Everyone presents his or her perspective, which the fellow takes into account in designing a treatment plan. But just as cancer specialists may tend to favor the form of treatment they know best, so too, sometimes, do alternative practitioners. Chinese medicine practitioners have a treatment for everything, just as Western physicians do. The Academic Curriculum Fellows see patients at follow-up visits and consult the various practitioners throughout the week, with Fridays reserved for more formal academic work. Classes and reading assignments provide an overview of the philosophical basis of integrative medicine and the origins and development of conventional medicine and other systems of healing.
Fellows also consider the philosophical heritage of Western science.
Fellows also study botanical medicine, homeopathy, and naturopathy. The aim is not to turn the fellows into expert alternative practitioners, but rather to give them an overview of various treatment modalities and their underlying philosophies. But now if a patient asks me if Chinese medicine can help her eczema, I can answer, and, if it's appropriate, refer her to a Chinese medicine practitioner. Dr. Weil teaches across the curriculum. Dr. Maizes focuses on women's health, including integrative approaches to menopause, and on interviewing methods that can encourage patients to consider health-promoting behavioral changes.