ACIH Council of Advisers

The ACIH Council of Advisers is a group of professionals who support ACIH's mission and whose skills and abilities will be helpful in assisting the ACIH Board of Directors, Executive Committee and Working Groups in fulfilling this mission. One focus of the members of the Council of Advisers is to enhance relationships with colleagues affiliated with conventional academic medical centers, health care educational institutions, and with individuals involved in the areas of healthcare delivery, research, policy, public health and economics. The Council was established by the ACIH Board of Directors through Board resolution on January 19, 2010. This is the initial group of advisers, each of whom has already contributed substantially to ACIH planning and processes.

Clement Bezold, PhD is the Chairman of the Board and co-founder, with Alvin Toffler, of the Institute for Alternative Futures. He has led futures work with many significant national and international organizations (WHO, PAHO), Fortune 500 corporations, and not-for-profit entities as well as for several Federal government agencies, including VA, HHS, CDC, NIH, GSA, DoD, DoJ.

Margaret Chesney, PhD joined the University of California at San Francisco in 1987 and is currently a Professor of Medicine in Residence in the Department of Medicine.  From 2010 to 2015, she served as director of the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and Osher Foundation Distinguished Professor of Integrative Medicine. Taking leave from UCSF, she served five years as the first Deputy Director of the NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, and as Senior Advisor to the NIH Office for Research on Women’s Health. Margaret is the Immediate Past Chair of the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health and currently on its Executive Committee. The Consortium now includes 69 leading academic health centers and health systems throughout North America. 

John H.V.Gilbert, C.M., Ph.D., LLD (Dalhousie)., FCAHS is a Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia., Adjunct Professor, Dalhousie University., DR. TMA Pai Endowment Chair in Interprofessional Education & Practice, Manipal University. He was also an Adjunct Professor, University of Technology, Sydney., Senior Scholar, WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Workforce Planning & Research, Dalhousie University, and Founding Chair, Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative.

Aviad (Adi) Haramati, PhD Dr. Aviad ‘Adi’ Haramati is Professor of Physiology and Medicine and co-director of the Graduate Program in Complementary and Alternative Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine.  In 2013, he was named the founding director of the Center for Innovation and Leadership in Education (CENTILE) at Georgetown University Medical Center.  He has taught medical and graduate students for over 35 years and received institutional and national awards for his teaching. Currently, his activities are centered on medical education and training of health professionals.  He co-leads faculty training programs in mind-body medicine at Georgetown University and at The Institute for Integrative Health. Dr. Haramati is the founding vice-chair of the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine.  He chaired the organizing committees for the 2009, 2012 and 2014 International Congresses on Integrative Medicine and Health and convened the 2012 International Congress for Educators in Complementary and Integrative Medicine. In 2015 he hosted the CENTILE Conference to Promote Resilience, Empathy and Well-being in the Health Professions: An Inter-professional Forum.

Ping Ho, MA, MPH is Founder and Director of UCLArts and Healing, which transforms lives through creative expression for self-discovery, connection and empowerment by integrating the innate social-emotional benefits of the arts with mental health practices. UCLArts and Healing is an organizational member of the UCLA Collaborative Centers for Integrative Medicine, of which Ping is a Steering Committee Member and was founding administrator. She was also founding administrator for the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, which led to the privilege of writing for Norman Cousins and co-writing the professional autobiography of George F. Solomon, M.D., founder of the field. Ping is a member of the Council of Advisers for the Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health and the Steering Committee for the Association Leadership Council of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine.

Bradly Jacobs, MD, MPH is medical director for Cavallo Point. He was founding clinical director at the UCSF Osher Center and was a senior medical editor for Revolution Health. He was on the board of the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Dr. Jacobs will become the Chair of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (ACIH) in November 2016.

Wayne Jonas, MD is the president and CEO of the Samueli Institute, a charitable organization that has been a think tank for health system integration, a promoter of wellness approaches in US policy and a leader in introducing complementary therapies into the care of members of the military. He is the past director of the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institute of Health.

David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, FACLM is the founding director of Yale University’s Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and Founder/Director of the ‘True Health Initiative’ established to help convert what we know about lifestyle as medicine into what we do about it, in the service of adding years to lives and life to years around the globe. Katz earned his BA degree from Dartmouth College (1984); his MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and his MPH from the Yale University School of Public Health (1993).  He completed sequential residency training in Internal Medicine, and Preventive Medicine/Public Health. He has received two Honorary Doctorates. He holds 5 U.S. patents and has published roughly 200 scientific articles and textbook chapters, and 15 books to date, including multiple editions of leading textbooks in both Preventive Medicine, and nutrition. Recognized globally for expertise in nutrition, weight management and the prevention of chronic disease, he has a social media following of over 650,000.

Benjamin Kligler, MD, MPH is the founding national Director of the Coordinating Center for Integrative Health of the U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA)  He is a Professor of Family and Social Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He was the Vice Chair and Research Director of the Beth Israel Department of Integrative Medicine and a past Chair of the Academic Consortium for Integrative Health and Medicine. He is the current chair of the National Center for Integrative Primary Healthcare’s Leadership Council.

Lori Knutson, RN, BSN, HN-BC is Administrative Director for Integrative Medicine and Health (IMH) with Meridian Health. Knutson, with over 25 years’ experience in IMH formerly was the Senior Director, Health & Wellness at Touchstone Mental Health. In addition, she directed the multi-location integrative initiative at Allina Health that is based on the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing. Knutson’s extensive integrative health resume includes advising the Veteran’s Health Administration on its integrative strategies and serving as core faculty for the Duke Leadership Program in Integrative Healthcare. 

Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN, FAAN the founder and director of the Center for Spirituality & Healing at the University of Minnesota, has more than 40 years of leadership and expertise in healthcare. In addition to her roles as nurse, teacher, healthcare administrator and researcher, she is also an internationally recognized pioneer and innovator in the field of integrative health and wellbeing. In addition to her Center role, she is a tenured professor in the School of Nursing, and co-director of the doctorate in nursing practice (DNP) specialty in integrative health and healing, a joint program between the School and the Center. From 2004-2007, Dr. Kreitzer served as the vice-chair of the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine.  In 2009, Dr. Kreitzer testified at a US Senate hearing titled “Integrative Health: Pathway to Health Reform” as well as the Institute of Medicine Summit titled “Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public”.   In 2013, she received the Bravewell Distinguished Service Award from the Consortium. She has authored over 100 publications and is the co-editor of Integrative Nursing published in 2014 by Oxford Press.

Anne Nedrow, MD, MBA Is an Associate Professor at the General Internal medicine/Integrative Health Department at the University of Colorado Health. She was the Associate Director of Duke Integrative Medicine. She served as Medical Director of Women's Primary Care and Integrative Medicine at Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU). She is a co-founder of the Oregon Collaborative for Integrative Medicine, a partnership of OHSU and Portland institutions that train naturopathic physicians, chiropractors and acupuncture and Oriental medicine specialists. In addition, she has been very active in the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health (ACIMH) and previous ACIMH Executive Committee member.

Adam Perlman, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Vice President for Health and Wellness at Duke University as well as Executive Director of Duke Integrative Medicine.  He has responsibility for Duke Integrative Medicine, Duke Diet and Fitness Center as well as the Duke Health and Fitness Center.   He is also the founder and program director for the Leadership Program in Integrative Healthcare at Duke University.
Dr. Perlman received his BA from Tufts University and his MD from Boston University School of Medicine, completing residencies in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine as well as a General Internal Medicine Research Fellowship at Boston Medical Center. He earned an MPH from the Boston University School of Public Health.

Sarita Verma, LLB. MD, CCFP is a professor in the Department of Family and Community medicine. She was the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Associate Vice-Provost Health Professions Education at University of Toronto. She served as co-lead for the Canadian Interprofessional Health Leadership Collaborative (CIHLC) associated with the Institute of Medicine's Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education. She keynoted the ACIH 2013 Biennial Meeting and has been active in the IOM Global Forum for Innovations in Health Professional Education. 

Ruth Westreich is President of The Westreich Foundation.  She has been a major force behind the integrative medicine movement and local and national academic institutions and organizations such as, including the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, Academic Consortium for Integrative Health, Academic Consortium for Integrative Health and Medicine, American Nutrition Association, Bastyr College of Natural Medicine, Samueli Institute, San Diego Hospice and the Institute for Palliative Medicine, Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine, UCSD Center for Integrative Medicine, and UCLArts and Healing. She is co-author of, Creativity Unzipped, Why Your Thoughts Matter.

Leonard Wisneski, MD is a clinician, author, and policy leader in integrative medicine. He serves as chair of the Integrative Health Policy Consortium. He is Clinical Professor of Medicine at George Washington University Medical Center, Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Division of Integrative Physiology, at Georgetown University, and Clinical Instructor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Colorado.