Health

The Institute explores what creates health (i.e., a salutogenic approach), rather than focusing on what creates disease (i.e., a pathogenic approach). The latter has been the dominant perspective in the West, often with tremendous life-saving advances. At the same time, it can be limited in its vision and ineffective for people living with complex or chronic health challenges.

In 1993, NIH established the Office of Alternative Medicine. Many saw this as our country's way of peering into the closet to examine approaches not previously considered to be scientifically credible. Dr. Wayne Jonas, the first director of the Office, flipped that on its head when commenting that the establishment of the Office could be more appropriately understood as the U.S. opening the closet door from the inside and seeing what was in the rest of the house.

The U.S. system is built around treating illness, which has produced many advances but also been vulnerable to profit-based pressures and decisions. The Institute looks to expand upon that to examine what a more comprehensive, wellness-oriented approach will look like.

Health outcomes are often shaped by our inner dialogue and self-perception. Similarly, stress is seen as a major cause in as much as 80% of all disease. Understanding our ability to create chemicals and chemical processes in the body is a critical step in managing health.