SEEKING EQUITY
IN HEALTHCARE
Integrative and Holistic Health refers to an approach to health that uses a wide-range of therapies to support health of mind, body, and spirit. We acknowledge that the context in which a person exists has a profound impact on their health. Structures of power within Integrative Health institutions in the United States perpetuate structural racism by not examining or addressing white-dominant leadership structures, membership representation, programmatic content, and advocacy engagement.
The Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) Taskforce was created in June 2020 to serve as a catalyst for meaningful transformation towards racial equity in Integrative Health. Four of 5 members in the taskforce are persons of color with various backgrounds. Since its inception, the taskforce has expanded in scope and will create strategic workgroups for implementation.
“There is no social-change fairy. There is only change made by the hands of individuals.”
~Winona LaDuke
BIPOC
LEADERSHIP
Yvette Miller, MD, ABIHM
BIPOC Committee Co-Chair
Yvette Miller, MD, ABIHM
BIPOC Committee Co-Chair
Dr. Yvette Marie Miller is currently the American Red Cross Executive Medical Officer for the Donor and Client Support Center (DCSC) in Charlotte, NC. She has been with Red Cross over 24yrs, serving in various leadership capacities including regional Medical Director and Director of Apheresis Donor Collections and Clinical Services for the Arizona Region. As the Executive Medical Officer for the DCSC she oversees donor eligibility, product management and donor management. She has training in leading critical conversations about structural racism, diversity, equity and inclusion and community resilience development. Dr. Miller’s other areas of interest include blood donor recruitment and education in the African American community and underrepresented communities, equitable access to healthcare in underserved communities and use of integrative medicine modalities in community health and wellness and for self-care.
I. Jean Davis, PhD, DC, PA, FAIHM
Board member
Dr. I. Jean Davis has decades of experience as a community advocate, educator, clinician, and researcher. Her extensive education includes a BA in Psychobiology, a BS in Human Biology, an MS in Clinical Research, a Doctoral degree in Chiropractic Medicine, and a PhD in Preventative Medicine. She is widely known and recognized for her education, research, and expertise as a primary care provider: Associated Professor, Internal Medicine at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, Past Medical Director and HIV Clinician at AIDS Health Foundation, Desert AIDS Project, and Clinician at Dusk to Dawn Urgent Care. She completed an Integrated Health and Medicine Fellowship at the Academy of Integrated Health and Medicine (AIHM). Dr. Davis is the AIHM Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Task Force Co-Chair. She’s a Board Member of the Beyond AIDS Foundation and AIHM and a member of the AAHIVM CA/HI Steering Committee. Her continued focus is on total health and the reduction of disorders and diseases which disproportionately impact underserved communities and related social determinants. These health disparities include but are not limited to HIV/AIDS, Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Substance Abuse, Diabetes, and Renal Disease.
Rachel Abrams, MD
Secretary
www.santacruzintegrativemedicine.com
mobile 831-818-7596; work 831-465-9088, ext. 12
Rachel Carlton Abrams graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University, received her MD from UC San Francisco and a Masters Degree in Holistic Health from UC Berkeley. She is Board Certified in Family Medicine and Integrative Medicine. In 2008 she opened the award-winning Santa Cruz Integrative Medicine Clinic. Dr.Abrams treats many of the world’s most influential people, from CEOs to billionaire entrepreneurs to Nobel Peace laureates. She has been voted “Best Doctor” in Santa Cruz County every year, from 2009-2020. She is dedicated to creating health equity and anti-racism in health care.
Dr.Rachel published Bodywise: Discovering Your Body’s Intelligence for Lifelong Health and Healing, in 2017 with Rodale Books. Her other books include the recently released, Eight Dates: Essential Conversations For a Lifetime of Love and The Man’s Guide to Women (both with her husband and John and Julie Gottman), The Multi-Orgasmic Woman, The Multi-Orgasmic Couple, and the audiobook Taoist Sexual Secrets.
Dr. Rachel has taught innumerable classes and workshops and has been an expert consultant on holistic health for national magazines, radio and television for the last 20 years. You can see a sample of these at DoctorRachel.com.
Dr. Rachel has been a board member of the AHMA (American Holistic Medical Association) and is currently an active board member of the AIHM (Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine), where she facilitates work on anti-racism, health equity and inclusive membership.
Rachel loves the ocean and the redwoods and is addicted to beach volleyball. She is happily married and the mother of three fabulous young adults, now living on their own, but returning to play with her and her beloved husband Doug, in Santa Cruz, California.
You can view her work at https://www.doctorrachel.com, on Facebook and Instagram:@doctorrachelabrams, and read her blogs at Thrive Global.com andMedium.com.
Darshan Mehta MD, MPH
Secretary
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Rashmi Mullur, MD
Secretary
Rashmi Mullur, MD is an integrative endocrinologist who serves as the Chief of Telehealth at VA Greater Los Angeles as well as the Education Lead for the Integrative Medicine Collaborative at UCLA Health. As a yoga instructor and woman of South Asian descent, she has deep respect for the ancient wisdom and cultural heritage of traditional integrative approaches. Her clinical practice focuses on the pairing of mind-body techniques and digital technology in the management of diabetes and chronic disease.
Scarlet Soriano, MD
Board member
Dr. Scarlet Soriano, MD is an Integrative Medicine and Wellness leader, speaker and teacher. She is Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and the current Director of Wellness-Based Healthcare Transformation at Boston Medical Center. She is also the Medical Director of Hopespring Holistic Health Institute in Maine. She is an expert in Integrative group medical visits. Dr. Soriano is a consultant for various organizations in the health and wellness fields. She is a dynamic speaker and educator with a passion for increasing access to Integrative Medicine services to underserved populations. Dr. Soriano is board certified in Family Medicine and Integrative Medicine.
“I have grown tremendously by being part of the AIHM community since my first conference in 2014. Joining the Board feels at a deep level like remembering what I am here to be a part of, and adding my voice and effort to the voices and effort of many others who are dreaming a greater dream for the health of our country and the world.”
Tabatha Parker, ND
Executive director
Dr. Tabatha Parker is a naturopathic physician who currently serves at the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM) as the Executive Director. She previously served as the Associate Fellowship Director and Education Director. Parker’s commitment to collaboration and the underserved makes her uniquely qualified to lead the largest interprofessional integrative health association. “My goal is to bring the integrative community together to find ways to bring integrative health to all. Right now we are doing that by educating the future leaders and clinicians – but there is so much more we can and will do.”
Parker was named Physician of the Year in 2015 by the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) and Visionary of the Year by UTNE Reader in 2011. In 2015, she received an honorary degree from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM) and was given the highest honor in naturopathy, “Magister Natura” from Spain for her work advancing the naturopathic profession globally.
Parker was founding co-chair of the Masters in Global Health at National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) in Portland, OR, the first global health masters offered at a naturopathic medical school, and was previously faculty at Bastyr University California. She was interim co-secretary general of the World Naturopathic Federation, and worked with the World Health Organization on the WHO Benchmarks for Training in Naturopathy. She established and co-chaired the Global Health Committee of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians for over 10 years.
In 2003, Parker co-founded Natural Doctors International (NDI), the first and oldest naturopathic global health organization. She served as Executive Director and lived in Nicaragua for nearly a decade, where she developed the first permanent global naturopathic clinic, naturopathic global health courses and interprofessional internships. There she taught 100’s of students and physicians in the naturopathic clinic. As board president of NDI, she led the organization to sign a MOU with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to work with PAHO, the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health and universities like UNAN to help research and implement integrative and traditional medicine into the Nicaraguan national system as outlined in the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014 – 2023.
In 2012, she became the first naturopathic physician to graduate as a Faculty Development Scholar from Dr. Ellen Beck’s University of California San Diego program, Addressing the Health Needs of the Underserved.
At AIHM, Parker has held several positions including Director of Education where she organized and co-chaired one of the largest integrative health & medicine conferences in the USA, the AIHM Annual Conference – People, Planet, Purpose, Global Practitioners United in Health and Healing. In 2016 she was co-program chair with Dr. David Riley of the International Congress of Integrative Health & Medicine held in Stuttgart, Germany.
Videos featuring Tabatha Parker, ND
Sadielis Jimenez, ND
Secretary
Dr. Sadi achieved her biotechnology degree from Kennesaw State University. During which time she traveled extensively and experience other medical systems.
During naturopathic medical school she studied abroad in integrative medical rounds. Volunteered and worked with organizations such as Academy of Integrative Medicine (AIHM) , to which she still serves today as membership manager, fostering inter-professional relationships.
Jessica Price, MEd, NTP
Academic success coordinator
Jessica Price joined AIHM in May 2019 and holds a BA in Philosophy from Luther College in Decorah, IA and a Master of Education in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of South Florida. She works to strengthen beneficial habits and behaviors that promote success, empowerment, and well-being.
Jess’ experience includes living and working across the US and various countries, including 3 years in Saudi Arabia as a Graduate Program Coordinator at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) where she supported many students as they completed their MS and PhD. She loves encouraging others to recognize exactly what they are capable of accomplishing.
Her passions include regenerative agriculture, nutrition, and their effect on human health and the environment. She works to reduce waste and to find alternatives to plastic consumption. She studies ancestral nutrition and its connection to soil health, biodiversity, and the regeneration of our planet’s ecosystems.
Jess serves as the Academic Success Coordinator which is an integral part of the Fellowship team. She is a great listener and a guide who encourages Fellows to reach their academic goals!
Grace Alvarez Sesma, Curandera, Ceremonialist
Grace Alvarez Sesma, Curandera, Ceremonialist
Grace Alvarez Sesma is a cultural practitioner of Mexican Traditional Healing (Curanderismo), a ceremonialist, and activist. In addition to her Curanderismo healing practice, she is a facilitator for San Diego State University’s Academy for Professional Excellence School of Social Work Tribal Star program. She serves as Elder-in-Residence annually at the First Nations Iskotew and Kumik teaching lodges in Canada. Grace is a 1993 Fellow of the National Hispana Leadership Institute, a collaborative project with the Center for Creative Leadership and Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. As a cultural educator, she works with Chicano/Latinx/Indigenous mental health therapists and other healthcare providers to promote understanding of Mexican and Indigenous culture-specific interventions and to encourage mutually respectful collaboration. She is a member of the Kanap Kuahan Coalition, advisor to the House of the Moon (Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women), and serves on the Consciousness & Healing Initiative (CHI) Practitioners Council.
UNSHAKABLE
COMMITMENT
We first recommend that the AIHM make a commitment, as an organization, to consider equity and racism when making all future decisions, and to dismantling previous policies that continue to contribute to inequity (including racial, LGBTQ, disability). This commitment needs to stem from a deep and abiding commitment to racial equity. Our institutional commitment must be grounded on the firmly held belief that all people are of equal value. An unshakable commitment to racial equity and ending discriminatory practices is fundamental to the integrity, strength, and effectiveness of the integrative health movement. We all agree that we are stronger, more vital, and more successful as an organization when we are transparent about our decision making, and when the diversity of our organization—in our leadership, our teaching faculty, our staff, and our membership—reflects the diversity of the human population. This isn’t a short-term “project.” It is an integral part of our values as an organization and of the embodied leadership we offer our community and the larger world. We are, by our nature, the optimal organization to speak to the two great interconnected crises of our time: Environmental collapse and Inequity in Health, Wealth, and Education. Integrative solutions which consider all factors that contribute to both of these crises are the only ones that will be effective in long-term change. And we must lead this change—starting with our own organization.