Overview

The Centre for Integrative Medicine was established in 2005, to function as a catalyst for change in medical education and healthcare within the Province of Saskatchewan, through a broad spectrum of initiatives pertaining primarily to the prevention and treatment of chronic illness.

Our Vision:

1. A healthcare system which is oriented towards healing and disease prevention; which makes use of a wide range of evidence-based therapies; and which emphasizes the therapeutic benefits of the doctor-patient relationship.

2. A medical education environment which promotes the effective integration of scientific knowledge and medical expertise with the cultivation of personal growth, professionalism, and a commitment to healthy living, work-life balance  and physician wellness.

Our Mission:

To work in concert with other units within and beyond the College of Medicine, toward the shared objective of transformational change in healthcare systems and medical education, through the selective integration of evidence-based, cost-effective interventions, in a manner consistent with the principles of social accountability, patient-centred care, and long term sustainability.

Faculty, Staff, and Associates

The Centre’s faculty and staff includes physicians, researchers, health educators and administrators from the University of Saskatchewan. More than two dozen community-based practitioners representing medicine, nursing, the allied health professions, and various prominent complementary health disciplines are also actively involved with the Centre’s activities.

Specific Expertise

The Centre has specific expertise in medical acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, medical anthropology, nutritional medicine, natural health products, mind-body practices, integrative pain medicine, massage and bodywork, health education, decision sciences, research methods and multivariate statistics.

Educational Activities

The introduction of integrative medicine across the full continuum of medical education remains the Centre’s highest priority. Faculty from the Centre have been regular contributors to Continuing Professional Learning events since 2002. The Centre also provides educational programming to several other colleges, including Pharmacy and Nutrition, Kinesiology, Nursing, Dentistry, Arts and Science, and the Edwards School of Business.

Research Activities

Faculty from the Centre are involved as principle investigators and co-investigators on a variety of research projects pertaining to health services research, clinical research, population health research, and medical education research. The Centre’s faculty also serve as committee members and external examiners on thesis committees within and beyond the University of Saskatchewan.


Community outreach and engagement

Faculty from the Centre continue to work closely with community-based organizations who are interested in integrating low-cost, high-impact preventive and healing-oriented practices into their programs.

Integrative Health Seminar

The Centre coordinates an integrative health seminar, which addresses a wide range of topics with relevance to the future of healthcare systems. The seminar typically attracts an audience of practitioners, researchers, educators, and planners from medicine, nursing, and a broad spectrum of conventional and complementary health disciplines. The integrative health seminar functions as a vehicle for building bridges between diverse groups, organizations, and communities in healthcare, education, and social services.

Integrative Dialogues

The Centre runs a series of integrative dialogues roughly twice per year. These dialogues typically involve 12-30 participants and are intended to bring a number of diverse perspectives to bear, on a specific topic, of relevance to the process of transformation change in healthcare systems.

Betty-Ann and Wade Heggie Lectureship in Integrative Medicine

The Betty-Ann and Wade Heggie Lectureship in Integrative Medicine was established to provide continuing education opportunities for faculty, residents and practitioners in the field of integrative medicine. This lectureship, which will exist in perpetuity, will provide resources to help bring high profile, knowledgeable and experienced physicians to the College of Medicine to address current topics pertaining to integrative medicine, and its potential role in the future of medical education and healthcare systems. 

Social Change Seminar

The Social Change Seminar Series is intended to help researchers and practitioners to integrate their professional training and work experience with their passions and values, to influence the structural determinants of health. The seminar series focusses on the process of social change, and the role of the change agent. It addresses activities such as social innovation, social activism, and social entrepreneurship. Speakers have included pathfinders who have carved out innovative roles for themselves in the service of society. One objective is to sensitize students to the possibility of innovative career paths as an avenue for becoming agents of social change.