Today, acupuncture, mindfulness, good nutrition, quality sleep, movement and the use of natural supplements might seem like obvious ways to improve health, but that hasn’t always been the case. Integrative medicine — which combines conventional medicine with complementary practices like acupuncture and use of natural products — began to take root in the 1990s, and one of its earliest supporters and advocates was The Bernard Osher Foundation.

Bernard Osher established the Foundation in 1977 to improve people’s quality of life, and with three brothers in the medical profession, he’d always had an interest in medical topics. He and his wife Barbro began to focus on the possibilities of complementary therapies following a visit to China during which she pulled a muscle in her neck that made it painful to move. Two acupuncture treatments relieved her pain, and the experience left an indelible impression on them both.

In 1998, the Foundation funded its first integrative medicine center at the University of California, San Francisco, and has since launched 10 more, including the UW Osher Center for Integrative Health, which it established with a $5.5 million gift in 2018. Impressed with the Osher Center’s success, the Foundation made an additional gift of $2.1 million in 2021 to support its continued growth.

“The Oshers and all of us engaged in the work of the Foundation believe in the importance of furthering the cause of wellness for as many people as possible,” says Mary Bitterman, president of the Foundation. “The Osher focus is certainly on the remediation of disease but equally on having people be as well as they can be — able to benefit from complementary therapies, nutritious food, daily exercise and unmedicated sleep to maintain good health.”

Demand grows for holistic wellness

Thanks to the Foundation’s generous gifts, the Osher Center, housed within the UW Department of Family Medicine, offers acupuncture and massage for pain management, mindfulness courses to improve mental health and well-being, and nutritional guidance to encourage a healthy lifestyle through an evidence-supported, holistic approach to health. Research is underway to create best practices that will help providers initiate and sustain integrative medicine within the healthcare delivery system.

The Oshers’ gifts now allow everyone from the general public to health science students and healthcare professionals to take advantage of classes and public talks focused on wellness. Already, the offerings are extraordinarily popular.

“The public is embracing our clinical services at a rate that outpaces our capacity, which gives us confidence that we’re on the right track delivering care that’s impactful and meaningful to our local communities,” says Iman Majd, MD, LAc, director of the Osher Center. “Our work is changing lives, restoring hope and healing the whole person.”

One such person is a patient who came to the center seeking relief from pain due to a spinal cord injury and back issues, which also led to nerve damage to his leg. “I was skeptical at first, and this was the final thing I could think of doing,” he says. “My skepticism quickly vanished after just a few sessions.”

Now, much of his pain has been relieved, and he has more feeling and functionality in his leg. “Today, I walk better. I can feel my foot on the ground, and my knee perceives movement. The entire concept of the Osher Center — the programs and speakers — is first-class. My life is better because of this work.”

Majd thinks the potential benefits could easily expand to other departments within UW Medicine, particularly in the field of pain medicine, and he is already being approached by colleagues for collaboration.

The power of collaboration

The ripple effect to other departments is in part by design. As more patients experience real benefits, more physicians and healthcare providers understand and appreciate the potential of integrative health.

To foster this kind of collaboration and growth on an international level, The Bernard Osher Foundation created the Osher Collaborative for Integrative Health, with each of the 11 health centers leveraging regional strengths to develop and share best practices based on scientific research.

“The interest of the Foundation and the Oshers was to have integrative medicine programs that focused on several areas — education, research and clinical operations as well as outreach and public information efforts,” says Bitterman.

Bitterman notes that the strengths UW Medicine brought to the Collaborative include its clinical operations as the Pacific Northwest’s leading and most comprehensive healthcare system; the diversity of the patient population that includes indigenous communities and veterans; and its School of Medicine, which supports urban, suburban and rural healthcare training sites for a five-state region that encompasses Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.

But just as important are the people at the helm. “In meetings with leadership, we found they were deeply committed to having integrative medicine inform and ‘integrate’ approaches and therapies throughout the healthcare community,” explains Bitterman.

“The UW Osher Center, led by Dr. Paul James, chair of Family Medicine, and Dr. Iman Majd, brings distinctive medical and healthcare experience to the Collaborative along with an admirable level of collegiality and commitment to health equity. Their strong emphasis on wellness has played a significant role nationally in encouraging the connection and interplay between and among healthcare practitioners.”

Recognizing the Bernard Osher Foundation’s role in advancing health

In recognition of its impact on our region’s health, The Bernard Osher Foundation received the 2024 UW Medicine Brotman Leadership Award. Named in honor of Jeffrey and Susan Brotman, the award honors those whose visionary philanthropy significantly advances UW Medicine’s ability to improve the health of the public.

On the news of the Foundation’s award, Bernard and Barbro Osher say, “We have read of the Brotman family’s leadership and singularly important support for the University as a whole and, in particular, for UW Medicine, and to receive an award in the Brotmans’ name is a special privilege. We have also read about previous recipients of this award and have great admiration for their contributions as well.”

The hope is that as greater well-being is enjoyed by more members of the community, they’ll be able to participate more fully in every aspect of life and enjoy good health.

“From the start, the Oshers’ philanthropy has been directed toward improving quality of life through support for integrative medicine, higher education, including medical education, and the arts,” says Bitterman. “The Oshers and other Foundation trustees, along with our staff colleagues, are certainly honored by this recognition, especially when it comes from the University of Washington, an institution for which we have great respect.”

By Nicole Beattie