Areas of Focus
Health
Advancing salutogenic and integrative approaches to health and wellbeing.
Overview
The Institute examines health through both an individual and a societal lens. Our interests lie in exploring myriad ways of bringing about health and healing, while also addressing issues of access to ensure everyone benefits from advances in treatment and preventive approaches.
The Institute examines current health care systems and outcomes and explores evidence-based alternatives from around the world.
Key Issues
Salutogenic vs. Pathogenic
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.
Integrative Approaches
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 prevously 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.
Healthcare vs. Sickcare
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.
Human Potential
Health outcomes are often shaped by our inner dialogue and self-preception. Similarly, stress is seen as a major cause is 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.
