MD rotations/residencies in Complementary Medicine?

[alizzard]

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I am interviewing for medical school (MD and DO) for the class of 2009, and am wondering if I can learn Osteopathy (OMM) (or really any other "complementary" modalities) if I go to MD school. I just recently started being fascinated by the possibility of doing physical manipulations on people (that arent surgery) and really would love to do that kind of hands on medicine and am not sure if I should aim for an MD or DO degree. Is there any way to go for an MD and do rotations with Osteopathy/OMM or do a residency with any sort of complementary medicine? I know that there are some family practice residencies that are involved with complementary medical clinics. Any thoughts/ advice? 🙂

 

[LoneCoyote]

After you finish your MD and a residency in primary care, there is a fellowship you can apply to at the University of Arizona set up by Dr. Andrew Weil to learn about different alternative modalities. There is also an acupuncture program for MDs and UCLA. But both of those come once you are practicing physician, not in med school. I am sure there are residencies that would give you some exposure, but do not know which ones. While you are in med school, there is a summer program you can do at Bastyr Univ in Seattle about naturopathic medicine. Other than that, I am sure there are different ways to get exposure depending on your school. Some schools might have an elective or a CAM student interest group. Do some research on the school you are interested in and see what you can find on their websites. Good luck.

 

[Geronimo]

ETSU has a residency program where they have an OMM night. I don't know how official it is.

 

[freddydpt]

Two things to note for the original poster:

1) Georgetown has an AWESOME program integrating complementary medicine modalities and basic sciences. I'd contact them if you are really interested in it.

2) George Washington has a Manipulation Interest Group (student run... by a few students including myself) who organize a year long lecture and experiential series taught by clinicians at the Center for Integrative Medicine at GWU. Contact Dr. Pan, the director for more info about the Center, or contact me for more info on the student group.

I'm a PT so I've been craving using my hands ever since my orthopedic manual rotations. It really does work... and work well! I teach my fellow classmates little tricks ALL the time.

Good luck!

 

[AJM]

One of the recent graduates from my internal medicine residency program is doing an acupuncture fellowship right now in China. It's apparently a year-long training fellowship designed for MD's. He's planning on coming back to the US and incorporating acupuncture into his general IM practice.