Research and Collaborations

Center Research Activities

The Center is currently supporting a number of research projects relevant to integrative health and medicine. These are:

  • The Center is collaborating with University of California Berkeley epidemiologist Professor Brenda Eskenazi examining the 18-year longitudinal effects of glyphosate on children’s health.
  • The Center is working with Professor Tom Liu at the UC San Diego fMRI Center on a Heart-Centered Meditation project to determine the brain and autonomic nervous system effects of this form of meditation.
  • The Center is working with the company Thrivata to incorporate AI into software to better customize daily wellness activity.
  • HAPI-CHI: A Healthy Aging Study
  • The Center is working with the company Entropy Technology Design to modify environmental sensors to validly and reliably visualize the human biofield.
  • HEART-PLAY (Heart Exercise And Resistance Training – Peer Lead Activity, which is an NIH/NHLBI supported study to examine the effects of Peer Leadership to improve adherence to cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in the CR clinic setting
  • HEART-PLAY Supplement
  • Herbicide Awareness and Research (HARP) Project
  • The Center is working with the company GeneGuard to identify novel products to metabolize and aid in the excretion of glyphosate from the body.
  • Light-Induced Guided Healing Therapy (LIGHT) Projects
  • The Center is working with the company DoTERRA to examine the long-term effects of lavender oil as a treatment for stress and anxiety.
  • Magnesium Supplementation Study 
  • The Role of Osteopathic Manipulation in the Management of Post-Traumatic Migraine
  • Gratitude Journaling in Heart Failure Patients
  • Quality of Life and Symptom Improvement of Multiple Sclerosis Patients by Guided Imagery Meditation
  • Program Outcomes and Evaluation Study (POEMS) for InspireHealth, an integrative oncology study
  • Auricular Therapy for Treatment of Musculoskeletal Pain in Military Personnel: A Randomized Trial
  • Health-Related Effects of Organic Versus Non-Organic Foods
  • Effects of High-Fat High-Calorie Meals on The Leaky Gut Syndrome
  • Tai Chi Practice for Post-MI
  • Journaling in Post MI Patients: Effects on Health Related Mood and Clinical Outcomes
  • Self Directed Biological Transformation Initiative, an Ayurvedic Medicine study
  • Traditional Tibetan Medicine for Multiple Sclerosis
  • Transcendental Meditation for PTSD
  • Alzheimer Caregiving Coping - Mental and Physical Health
  • Mind-body Medicine in military personnel with chronic pain, pregnancy or stress
  • Effects of a Single Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) on Intraocular Pressure Reduction
  • Effects of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment on Gait and Neurological Function in Parkinson’s Disease

Center Research Collaborations

Through these projects, the Center is working with the following institutions

Center Research Committee

The Center is supported by clinicians and researchers dedicated to advancing integrative health research at UCSD and beyond. Within UC San Diego, for several decades numerous researchers have been independently performing integrative health investigations across departments and schools. The Center functions to bring UC San Diego integrative health investigators together in order to forge collaborations across different departments and institutes to expand the breadth of research outcomes in integrative health, such as epigenetics, fMRI, neuroimmune, microbiome, and electrophysiology.

The Center is supported by a Research Committee comprised of the individuals listed below, from UC San Diego and surrounding institutions:

  • Dan Vicario, MD, UC San Diego / San Diego Cancer Research Institute
  • Eric Groessl, PHD, UC San Diego / VASDHS
  • Rusty Kallenberg, MD, UC San Diego / Center for Integrative Medicine
  • Laura Redwine, PhD, UC San Diego / VASDHS
  • Paul J. Mills, PhD, UC San Diego
  • Shah Golshan, PhD, UC San Diego / VASDHS
  • Christine Tara Peterson, PhD, AHP, RYT, UC San Diego 
  • Shamini Jain, PhD, UC San Diego
  • Samm Hurst, PhD, UC San Diego
  • Thomas Rutledge, PhD, UC San Diego / VASDHS
  • Jeffrey Millegan, MD, MPH, Naval San Diego Medical Center
  • Beatrice Golumb, MD, UC San Diego
  • Stacy Gomes, PhD, Pacific College of Oriental Medicine
  • Jill Borman, PhD, VASDHS
  • Pam Taub, MD, UC San Diego
  • Hollis King, DO, UC San Diego
  • Lori Montross, PhD, UC San Diego / Moores Cancer Center
  • Thomas Liu, PhD, UC San Diego / Center for Functional MRI
  • Ryan Bradley, ND, UC San Diego / National College of Natural Medicine

Bringing researchers together that have common interests from different departments and scientific backgrounds supports increased collegial interaction and leads to greater breadth of research in integrative health