Director's Message
Thank you for your interest in the Osher Center for Integrative Health (OCIH). We strongly believe that integrative medicine is an approach to health that may be beneficial for all patients.
Integrative health is a philosophy and practice of how we care for patients and ourselves:
- Integrative health is authentic medicine. It's what patients and providers believe in their hearts and minds is the right treatment, based on all current evidence and informed by their beliefs, values and experiences.
- Integrative health is everyday medicine. It’s the way you live your life, the food you eat, the environment you live in, the relationships you maintain.
- And integrative health is, simply, health. It is using the best approach to help you not just treat disease, but flourish in your life.
While integrative medicine has been referred to as the “new” medicine, it is in many ways a return to principles of medicine from the time of Hippocrates: a focus on science-based practices while acknowledging the body’s natural healing capacity. By combining conventional Western medicine with time-tested, proven practices from around the world, we expand our care options for a variety of conditions and diseases. By remembering the core principles of healing and the need to care for the whole patient, we can better relieve suffering.
Where We’re Going
Our vision for the future of individual care and ultimately, our healthcare system revolves around introducing new integrative care models into the mainstream. We’re dedicated to taking a leadership role alongside the six other Osher Centers for Integrative Health to make our mark on academic medicine, community outreach and public policy. I look forward to working with our partner centers to create innovative clinical models of care, advance medical education and collaborate on research initiatives.
Join Us
We have a deep commitment to building a culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration. We welcome all faculty, staff, students and trainees of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and partner organizations interested in clinical care, research and education in the field of integrative medicine and health. Please submit our online form to start the membership process.
Thank you for your interest in integrative medicine and our Osher Center. Please contact our team for more information about our work.
Melinda R. Ring, MD, FACP, ABOIM
Director, Osher Center for Integrative Health
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine & Geriatrics) and Medical Social Sciences