The Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at UCSF sponsors a variety of elective classes. The following elective classes are open to medical students and residents at UCSF. If a class is open to students in the Schools of Dentistry, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, and Nursing at UCSF or to visiting students, this will be indicated in the class descriptions below.

• Residents
• Medical Students

Class Descriptions for Residents

This program is a one to two month experience which immerses the resident in practical clinical experiences in Integrative Medicine. The rotation is conducted at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine Clinic at the Mount Zion Campus of UCSF, and consists of a weekly half day clinical rotation in a multi-disciplinary Integrative Medicine practice. Multiple resources are also available for motivated residents to obtain additional IM experience in the community.

Residents who would like to participate in this rotation must have the approval of their residency program and must submit an application to:

Yvette Coulter
Manager, Education Programs
Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
UCSF Box 1726
San Francisco, CA 94143-1726
Phone: (415) 353-7991
Email: coultery@ocim.ucsf.edu

Class Descriptions for Medical Students

This elective is open to first-year students interested in learning more about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and how it relates to the practice of Western Medicine. The goal is for students of TCM and Western Medicine to learn about both systems of healing by sharing with each other the skills and approaches they’re learning at their home institutions (UCSF and ACTCM).

Students enrolled in the Social Sciences in Medicine AoC participate in a two-week long core course titled "The Clinician as Ethnographer." This course trains students in principles of ethnographic research and introduces them to a variety of social science topics and methods to prepare them to conduct a research project.

This elective provides an introduction to several major alternative health systems through lectures, group discussions, and hands-on activities. Sessions are as interactive as possible, incorporating demonstrations, student participation, and experiential activities. Examples of complementary and alternative medicine topics include traditional healing systems (e.g., Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, etc.), mind-body medicine, herbs and dietary supplements, and body-based therapies.

NOTE: This class is open to students from all professional schools at UCSF as well as visiting students.

The Osher Center for Integrative Medicine offers a two-week, interdisciplinary, fourth-year elective exploring the interrelationship between culture and integrative medicine. Students participate in a variety of core seminars, consisting of both didactic and experiential learning as well as rotations through a variety of clinical integrative medicine sites, including those specifically serving culturally diverse and under-served populations.

This course is designed to help students learn empirically-supported methods to: survive the stressful demands of medical school; connect with diverse and challenging patients; negotiate complex medical decisions and treatment plans; gracefully manage the personalities of preceptors, attendings, and over-tired residents; maximize their learning with FPC patient encounters, preceptor visits, and clerkships; and preserve the values and priorities that brought them into the field of medicine. Course materials include special supplements to Essential Core cases, private meetings with medical attendings and faculty, access to iROCKET's "Critical Incident" discussion forum, and real patient videos.

The Healers’ Art course was developed by Rachel Naomi Remen, MD and continues to be one of the most popular electives for medical students at UCSF. Students are helped to discover what it means for them to embark on the path to become a healer. This course has been so successful that 44 other medical schools across the country (including Yale, Dartmouth, Harvard, Brown, and Stanford) have chosen to introduce it into their curricula. The Healers’ Art will be offered for the fourteenth year in Winter Quarter 2006

This class is offered through the School of Pharmacy at UCSF. This evidence-based course is organized to review herbs and supplements from a systems perspective. Topics include: current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations regarding labeling and product claims; critical analysis of the current scientific literature (study design, methodology etc.) on commonly used herbs and dietary supplements; side effects/cautions/recommended formulations; and patient counseling recommendations.

Note: Enrollment is open to all UCSF students.

Integrative Medicine Network

The Integrative Medicine Network is a student interest group at UCSF and believes that bridging the gap between alternative and allopathic medicine will lead to the improvement of patient care and choices. Each year they host an integrative health symposium for UCSF students, faculty, and community members throughout the Bay Area. The 9th annual Integrative Medicine Forum will take place in 2007.

NOTE:The Integrative Medicine Forum is open to students from all professional schools at UCSF, visiting students, health care professionals, and the public.

This elective is an experiential, hands-on course that introduces students to both massage and meditation techniques. Classes begin and end with a simple meditation practice.  Massage techniques are demonstrated and practiced, and elements of meditation are integrated into the practice of massage. Participants share and reflect on their individual experiences and learn practical skills to cope with stress.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program

Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention from moment to moment in a non-judgmental way. This simple, but powerful practice opens the door to self-healing and insight. It can also provide options for coping with the stress of everyday life and the stress of illness.

In 2003 and 2004, the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program was offered to UCSF students and residents at no cost through a grant from the NIH/National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Although we are no longer able to offer this program for free, students and residents can enroll in the Osher Center's public program. For information about the next class, location, cost, etc, visit the Classes and Lectures portion of our Website.

This elective is being offered for the first time from April – June 2005.  The class features lectures and panels exploring the role of spirituality in medicine. Topics include: the role of prayer from a scientific viewpoint; the notion of “presence”; the role of chaplain on the health care team; as well as a debate on the role of spirituality in medicine.