Osher WISE
Well-being and Integrative Science for Everyone
Osher WISE (Well-being and Integrative Science for Everyone) is a public education program that offers courses on integrative health topics that are current and compelling. Our programming provides an opportunity for community members to become active, informed participants in their own journey to health and well-being.
Your Body, Your Power: Science and Strategies in Women’s Health at Every Stage
Wednesdays, April 22 – May 13, 6:00-7:30 p.m. PT
Your Body, Your Power: Science and Strategies in Women’s Health at Every Stage
Spring 2026 Course
Wednesdays, April 22 – May 13, 6:00-7:30 p.m. PT
This four-week course offers a comprehensive exploration of women’s health transitions, from the onset of adolescence through the complexities of healthy aging. Led by esteemed academic and clinical experts from UCSF, this program bridges the gap between biomedicine and integrative practices like East Asian medicine and mind-body therapy. Participants will investigate critical topics, including reproductive resilience against environmental changes, evidence-based menopause management, and the neurological foundations of longevity. By examining the biological and environmental factors that shape each life stage, this course empowers individuals with actionable strategies to optimize overall health and vitality.
Teen Hormones, Acne, and PMS: Integrative Strategies for Balance
Jenifer Matthews, MD
Adolescence is a time of significant hormonal change, often accompanied by concerns such as acne, PMS, and cycle irregularities. This talk provides an overview of integrative approaches to supporting teen hormonal balance, including key nutritional strategies and simple, safe herbal medicine options. Participants will learn practical ways to support teens through common hormone-related challenges.
Adolescent Mental Health in the Age of AI
David Becker, MD
Emerging technology is often adopted first by adolescents. Current scholarship explores the impact of social media on teens, but what does it mean to have an integrative approach to adolescent mental health in the age of AI? Are supplements, mind-body practices, acupuncture, or even psychopharmacology any match for a generative AI best friend or partner?
Creating the Optimal Environment for Conception
Maren Shapiro Eger, MD
This session will cover practical, evidence-based ways to optimize the body for conception, including recommendations for sleep, nutrition, exercise, supplements, and what to cut-out. Participants will also learn how to time intercourse to maximize the chances of pregnancy, and when to seek additional support or evaluation.
What East Asian Medicine Teaches Us About Fertility and Its Optimization
Jennifer Ashby, DAOM, LAc, MS
This session explores fertility through the lens of East Asian medicine, examining how Jing, Blood, Qi, and Yin/Yang balance form the foundation of reproductive health. Students will leave with a practical understanding of fertility preservation as a daily practice of protecting resources and regulating rhythm, including how chronic stress endangers vital organs like the kidney and liver.
Fostering Reproductive Resilience to Climate and Environmental Change
Marya Zlatnik, MD
This session invites participants to improve resilience in the face of climate change. Find out how petrochemicals and climate change can impact reproduction and pregnancy, and learn how to decrease your exposures to health-harming chemicals.
Optimizing Your Sleep: Myths and Facts
Ashley Mason, PhD
This session addresses common sleep myths and sleep truths and provides sleep health practices that improve sleep and reduce the risk of several diseases.
Menopause: What's Old and What's New?
Tami Rowen, MD
This session will focus on the best available evidence for menopausal management with a focus on the data and safety around hormone therapy.
Strategies for Healthy Aging
Riley Bove, MD
This session will provide an overview of the major health considerations affecting women during the postmenopausal years, as well as evidence-based strategies to improve health and well-being during this next phase of life. This includes brain, heart, gynecological, bone, and emotional health.
Course Speakers
Jenifer Matthews, MD
General Rate
Full couse (4 Classes): $100
Single class: $30
We are able to offer a small number of registrations at a discounted rate for students and individuals with limited financial resources. If registration cost is a hardship for you, you may request this discount by completing this form.
Discounted Rate (Limited)
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Full course (4 classes): $20
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Single class: $9
Full course registration refunds are available up to 72 hours before the date of the first class of the series; partial refunds are not available. Single class registration refunds are available up to 72 hours before the scheduled class date. In the event that Osher WISE must cancel an individual class due to unforeseen circumstances, per class refunds will be provided to all registered participants. Requests for refunds must be made via email to [email protected].
Please email [email protected] with any questions.
Previous Courses
2023-2024
Lifestyle Strategies to Support Health and Well-being
Chair: Natalie Marshall, MD
- Movement and Strength Training to Improve Metabolic Health (video), Natalie Marshall, MD
- Mind-Body Medicine to Build Stress Resilience (video), Kavita K. Mishra MD, MPH
- Brain Health, Neuroplasticity, and Aging: Supporting Cognition at Every Age (video), Nancy Isenberg, MD, MPH
- Feeding Your Microbiome: Dietary Strategies for Wellness and Disease Prevention (video), Sean Spencer, MD, PhD
2022-2023
Holistic Approaches to Mental Health and Healing
Chair: Jenifer Matthews, MD
- Everything, Everywhere, All at Once: Integrative Approaches to Working with Teens with Anxiety, Depression, and Chronic pain (video), Lisa Wild, MFT, and Cristina Benki, PhD
- Growing Health from the Soil Up: The Links between Earth, Farms, Food, and Well-being, (video), Daphne Miller, MD
- Eastern View of the Mind: Comparing Traditional Chinese Medicine & Ayurveda Philosophy (video) Anisha Durve, DOM, Lac
- Researching Psilocybin Therapy: Current Challenges and Future Prospects (video), Josh Woolley, MD, PhD
- Room to Breathe: Therapeutic Yoga to Address Trauma (video), Chanda Williams, PhD
- Acupuncture and Its Use for Mental Health, Expanding Our Consciousness, and Leading Us to a Path of Healing (video), Mitch Elkiss, DO
2021-2022
Transforming Cancer Care with Integrative Oncology
Chair: Kavita M. Mishra, MD, MPH
- Integrative Oncology 101: Empowering Us to Reduce Risk, Support Treatment, and Promote Health (video), Kathleen Cavanaugh, NP, and Kavita Mishra, MD
- Exercise and Cancer: Impact of Physical Activity (video), Natalie Marshall, MD
- Nutrition and Cancer: Do’s and Dont’s (video), Donald Abrams, MD
- Introduction to Integrative Palliative Care & Symptom Management (video), Brieze Bell, MD
- Caring for Mind, Body, and Spirit: Approaches to Coping with Cancer Care (video, Jamie Cohen, PsyD, and Christina Weyer Jamora, RN, PhD
- Integrative Cancer Care: Bringing Innovative Approaches into the Clinic (video), Jennifer Ashby, DAOM; Chloe Atreya, MD; Shannon Fogh, MD
Yoga for Self-Transformation: Awakening to the Possibilities Within
Chairs: Sudha Prathikanti, MD, and Priya Jain, MD
- What is Yoga? Perspectives on Its Journey from East to West (video), Sudha Prathikanti, MD, and Priya Jain, MD
- Body, Breath and Abundant Energy: Yoga for Vitalizing Physical Health (video), Ishwarya Chaitanya and Varsha Ravikumar
- Cultivating Compassion and Resilience: Yoga for Enhancing Mental Health (video), Sudha Prathikanti, MD, and Kate Holcombe, CYT
- Elevating Life Purpose and Meaning: The Science and Research on Yoga for Improving Transcendence and Spirituality (video), Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, PhD
- Yoga for Transforming Consciousness: The Chakra System and Jungian Psychology (video), Patrick Mahaffey, PhD
2020-2021
Creative Expression for Mind-Body Health
Chair: Selena Chan
- The Neuroscience of Creativity (video), Karen Chan Barrett, PhD
- The Essential Role of Music Therapy in Pediatric Health Care (video), Matthew Logan, MA; Jennifer Goldhammer, MM; and Brianna Negrete, MM
- The Role of Music in Dementia Caregiving Relationships (video), Theresa Allison, PhD
- Movement is Medicine (video), Alissa Garcia-Sanchez, DPT
- The Mandala of Healing (video), Sudha Prathikanti, MD
- Art for Recovery (video), Amy Van Cleve
Family Health: Practices for Wellbeing During the Pandemic
Chair: David Becker, MD
- Enhancing Neurodevelopmental Resilience from Conception to Adulthood (video), Robert Hendren, DO
- Scientifically Proven Strategies of CBT: Empowering Parents with Knowledge and Tools to Effectively Manage Anxiety in the Family (video), Bridget Walker, PhD
- Bringing Willingness and Values to Challenging Times (video), Walter E.B. Sipe, MD
- State of the Pandemic: Risk, Prevention, and Treatment for Children and Families (video), Prachi Singh, DO
- Pandemic Q&A: Integrative Therapy to Manage Anxiety and Reduce Stress (video), Dave Berger, MFT, PT
- Cultivating Emotion Awareness and Fierce Compassion (video), Eve Ekman, PhD
- Developmental Impact of COVID-19: Addressing Parental and Student Stress (video), Petra Steinbuchel, MD
2019-2020
Embracing Life Challenges: Finding Balance through Integrative Mental Health Care
Chairs: Sudha Prathikanti, MD, and Selena Chan, DO
- The Mandala of Healing: Moving Toward a Whole Person Paradigm in Mental Healthcare (video), Sudha Prathikanti, MD
- A Shamanic Journey: MDMA-assisted Psychotherapy to Guide Recovery from Trauma (video), Sylver Quevedo, MD
- The Alchemy of Healing: The Pathways to Emotional and Spiritual Flourishing in the Classical Chinese Medicine Tradition (video), James Duffy, MD
- Listening to One's Deepest Self: Opening to Transpersonal Dimensions of Healing (video), David Lukoff, PhD
- Nature’s Remedies: Herbal Treatments for Emotional Distress (video), Geronima Cortese, RN, MPH
- Exploring Physical and Emotional Dimensions of Pain and Loss: The Power of the Mind-Body Connection (video, slides), Selena Chan, DO
2017-2018
The Science Behind Optimal Metabolic Health and Nutrition: Adding Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years
Chairs: Elissa Epel, PhD, and Ashley Mason, PhD
- Inside the Effects of Exercise: From Cellular to Psychological Benefits (video), Eli Puterman, PhD
- Food and Fiction: What We Know, and What We Don’t about Nutrition and Supplements (video), Frederick Hecht, MD, and Chris Kresser, MS, Lac
- FoodGate: The Break-in, the Cover-up, and the Aftermath (video), Robert Lustig, MD; Cristen Kearns, DDS; and Laura Schmidt, PhD
- The Face of Food Addiction: Living Through and Beyond (video), Community Panelists
- Sleep, Inflammation, and Metabolism: Sleep-worthy (video), Aric Prather, PhD
- The Diet Trap: Why You Should Never Go on a Diet Again, and What To Do Instead (video), Sandra Aamodt, PhD, and Darya Rose, PhD
