Winter 2010

Welcome to the winter issue of the UCSF Osher Center’s Healthy You quarterly newsletter.

Welcoming Margaret Chesney, new Director of the UCSF Osher Center!

Dear Friends,

During my tenure, I have had the honor and privilege of working with the truly outstanding team at the UCSF Osher Center. We have accomplished a great deal over the 10 years and integrative medicine continues to be a growing field. Now, the Osher Center has a wonderful new director, Margaret A. Chesney, PhD who was appointed by Dean Sam Hawgood effective Jan. 1, 2010. Dr. Chesney brings an extraordinary record of scientific achievement and leadership in integrative medicine to the Center. I am truly optimistic about the Osher Center’s future. Under Dr. Chesney’s leadership, UCSF will continue to build its reputation as a national leader in the field.

Warmly,

Susan Folkman, PhD
Professor Emeritus, UCSF

The Medical Landscape is Changing

Increasingly, providers and the public are endorsing the philosophy of integrative medicine (IM): treat the person, not just the disease; form a partnership between patient and provider; and care for the mind, body and spirit at the same time. A recent government survey indicates that almost 40% of adults and more than 10% of children report using these approaches in the last 12 months, which translates into an “out of pocket” annual cost of $33.9 billion.

One of the reasons we see this change is that there is more information about health available today than was publicly available even a decade ago. Consumers are not only seeking information about treatment of serious conditions, but are engaging in a pro-active search for strategies to enhance health and well-being. In addition, the face of the IM consumer is diversifying to include young adults and new families, along with “baby boomers” and older adults. We see these trends in our own clinic at the Osher Center. Patients seek guidance on mindfulness for childbirth preparation, acupuncture for pain relief, guided imagery to ease surgical stresses, and antioxidants for cancer prevention.

Integrative medicine at the Osher Center focuses on treatment and prevention, healing and wellness. Just as the care in our clinic is holistic, our research also takes into account the person and the environment. Nationally, a small number of chronic disorders cost the nation the bulk of its health care expenditures, and many of these disorders may be preventable. We need to clarify how environmental and personal stresses, as well as unhealthy lifestyles, compromise health. How does living with competing demands and time pressure impact everything from our breathing to our diet? How do individual adaptations to stress elevate our risk for disease? A “holistic” approach to research holds the key to new discoveries.

The Osher Center is breaking new ground, using this approach in projects on diabetes, hypertension and other chronic conditions. Our improved understanding of the relationship between behavior, physiology and disease development provides the rationale for integrative approaches that empower people for more mindful and effective navigation in today’s world. Thus, our research leads to approaches that will be shared with patients in our clinic. Over the long term, these strategies hold the promise of improving health while reducing health care costs dramatically, in ways with which the approach of waiting until disease strikes to apply treatment can never compete.

The dawn of the decade provides an opportunity for reflection and the establishment of new directions. For me, it is a perfect time to take on this leadership position as Director of the UCSF Osher Center and to have a position that enables me to continue my personal and professional goal of promoting health, preventing disease and working to transform medicine so that it offers compassionate care, addressing the full spectrum of health and well-being to all of those who seek treatment.

Sincerely,
Margaret A. Chesney, PhD
Director, UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine