University of Pennsylvania Allies with Tai Sophia Institute

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Medical School has announced a partnership with a local center for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), the Tai Sophia Institute, and in parternship will begin to offer a masters degree in CAM.
The article quotes 86 year old Arnold Fishman, a pulmonologist, who has "enjoyed a long, achievement filled career in evidence-based medicine," advocating for the alliance, "my interest is: what are the new frontiers?" He further noted, "The message from consumers is quite clear." "Medicine cannot supply all that consumers feel they want."
But Robert Baratz, a skeptic about CAM, challenged this, saying the University is "attempting to capitalize on the so-called dynamics of the marketplace."
The Tai Institute's Institutional Values include

• "Operate from a declaration of oneness, a unity with all creation."
• "Make all judgments and decisions in the context and light of the seven (past 3, future 3, and present) generations."

The Tai Institute offers acupuncture and herbalist services. Its web-site states

• "Individuals using traditional acupuncture treatments often find relief from concerns including headaches, chronic fatigue, depression, allergies, back pain, digestive disorders, joint pain, sleeping problems, infertility, menstrual disorders and other symptoms."
• "Acupuncture is helpful for many concerns from headaches to joint pain. It has also been found effective for severe chronic conditions where pinpointing the cause has been difficult to determine. Those who receive ongoing treatment for maintenance and the promotion of good health have told us that they: • Tend to get sick less often and recover more quickly• Have improved stamina and vitality• Are better managers of their own health• See reductions in long-term health care costs and tend to visit physicians less often• Enjoy deepened more harmonious relationships with others "

The web-site presents no evidence to support these claims. I doubt they are well supported by data from well-designed randomized controlled trials. For a more skeptical view of acupuncture, see this page from Quackwatch.
Regarding herbal therapies, the Tai Sophia web-site states:

• "Botanical healing, used for thousands of years, is used specifically to support the healthy structure and function of the body. It works to promote vitality, balance, and longevity. "

Again, The Institute does not present evidence that, in particular, using herbs causes people to live longer. Although I will allow that some CAM remedies may turn out to have benefits that outweigh their harms, I see no reason to believe that this is true for any particular such remedy until it has been tested in well-designed controlled studies. I can see value in medical schools teaching students about patients' use of CAM, and performing well-designed research on CAM. However, the University of Pennsylvania's alliance with an Institute that seems to be a fervent, uncritical promoter of CAM seems at odds with the the scientific basis of medicine that medical schools, of all institutions, should uphold. I hope the University will come up with a clearer explanation for what it is doing than the purely consumerist approach described in the Inquirer's article.
[Full disclosure: I did a Kaiser Fellowship in General Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where I got training in, among other subjects, clinical epidemiology.]

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