Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine

Speakers

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  Najwa
  El-Nachef, MD

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  Najwa El-Nachef, MD

  Dr. Najwa El-Nachef is a gastroenterologist with special interests in gut microbiome, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), celiac disease, eosinophilic esophagitis and other immune conditions affecting the gastrointestinal tract.

  El-Nachef established UCSF’s program for fecal microbiota transplant (FMT), which involves the transfer of stool from a healthy donor to boost beneficial microorganisms in the recipient’s intestinal tract. She is co-director of UCSF’s microbial restoration therapy program and has treated numerous patients with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection through FMT.

  El-Nachef’s research projects focus on the microbiome’s role in IBD. She is particularly thrilled to be contributing to an exciting field of research by helping to facilitate clinical trials investigating microbial therapy for various gastrointestinal illnesses.

  After earning her medical degree at Wayne State University School of Medicine, El-Nachef completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Michigan. She completed a fellowship in gastroenterology at UCSF.

  El-Nachef belongs to the American Gastroenterological Association and American College of Gastroenterology. She also directs UCSF’s fellowship program in gastroenterology.

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  Rushika
  Fernandopulle, MD

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  Rushika Fernandopulle, MD

  Rushika Fernandopulle is a practicing physician and Chief Innovation Officer of One Medical, a leading Advanced Primary Care company based in San Francisco, CA. Before this, he was co-founder and CEO of Iora Health, was the first Executive Director of the Harvard Interfaculty Program for Health Systems Improvement, and Managing Director of the Clinical Initiatives Center at the Advisory Board Company. He is a member of the Albert Schweitzer, Ashoka, Aspen, and Salzburg Global Fellowships, and is co-author or editor of several publications. He serves on the staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital, on the faculty of Harvard Medical School.He earned his A.B., M.D., and M.P.P. from Harvard University, and completed his clinical training at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts General Hospital.

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  Christopher
  Gardner, PhD

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  Christopher Gardner, PhD

  Christopher Gardner holds a PhD in Nutrition Science and is the Rehnborg Farquhar [Ren-borg Far-kwar] Professor of Medicine at Stanford. He is the current chair of the American Heart Association Nutrition Committee. For ~30 years his research has examined what to eat and what to avoid for optimal health. This includes more than 20 nutrition intervention trials conducted with >2,000 participants. Recently he has collaborated on over a half dozen human nutrition intervention trials with Dr. Justin Sonnenburg, a Stanford microbiologist. These recent studies examine the relationships of the diet with microbial diversity and inflammation/immune function.

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  Robert
  Gatenby, MD

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  Robert Gatenby, MD

  Bob received a B.S.E. in Bioengineering and Mechanical Sciences from Princeton University and an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his residency in radiology at the University of Pennsylvania where he also served as chief resident. Bob remains an active clinical radiologist specializing in body imaging. While working at the Fox Chase Cancer Center after residency, Bob perceived that cancer biology and oncology were awash in data but lacked coherent frameworks of understanding to organize this information and integrate new results. Reaching back to his training in engineering and physical sciences, Bob recognized that cancer was a complex dynamic system (similar, for example, to weather) and that understanding the often non-linear interactions that govern such systems requires mathematical models and computer simulations. As a result, most of Bob’s subsequent research has focused on exploring mathematical methods to understand the first principles and key parameters that govern cancer biology and treatment. In 2008, Bob joined Moffitt as chair of radiology and convinced the leadership to add a group of mathematicians to the faculty and form the Integrated Mathematical Oncology (IMO) department. Now numbering 8 faculty mathematicians and over 20 post docs and grad students, the IMO has catalyzed formation of several disease-oriented teams of oncologists, surgeons, pathologists, radiologists, mathematicians, physicists, cancer biologists, imaging scientists and evolutionary biologists. These multidisciplinary groups are investigating virtually every aspect of cancer biology and therapy. In fact, IMO members are co-PIs of two ongoing clinical trials that use evolutionary dynamics and computational models to guide therapy. There is no other cancer center in the world that has so completely integrated mathematical modeling and computer simulations into basic science and clinical research.

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  Laura Hope
  Gill, MFA

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  Laura Hope Gill, MFA

  Laura Hope-Gill coordinates the MFA in Creative Writing at Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Graduate Center in Asheville, NC, leading classes in Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, Geopoetics, and Narrative Healthcare. Within the program she formed the Narrative Healthcare Certificate Program wherein doctors, nurses, counselors, chaplains, teachers, and writers explore the shared territory between medicine and creativity, such as Narrative Medicine, Poetic Medicine, Expressive Writing, Medical Humanities, and the ever-expanding newer fields. She is a North Carolina Arts Fellow for her memoir on sensorineural deafness, The Deaf Sea Scrolls (submitted) which examines the multifold deafnesses--social, spiritual, political--that pervaded her life before the definitive diagnosis of neurological deafness. Her book, Holy Curiosity, about Alchemy and the Creative Process, is forthcoming as well from Pisgah Press. Her collection of poetry, The Soul Tree, earned her the title of first poet laureate of the Blue Ridge Parkway. She received award from North Carolina Society of Historians for her architectural histories of Asheville. Her poems and essays appear widely in acclaimed journals including Parabola, Cairn, North Carolina Literary Review, and Denver Quarterly.

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  John
  Hogenesch, PhD

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  John Hogenesch, PhD

  I began my scientific career as a neuroscientist interested in how genes regulate behavior. A series of inspiring mentors propelled me to pursue those interests across industry and academia.

  I’ve since worked with many scientists on projects in plants, flies, zebrafish, mice and people. This work has focused on the function of noncoding RNAs; building a Gene Atlas of the mouse, human and rat transcriptomes; and cell-based screening, among others.

  I’m particularly interested in genome biology with a focus on the circadian clock. In my lab at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, we work to uncover the mechanisms of the circadian clock and apply that knowledge to medicine. For example, our lab has discovered several core clock genes and proven that they regulate physiology and behavior. This includes my discovery of the transcription factor Bmal1--the master regulator of the mammalian clock--along with its paralog, Bmal2, and its partner, Npas2. Later, my lab characterized Rora/Rorb/Roc as key regulators of Bmal1 and circadian function. We also discovered Chrono as a non-canonical repressor of Bmal1/Clock, and Kpnb1 as a required transporter of the PER/CRY complex.

  We are also applying the principles of circadian biology to hospital medicine by looking at time of day as a guide for medication administration.

  My lab’s work on transcriptional outputs of the circadian clock in animal models and humans is leading to a wealth of new opportunities in circadian medicine and has spurred community contributions to the public databases GeneATLAS, Gene Wiki and CircaDB. We have also developed several widely used algorithms, including JTK, PSEA, MetaCycle and CYCLOPS.

  I am a Penn Fellow and sit or have sat on the scientific advisory boards of Qiagen, Mimetics, Synchronicity, Bio-Rad and the Ryan Licht Sang Foundation Medical Committee. I have also advised the Gene Ontology (GO) consortium, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and several institutes within the National Institutes of Health, including the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

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  Mark
  Horowitz, MBBS, PhD

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  Mark Horowitz, MBBS, PhD

  Dr Mark Horowitz, MBBS, PhD is Clinical Research Fellow in Psychiatry at the National Health Service (NHS) in England, an Honorary Clinical Research Fellow at University College London and is a training psychiatrist. He has completed a PhD from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London in the neurobiology of depression and antidepressant action. He is Co-Investigator on the RELEASE trial in Australia evaluating the effect of gradual, hyperbolic tapering of antidepressants. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology and is Guest Editor for a Collection of papers on "Discontinuing Psychotropic Medication". He co-authored the Royal College of Psychiatry guidance on "Stopping Antidepressants", and his work informed the recent National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on safe discontinuation of psychiatric medications.

  He has written several influential papers about safe approaches to tapering psychiatric medications including publications in The Lancet Psychiatry, JAMA Psychiatry and Schizophrenia Bulletin. He has an interest in rational psychopharmacology and deprescribing psychiatric medication. He has experienced the difficulty of coming off psychiatric medications first hand which has informed much of his work. He has co-founded Outro Health, which aims to set up a clinic to help people come off unnecessary antidepressants in Canada and the US, using gradual, hyperbolic tapering combined with support and guidance delivered by clinicians through digital means.

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  Rita Anita
  Linger, PhD, CPC, CMBP

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  Rita Anita Linger, PhD, CPC, CMBP

  Dr. Rita Anita Linger, is a Human Scientist, Psycho-physiologist, University Professor with a background and practice in psychophysiology, contemporary neuroscience, MBSR, Mind-Body skills and organizational effectiveness. She is the Executive Director of Recovery Communities of North Carolina, Raleigh, North Carolina (a statewide organization that provides holistic direct recovery services and training programs/technical support, mentoring to those struggling with substance use disorders their families, allies, and providers of services. Services also include support for trauma relief and mental illness). 

  Dr. Linger is Faculty at the University of North Carolina, Integrative Medication, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Dept where she teaches contemporary neuroscience, trauma informed care, psycho-physiology, biofeedback, mind-body skills including mindfulness, diversity, equity and inclusion as well as provider/patient communications. She also serves as one of the Dept.’s Principal Research Investigators and Community Clinic Services Consultant. She is Faculty for NYC’s Columbia University’s Global Dignity and Humiliation’s Program.

  Dr. Linger has served as Senior Supervisor and Faculty at the Center for Mind Body Medicine, Washington, DC for the past 11 years. She is an award-winning community & public health professional and academic researcher having worked within healthcare and community systems both in the U.S. and internationally for over three decades to improve the quality of care for disparate communities, healthcare consumers and those who work with them through the use of holistic and integrative interventions. She focuses on building healthy communities across the United States. Her name and picture sits on a quilt next to Dorothy Cotton (Martin Luther King’s Civil Rights Aide and Confidante), in the DeWitt Historical Museum in NYS for her leadership in Community Health and Wellness, Trauma Relief, Social Justice and Community Advocacy work.

  Dr. Linger is also the Founder of Mindfully Human: Center for Personal and Professional Development.

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  Victoria
  Maizes, MD

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  Victoria Maizes, MD

  Fellowship Residential

  Residential Class of 2000

  Dr. Victoria Maizes is an internationally recognized leader, change agent, and innovator in the field of integrative medicine. As the Founding Executive Director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona—where she also serves as a Professor of Medicine and Public Health—she has dedicated her professional life to transforming health care by educating physicians and empowering individuals to live healthier lives.

  Dr. Maizes stewarded the growth of the Program in Integrative Medicine from a small organization that trained four doctors each year into a world-renowned Center of Excellence. Under her leadership, the Center developed premier national and international educational programs that now train more than 1,000 doctors, nurses, medical students, residents and other health professionals annually. These integratively trained clinicians provide care to millions of people worldwide.

  Named one of the world’s "25 Intelligent Optimists" by ODE Magazine, Dr. Maizes is a highly sought-after speaker and the co-host of the acclaimed podcast Body of Wonder with Dr. Andrew Weil. Dr Maizes has received many honors and awards including the Inaugural Andrew Weil Endowed Chair in Integrative Medicine, the Bravewell Distinguished Service Award, and the Integrative Healthcare Symposium Leadership Award.

  Dr. Maizes wrote Heal Faster: Unlock Your Body's Rapid Recovery Reflex, to provide the tools for people to reclaim their health. She is also the editor of the Oxford University Press textbook Integrative Women’s Health and the author of Be Fruitful: The Essential Guide to Maximizing Fertility and Giving Birth to a Healthy Child.

  A summa cum laude graduate of Barnard College, Dr. Maizes received her medical degree from the University of California San Francisco Medical School, completed her Family Medicine residency at the University of Missouri, and her Integrative Medicine Fellowship at the University of Arizona. You can learn more about her on her website: DrVictoriaMaizes.com.

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  Gabor
  Maté, MD

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  Gabor Maté, MD

  Gabor Maté (pronunciation: GAH-bor MAH-tay) is a retired physician who, after 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, worked for over a decade in Vancouver's Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of four books published in thirty languages, Gabor is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness. His book on addiction received the Hubert Evans Prize for literary non-fiction. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country's highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. His books include In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction; When the Body Says No; The Cost of Hidden Stress; Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder; and (with Gordon Neufeld) Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers. His next book, They Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture will be published on September 13, 2022 and is available to pre-order now. To learn more, join his e-news list at www.drgabormate.com.

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  Daniel
  Merenstein, MD

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  Daniel Merenstein, MD

  Dr. Daniel Merenstein is a Professor with tenure of Family Medicine at Georgetown University, where he also directs Family Medicine research. Dr. Merenstein has a secondary appointment in the undergraduate Department of Human Science, in the School of Nursing and Health Studies. Dr. Merenstein teaches two undergraduate classes, a research capstone and a seminar class on evaluating evidence based medical decisions. He has been funded by PCORI, NIH, USDA, Foundations and Industry. Dr. Merenstein is the President of the board of directors of the International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics. The primary goal of Dr. Merenstein’s research is to provide answers to common clinical questions that lack evidence and improve patient care. Dr. Merenstein is a clinical trialist who has recruited over 1,900 participants for 10 probiotic trials since 2006. He is an expert on probiotics, antibiotic stewardship in outpatient settings and also conducts HIV research in a large women’s cohort.  He sees patients in clinic one day a week.  

  Dan lives in Maryland with his wife and 4 boys.

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  Danna
  Park, MD, FAAP, FACP, ABOIM

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  Danna Park, MD, FAAP, FACP, ABOIM

  Fellowship Residential

  Residential Class of 2004

  Danna Park, MD, FAAP, FACP

  Dr. Danna Park specializes in Integrative Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics.  She received her M.D. degree from Tufts University, completed a combined residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA and is a graduate of the Residential Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona.  She is Board-certified in all three specialties. 

  Dr. Park is the director of Mountain Integrative Medicine, PLLC in Asheville, NC where she provides integrative consultations for adults and children with a variety of medical conditions.  Dr. Park has specialized training in mind-body medicine, vitamins and supplements, nutritional approaches for brain-based disorders and integrative cancer care.  In addition to her private practice, Dr. Park holds a faculty position in the Department of Family Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine and teaches residents and medical students in MAHEC Family Practice and UNC School of Medicine Asheville programs.

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  Tanmeet
  Sethi, MD

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  Tanmeet Sethi, MD

  Fellowship 2008

  Tanmeet Sethi, MD is an Integrative and Psychedelic Medicine Physician, author, and TEDx speaker who has dedicated her career to care for the most marginalized patients in Seattle's refugee, uninsured and homeless populations as well as global communities traumatized by manmade and natural disasters as Senior Faculty for the Center forMind Body Medicine. She has been Core Faculty in residency medical education for the last two decades focusing on inpatient and outpatient family medicine, integrative medicine, and anti-racism in medicine and is now focusing on Integrative and Psychedelic Medicine. She is certified in Functional Medicine through the Institute of Functional Medicine and fellowship trained in Integrative Medicine from the University of Arizona and has gone on to found and direct an Integrative Medicine fellowship at Swedish Hospital Cherry Hill Family Medicine Residency in Seattle, WA. She has also completed training in Psychedelic Medicine, bringing together her passion for plant medicine and social justice and is a primary researcher at the University of Washington on psilocybin. She is one of the original co-founders of APIChaya, an organization dedicated to supporting survivors of gender-based violence and human trafficking in the Asian/South Asian community. She lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and three children and her first book, Joy Is My Justice (Hachette) was published in May 2023.

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  Marvin
  Singh, MD

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  Marvin Singh, MD

  Fellowship 2017 Fall

  Marvin Singh, MD, is the Founder of Precisione Clinic and one of only a few Integrative Gastroenterologists in the United States. After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, he went on to do his Internal Medicine training at the University of Michigan Hospitals, after which he completed a Gastroenterology/Hepatology fellowship at Scripps Clinic Torrey Pines. He went on to fulfill a fellowship in Integrative Medicine and was trained by Dr. Andrew Weil at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine in Tucson, Arizona.

  Dr. Singh is currently a Diplomate and Member of the Board of the American Board of Integrative Medicine and the first Director of Integrative Gastroenterology at the Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute at the University of California Irvine, previously having served as a faculty member at UCLA and Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of the brand-new book, Rescue Your Health, and he has co-edited the textbook of Integrative Gastroenterology, 2nd Edition, and has contributed to many other articles and books. In addition to being a sought after speaker and consultant, Dr. Singh has been featured on Forbes, ABC News, Reader’s Digest, Mind Body Green, SiriusXM Radio, and many other platforms. He is also the host of the podcast, Precisione: The Healthcast and currently serves as the Health Advisor for Bottomless Closet in NYC, an organization that helps women in need. Dr. Singh lives in San Diego, California, with his wife and two children.

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  Andrew
  Weil, MD

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  Andrew Weil, MD

  Andrew Weil was born in Philadelphia in 1942, received an A.B. degree in biology (botany) from Harvard in 1964 and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1968. After completing a medical internship at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco, he worked a year with the National Institute of Mental Health, then wrote his first book, The Natural Mind.  From 1971-75, as a Fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs, Dr. Weil traveled widely in North and South America and Africa collecting information on drug use in other cultures, medicinal plants, and alternative methods of treating disease. From 1971-84 he was on the research staff of the Harvard Botanical Museum and conducted investigations of medicinal and psychoactive plants.

  Dr. Weil is the founder of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, where he also holds the Lovell-Jones Endowed Chair in Integrative Medicine and is Clinical Professor of Medicine and Professor of Public Health. The Center is the leading effort in the world to develop a comprehensive curriculum in integrative medicine. Graduates serve as directors of integrative medicine programs throughout the United States. Through its Fellowship and Integrative Medicine in Residency curricula, the Center is now training doctors and nurse practitioners around the world.

  Dr. Weil is the editorial director of the popular website, Dr. Weil.com (www.drweil.com), and appears in video programs featured on PBS. He can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DrWeil and Twitter @drweil. Dr. Weil is the founder and Chairman of the Weil Foundation, and the founder and co-Chairman of Healthy Lifestyle Brands. He is also a founder and partner of the growing group of True Food Kitchen restaurants. In 2017, he joined Seabourn and The Onboard Spa by Steiner in their “Spa and Wellness With Dr. Andrew Weil” mindful-living program, offered on all of its cruise ships. Dr. Weil writes a monthly column for Prevention magazine and the popular Dr. Andrew Weil's Self Healing monthly newsletter. A frequent lecturer and guest on talk shows, Dr. Weil is an internationally recognized expert on medicinal plants, alternative medicine, and the reform of medical education. He lives in Tucson, Arizona, USA.

  Andrew Weil is the author of many scientific and popular articles and of 15 books: The Natural Mind; The Marriage of the Sun and Moon; From Chocolate to Morphine (with Winifred Rosen);  Health and Healing;  Natural Health, Natural Medicine; Spontaneous Healing; 8 Weeks to Optimum Health; Eating Well for Optimum Health:  The Essential Guide to Food, Diet, and Nutrition; The Healthy Kitchen: Recipes for a Better Body, Life, and Spirit (with Rosie Daley); Healthy Aging:  A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being; Why Our Health Matters: A Vision of Medicine That Can Transform Our Future (issued in paperback (with new content) as You Can't Afford to Get Sick); Spontaneous Happiness; True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure (with Sam Fox and Michael Stebner); Fast Food, Good Food; and the recent Mind Over Meds: When Drugs Are Necessary, When Alternatives Are Better – and When to Let Your Body Heal on Its Own. Oxford University Press is currently producing the Weil Integrative Medicine Library, a series of volumes for clinicians in various medical specialties with Dr. Weil as the series editor: Integrative Oncology (co-edited with Dr. Donald Abrams) (2009, rev. 2014); Integrative Psychiatry and Integrative Pediatrics (2010) and Integrative Women's Health (2010, rev. 2015); Integrative Rheumatology and Integrative Cardiology (2011), and Integrative Gastroenterology (2011, rev. 2019), Integrative Men's Health and Integrative Dermatology (2014), and Integrative Nursing (2014, rev. 2018), Integrative Pain Management (2016), Integrative Environmental Medicine and Integrative Geriatric Medicine (2017), Integrative Preventive Medicine, Integrative Psychiatry and Brain Health, Integrative Sexual Health, and Integrative Addiction and Recovery (2018) have been published, with more volumes planned.