCAM Student Coordinator, UNECOM
• Angelique Bella, LMT, NCMBT
• George Guess, MD, DHt, Homeopath
• Stephen Turner, MS III, UVA
• Wayne Jonas, MD, Samueli Institute
• Ben Kligler, MD, MPH. Beth Israel CHH
• Wendy Kohatsu, MD, OHSU
• Ann Taylor, RN, EdD, University of VA
• Joel Kreisberg, DC, CCH, Health in Common
• Sheldon Lewis, Editor, IJIM / Author
• Susan Lord, MD, CMBM
• Ann McCombs, DO, ABHM
• Patrick Meiderhoff, Pharm D, PhD, MCV
• Stephen Rechtschaffen, MD, Omega Institute
• Diane Miller, JD, MT, Natural Health Coalition
• Kathi Kemper, MD, MPH, Instructor, Harvard Medical School
• James Biddle, MD, ACAM Board; Asheville Integrative Medicine
• Steve Turner, Former EDCAM Student Coordinator, UVA

• Bob Anderson, MD, ABHM, FAAFP; President, American Board of Holistic Medicine
• Angelique Bella, LMT, NCTMB; Director, Foundation for Integrative Therapies; President, American Massage Therapy Association, DC Chapter
• Bhaswati Bhattacharya, MPH, MD, MA; Director of CAM Research and Education, Attending Physician, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center
• Mark Blumenthal, AHG; Founder and Executive Director, American Botanical Council
• Ted Chapman, MD, DHt; Former President, American Institute of Homeopathy
• Patrick Coughlin, PhD; Professor, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Wendy Kohatsu, MD; Assistant Professor, Family Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) Graduate Fellow and Visiting Asst. Professor of Clinical Medicine, Program in Integrative Medicine, U. of Arizona
• Beverly Rubik, PhD; Director, Institute for Frontier Science; Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Arizona Fellowship Program in Integrative Medicine
• C. Norman Shealy, MD, PhD; Founder and Director, Shealy Wellness Center; President, Holos Institute of Health; Founder, American Holistic Medical Association
• Mano Venkatraman, PhD; Assistant Professor, University of Washington School of Nursing
• James Williams, OMD, LAc; Private practitioner of Oriental Medicine

Questions? Contact EDCAM Project Associate

The materials on this website were made possible by Grant Number 1 R25 AT0 0529-01A1 from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicines (NCCAM), the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The contents are solely the responsibility of the EDCAM project staff and contributors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NCCAM or NIH.

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