NEWS RELEASE

ACCAHC Appoints New Chair

The Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC) has recently appointed Elizabeth Goldblatt, PhD, MPA/HA as its new Chair. She will assume this position in January 2008. Dr. Goldblatt has served as the President of Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (CCAOM), President of the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine (OCOM), and is the current Vice President for Academic Affairs at American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) and the United States chair of the Education Committee of the North American Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Council. Dr. Goldblatt holds an extensive background in higher education and is responsible for directing the development of the clinical doctoral programs at ACTCM and OCOM, both of which emphasize collaboration among CAM and biomedical healthcare providers.

The ACCAHC works to bring the five licensed Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) professions together and creates an environment where their academic leaders are able to speak with a united voice in the public arena. ACCAHC was created in 2004 in response to a clear need that had been articulated by three important groups: the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (WHCCAM), the National Policy Dialogue to Advance Integrated Healthcare: Seeking Common Ground (NPD), and the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

The need was to convene CAM and conventional healthcare educators to facilitate understanding of one another's disciplines in order to enhance patient-centered care and ultimately improve health outcomes. By working together and speaking with one voice, leaders and agencies in the CAM academic community would be most effective in their efforts to work with conventional medicine and transform the healthcare system and medical education. ACCAHC is the result of that vision and commitment.

ACCAHC has a two-fold mission: To advance the academic needs and development of the evolving CAM professions and the traditional world medicine professions that are emerging in the United States; and to foster a coherent, synergistic collaboration with academic institutions of the conventional medical, nursing, and public and community health professions. This collaboration promotes interdisciplinary healthcare education to ensure mutual understanding between healthcare disciplines.

ACCAHC's primary goal is to move the CAM academic community forward by promoting educational excellence in academic curriculums and clinical training, equitable access to resources for colleges, students and faculty, enhancement of research capacity, national policy leadership, research, and supporting future leaders and policy actions that will affect the transformation of our healthcare system.

ACCAHC has established a network of national CAM educational organizations and agencies. The core membership of this network is the national associations of colleges, the accrediting agencies and nationally recognized certification/testing agencies. ACCAHC has a strong commitment to public safety and accountability and works only with healthcare professions that either have established clear regulatory mechanisms in the United States, or are in the process of doing so. Professions currently represented by ACCAHC are Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Chiropractic Medicine, Direct Entry Midwifery, Massage Therapy, Naturopathic Medicine and Nutrition.

American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a non-profit institution, has provided affordable, quality health care to the public and trained professionals in acupuncture and Chinese medicine since 1980. ACTCM has been the recipient of many awards for its curriculum, faculty and clinic, and has been voted “Best of the Bay” by both the San Francisco Weekly and the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

For more information on ACTCM or the appointment of Dr. Elizabeth Goldblatt, please call (415) 355-1601 x12.