The Scientific Basis of Integrative Health

Since the first suffering supplicant offered a prayer to his god or the first mother cradled an ailing child in her caring arms, we have witnessed how human health and healing go beyond any inventory of parts and infusion of chemicals. We humans are a complex melding of thought, emotion, spirit and energy and each of those components is as critical to our well-being as our physiological status. Even if we are just beginning to quantify and document these seemingly intangible aspect, to ignore them in the practice of medicine is neglect and an invitation to do harm.

The Scientific Basis of Integrative Health has been extensively updated and expanded to provide a comprehensive guide to integrative medicine. Taking a balanced and objective approach, this leading text bridges the gap between Western science and Eastern philosophy. It provides doctors and other health practitioners with information on complementary and alternative approaches to health, that is authoritative, evidence based, and epidemiologically substantiated.

Written for doctors and healthcare professionals by pioneering practitioners and updated with the newest research across and increasing range of possibilities, this third edition includes nine new chapters covering topics such as:

• Electrophotonic imaging;
• Neuroacupuncture;
• Naturopathic medicine;
• Integrative nutrition.

Leonard A. Wisneski is a clinical professor of medicine at George Washington University Medical Center, an adjunct faculty at Georgetown University where he was a founding member of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Curriculum Planning Committee, and a clinical instructor in medicine at The University of Colorado. He serves as chairman of the board of directors of the Integrative Health Policy Consortium, an organization driving public policy to ensure all Americans access to safe, high-quality health care.

Dr. Wisneski’s past accomplishments include serving as vice chairman of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Panel on Acupuncture and chairman of the NIH Advisory Board on Frontier Sciences at the University of Connecticut. He holds fellowship positions in The American College of Physicians, The American College of Nutrition, and The American Institute of Stress. He served on the board of the American Holistic Medical Association, The Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, was president of the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine, and served on the steering committee of The National Coordinating Center for Integrative Medicine whose mission it is to facilitate education of integrative and preventive health care. He has published more than 30 scientific articles.

Combining his knowledge with an intense passion for innovation in health care delivery and the quest to develop pathways toward the attainment of optimal vitality, Dr. Wisneski is a leader in the field of health and healing. In 1999, Dr. Wisneski cofounded and served as the regional president and medical director of American WholeHealth, an integrative, multipractitioner center devoted to fostering individuals in the achievement of health and life goals. His medical practice in endocrinology and integrative medicine, spanning three decades, embodies the true meaning of integrative medicine—an optimal synthesis of conventional and complementary medicine practiced with a whole-person approach delivered with reverence and humanism. Dr. Wisneski served on the steering committee of the National Coordinating Center for Integrative Medicine, administered by the American College of Preventive Medicine, whose mission it was to facilitate education of integrative and preventive healthcare in postgraduate medical education in several medical schools.