The Jefferson Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences will be the first of its kind in the history of academic medicine.

The concept of the department was strongly embraced and approved by the CEO of Jefferson Health and President of Thomas Jefferson University, Dr. Stephen Klasko; the Dean of the Medical College and University Provost, Dr. Mark Tykocinski; and the Council of Department Chairs. The department charter created by Drs. Daniel Monti, George Zabrecky, Andrew Newberg, and Anthony Bazzan, was voted on and unanimously approved by the Jefferson Board of Trustees, making the department official.

Now operational, this department is on par with all the other clinical departments in the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Jefferson, such as Medicine, Surgery, Oncology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, to name a few. Integrative Medicine will have its own credentialing through the hospital for clinical privileges and faculty appointments will occur through the new department.

For the first time, Integrative Medicine has a seat at the table at all department chair meetings, the medical college’s executive council, and the hospital medical staff’s executive council. Jefferson is planning a large-scale international announcement of this historic first department in a traditional medical college. We anticipate that the new department will be a springboard for other academic institutions and that the model we continue to create will become the gold standard for the new medical specialty of Integrative Medicine.

We are pleased to announce that we have received a $20 million commitment from the Marcus Foundation for our University to establish the Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences, the first of it kind in academic medicine. This funding came from the Marcus Foundation, which was created by Bernie Marcus, co-founder of The Home Depot. Mr. Marcus has been a relentless advocate of transforming medicine and believes the incorporation of integrative medicine into mainstream care is a major component of this movement.

See the Sidney Kimmel Medical College’s announcement, Thomas Jefferson University Launches Nation’s First Academic Department of Integrative Medicine, to learn more.