University of Texas Medical Branch’s Integrative Medicine Program

class 2012

The University of Texas Medical Branch’s Integrative Medicine Program is enormously grateful for the generous support of the Weil Foundation over the past several years. The Foundation has provided funds that helped grow our program, first established in 1998, to a new level by supporting the development of the Integrative Medicine in Residency program as well as providing funds for faculty development in integrative medicine. This includes supporting two of our faculty, Drs. Lian and Kyu, to take the two-year AZCIM Fellowship in Integrative Medicine. Dr. McKee is a core IM faculty and we have invested Weil Funds to further her skills and interests in interprofessional clinical nutrition education. Several behavioral medicine faculty have been able to take advanced training in motivational interviewing.

Foundation funds have also supported travel for students, residents, and faculty to conferences and integrative medicine meetings such as the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine. We have also used these funds to help support our enthusiastic Students for Integrative Medicine interest group. Over a dozen of our residents have qualified through the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine through support in part from the Weil Foundation. Subscriptions, books, and software have been purchased with these funds to increase our local libraries and resources materials, including our website.

class 2011

In summary, the Weil Foundation’s mission of supporting education in integrative medicine has been well met by investing in UTMB’s Integrative Medicine Program. Generations of our graduates will be ever changed in their approach to and their practice of medicine from the experiences we have been able to provide with the support of the Weil Foundation. These funds have also helped us garner additional philanthropic support and well as intramural grants and financial commitments.

Victor S. Sierpina, MD, ABFM, ABIHM
Director, Medical Student Education Program, Family Medicine Department
WD and Laura Nell Nicholson Family Professor of Integrative Medicine
Professor, Family Medicine
University of Texas Distinguished Teaching Professor
University of Texas Medical Branch
Galveston, Texas