OUR STORY

WHO

WE ARE

The Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM) is an interprofessional community of healthcare providers, researchers and academics united by the shared value of treating the whole person – mind, body, spirit, community, and planet. We are an organization that unifies the diverse voices of traditional, complementary, and integrative health (TCIH). Individuals and organizations that join AIHM are committed to the highest level of scientific rigor in TCIH globally. Together we are creating a healthy world for humanity and the planet.

OUR

STORY

In the late 1970s, remarkable groupings of new energy and interest began to take shape in USA health and medicine.  Within a few short years from 1977-1983, new organizations and initiatives to advance the philosophies and practices of holistic doctors, holistic nurses, naturopathic doctors, licensed East Asian practitioners, chiropractic doctors, mind-body medicine research in academic medicine, related herb and natural products industries and others were each independently founded.  Thirty five years later, AIHM was created to provide the first, inclusive, unifying vehicle to advance the movement for the shared values and practices of each of these then separate interests.

 In 1977, a group of visionary physicians, including Norman Shealy, Gladys Taylor McGarey, Bill McGarey, Gerald Looney, and Evarts Loomis gathered at Meadowlark in Hemet, California to lay the foundation for the American Holistic Medical Association (AHMA).  Norm Shealy became the first president of the AHMA and in 1978 the first meeting was held in Denver, Colorado.  At the 1980 AHMA conference, Norm and his wife, Chardy, met Charlotte McGuire RN, and encouraged her to start a holistic nursing association.  In 1981, Charlotte held the first national meeting of the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA).  Over the next four decades, pioneers within AHMA and AHNA advanced holistic medicine and holistic nursing, at the same time that pioneers from naturopathic medicine, chiropractic medicine, and East Asian medicine were advancing their professions in the USA.

Holistic physicians had another very important organization, the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine (ABIHM).  ABIHM was working alongside AHMA developing certification for physicians.  In 2013, leaders from AHMA and ABIHM came together with other leaders from other licensed integrative health professions, including chiropractors, naturopathic physicians,  licensed acupuncturists, and holistic nurses, to form the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM).

AIHM emerged as a solution to our growing healthcare crisis by bringing for the first time in history, all of the holistic and integrative health professions together under one organization – holistic medical doctors, holistic nurses, naturopathic doctors, chiropractors, licensed acupuncturists and many more professions.

The formation of AIHM represents the breaking down of silos in health and medicine.  It is a call to action for change — to transform the way we think about health and health care.  The Academy is home to a broadening international community of healthcare practitioners, health seekers, and advocates connected by a shared holistic philosophy of person-centered care.  The AIHM community recognizes the link between our health and the state of the planet and deeply considers the social determinants of health and the quality of our relationships to ourselves, one another and our planet.

In 2021, AIHM merged with the  Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health.  This truly represented a historic moment in the movement for it formally brought together together for the first time – the integrative holistic MD community with the formal licensed integrative licensed professions of integrative health – acupuncturists, chiropractors, naturopathic doctors, direct-entry midwives and massage therapists. This merger also represented the coming together of individual clinicians, researchers and academics AND organizations with the one purpose of advancing integrative health globally to transform health on this planet.

TIMELINE

1978

AHMA is established as a member organization for MD’s and DO’s

1996

ABHM is created by AHMA members

2000

ABIHM offers first exam

2008

AHMA opens membership to other disciplines ABHM changes name to ABIHM

2013

AHMA prepares membership for merge with ABIHM to form Academy AIHM is announced at ABIHM conference

2014

Academy launches

ABHM is created by AHMA members

AHMA opens membership to other disciplines ABHM changes name to ABIHM

Academy launches

AHMA is established as a member organization for MD’s and DO’s

AHMA is established as a member organization for MD’s and DO’s

AHMA prepares membership for merge with ABIHM to form Academy AIHM is announced at ABIHM conference

AIHM merged with the Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health

OUR

MISSION AND VISION

Advancing Holistic & Integrative Health Globally

Creating a Healthy World for Humanity and the Planet.

CORE VALUES OF

INTEGRATIVE HEALTH

The Healing Power of Love

We strive to meet the patient with grace, kindness, acceptance and spirit without condition, as love is life’s most powerful healer.

Optimal Health

We pursue the highest physical, environmental, emotional and spiritual aspects of the human experience, resulting in a dynamic state of being fully alive.

Whole Person

We view the person through the lens of integrative health where there is unity of body, mind, spirit and the systems in which they live.

Prevention and Treatment

We promote health and wellbeing to prevent illness and raise awareness of dis-ease in our lives rather than merely managing symptoms.

Innate Healing Power

We believe all people have innate healing powers in their bodies, minds, and spirits. We help patients utilize these powers to affect the healing process.

Integration of Healing Systems

We embrace a lifetime of learning about all safe and effective options in diagnosis and treatment from a variety of traditions.

Relationship-Centered Care

We aim for the practitioner-patient relationship as a partnership that encourages patient autonomy and the insights of both parties.

Individuality

We focus patient care on the unique needs and nature of the person who has an illness rather than the illness that has the person.

Teaching by Example

We continually work toward the personal incorporation of the principles of whole-body health to profoundly influence the healing relationship.

Leadership

World-Renowned Interprofessional Board of Directors

Staff

Dedicated to the AIHM mission & vision.

Past Presidents

Our history comes from a long line of leaders.

Bill Meeker, DC, MPH

Board Chair

Jean Davis PhD, DC, PA, FAIHM

MSCR
Board Member, BIPOC Committee Co-Chair

JoAnn Yanez, ND, MPH, CAE

Board Member, ACIH Voting Council Representative

Stephan Nobs, CHTP

Board Member

Stacy Gomes, EdD, MAEd

Board Member

Mimi Guarneri, MD, FACC, ABOIM

Founding President, Conference Committee Chair

Dale Healey, DC, PhD

Board Member, ACIH Council Chair

Sara Gottfried, MD

Board Member

Tabatha Parker, ND

Executive Director

April Gruzinsky, MS

Fellowship Admissions Director

Bryan Hauf, MEd

Associate Director of Online Education

Andrea McCurry

Operations Manager

Sadielis Jimenez, ND

Membership Manager

Elizabeth “Liza” Goldblatt, PhD, MPA/HA

National & Global Projects Director

Jessica Price, MEd, NTP

Academic Success Manager

Lee Jeon, ND Student

Community Outreach Assistant

Caitlin Marinaro

Associate Director of Marketing and Events

Norm Shealy, MD, PhD, ABIHM

AHMA 1978 – 1980

Gladys McGarey, MD, MD(H), ABIHM

AHMA 1982-1984

Robert Anderson, MD, ABIHM

AHMA 1986 – 1988, ABIHM 1996 – 2002

Bernie Siegel, MD, ABIHM

AHMA 1988-1990

Peter Albright, MD, ABIHM

AHMA 1992-1994

Robert (Rav) Ivker, DO, ABIHM

AHMA 1996-1999, ABIHM 2003-2004

Scott Shannon, MD, ABIHM, ABOIM

AHMA 2001-2002, ABIHM 2011-2012

Karen Lawson, MD, ABIHM

AHMA 2003-2005

Larry Palevsky, MD, ABIHM

AHMA 2005-2007

Wendy Warner, MD, ABIHM

ABIHM 2007-2008

Patrick Hanaway, MD, ABIHM

ABIHM 2009-2010

Mimi Guarneri, MD, FACC, ABIHM, ABOIM

ABIHM 2013-2014, AIHM 2015-present

Barbara Bakus, DO, ABIHM

AHMA 2015

Lucia Thornton, RN, MSN, AHN-BC, ThD

AIHM 2019-2021

Elmer Cranton, MD

AHMA 1980-1982

Hugh Riordan, MD

AHMA 1984-1986

Christiane Northrup, MD, ABIHM

AHMA 1989-1990

Bill Manahan, MD, ABIHM

AHMA 1990-1992

Alan Gaby, MD, ABIHM

AHMA 1994-1996

Kathy Fry, MD, ABIHM

AHMA 1999-2001

Mark Hoch, MD, ABIHM

AHMA 2002-2003

Lee Lipsenthal, MD

ABIHM 2005-2006

Hal Blatman, MD, ABIHM

AHMA 2007-2009

J. David Forbes, MD, ABIHM

AHMA 2009-2011

Molly Roberts, MD, ABIHM

AHMA 2011-2014

Daniel Friedland, MD

ABIHM 2015-2016, AIHM 2015-2016

Brad Jacobs, MD, MPH, ABIHM, ABOIM

AIHM 2016-2018