The Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine treats the mind, body and spirit.

How many times have you visited your doctor and felt he or she was attempting to set the land-speed record for a medical exam? You waited 40 minutes to have your vitals taken then waited another 40 in the examination room shivering in your backless gown.

    When the doctor finally sweeps in, he asks a few questions and before you've had a chance to ask anything, he writes a prescription or dishes out a referral, and that’s it for the visit.

    While not all visits are like this, some of us have had a similar experience. Now, a growing movement in medicine is attempting to meet patient needs that are not addressed in the traditional, HMO-driven healthcare structure.

    The Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine at the UC Irvine School of Medicine is at the forefront of this movement. The center was established in early 2000 with a $5.7 million gift from Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli and his wife, Susan, renowned local philanthropists and owners of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Susan Samueli holds a Ph.D. in Nutrition and is a former practitioner of homeopathy.

    The Center's website, sscim.uci.edu, explains, “The Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine is an academic center focused on scientific research and education in the broad field of complementary and alternative medicine. The necessity of conducting rigorous scientific investigations of the physiological effects of these interventions has become evident. Education is a high priority.”

Integrative medicine
Webmd.com, the website run by physicians, defines integrative medicine as, “The 'whole-person approach' designed to treat the individual, not just the disease. IM, as it's often called, depends on a partnership between the patient and the doctor, where the goal is to treat the mind, body and spirit. While some of the therapies used may be non-conventional (such as acupuncture, herbs, Tai Chi, meditation and massage) the guiding principle is to use therapies that have some high-quality evidence to support them.”

    Dr. John Longhurst, director of the Susan Samueli Center, says that the traditional medical community has come a long way toward accepting IM treatments and alternative modalities.

    “When I was in medical school, we only had 1 class on the subject, it was called 'quackery.'”

    Now Dr. Longhurst, a professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics at UCI, has dedicated himself to bringing about greater understanding between diverse schools of thought.

    “There are some conditions Western medicine just doesn't have good answers for, chronic pain being one of them,” he says. “Because of this, the medical community is becoming more accepting of non-conventional interventions as a part of treatment, if they are evidence-based and supported by a foundation of solid scientific research.”  Currently, 35 of the 127 accredited medical schools in the country offer curricula on IM therapies. “And it's building,” says Dr. Longhurst.

    “Traditionally, scientific substantiation has relied on double-blind studies and case-based effectiveness,” explains Dr. Longhurst. “We need to determine IF it works, then HOW it works. Though non-traditional treatments often don't fit into this structure. Herbs, for instance are exceedingly complex. There are hundreds of thousands of constituents in some Chinese herbal combinations. And there is the problem of repeatability; herbs can vary region-to-region, season-to-season. Currently, we are attempting to do a fingerprint analysis of these constituents.”

East meets West
    Trying to fit the broad Eastern modalities, like Chinese (including herbs and acupuncture), Japanese (Reiki) and Indian (ayurvedic), into Western clinical structure has proven challenging.

    “The difficulty stems from the fact that clinical analysis doesn't individualize,” says Dr. Longhurst. “We need to look at the whole person - the symptoms are very complex. We need to ask ourselves how to look at the patient as an individual yet still test scientifically.”

    “I consider much of what I do translation,” he says. “Confusion comes with differing vocabularies. What is referred to in acupuncture as 'meridians,' or energy flows, are essentially neural impulses and can be tracked through the underlying neuropathy.”

Patient care
    In addition to conducting research and focusing on education, the Center is dedicated to clinical care. Dr. Suzanne Tang is a doctor of naturopathy and a licensed acupuncturist, and a practitioner with the Susan Samueli Center.

    “When you come for your first visit, I will spend an hour and a half with you and we'll go over every single aspect of your health and life,” says Dr. Tang. “We'll discuss your diet, your stressors to all other contributing factors to your well-being: mental, spiritual and physical.”

        “Integrative medicine differs from traditional in that we want to get at the root of what's causing the illness, not just treat the symptoms,” says Dr. Tang. “And to do this there needs to be a patient/doctor connection so we can solve the problems.”

    She spends much of her time speaking and educating the public about the many integrative treatment possibilities available. “I want patients who have been struggling with pain or other health issues to know there's hope. Many patients leave their initial consultation feeling educated and empowered,” says Dr. Tang. “I take into account their lifestyle and level of commitment ability. I'm not going to tell a devout meat-eater they will have to become vegan to get well. We'll work together to discover the best, most workable approach to their overall health.”

    Susan Belknapp is a senior staff writer for Churm Media.


Key Samueli Center staff members

John Longhurst, M.D., Ph.D.,
is professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics at UC Irvine and director of the Susan Samueli Center. He holds 2 endowed chairs: the Susan Samueli Chair in Integrative Medicine and the Lawrence K. Dodge Chair in Integrative Biology. He also is a professor and associate dean for Programs and Development at UCI.

Suzanne Tang N.D., L.Ac.,
earned a bachelor of science degree in Psychobiology from UCLA. She then attended Bastyr University in Seattle, the leading accredited academic and research center for natural medicine, where she earned a doctorate degree in naturopathic medicine and a master of science in acupuncture and oriental medicine.