Re: future of naturopathic medicine

I just wanted to give you all my update. I have decided to pursue an MD education. However, I will most definitely be a holistic MD. The main reason for choosing MD over ND is because there is currently more opportunities, and also because I don't know about how evidence-based the medicine is-- AT present. However, I had a nice discussion with an ND doctor at my office visit today, and she explained to me some of the difficulties of conducting RC-trials in naturopathic medicine. In homeopathy, for example, the medicine is so individualized that it is difficult to do large scale trials when people have different specific symptoms. We were chatting about how an MD education may be better in terms of diagnostics, but an ND education may be better in ways in treatment.

I strongly believe integrated medicine is the future of medicine, and I have high regard for NDs. I think it is 'smart' medicine. In fact, in the future, I will either pursue an integrative medicine fellowship or an ND degree (with advanced standing) afterwards. My goal is to help revamp medical education. Teaching is a passion of mine. I'd like conventional medicine be more aligned with the naturopathic patient-centered philosophy. I'd also like to see it more in line with public health prevention, be community focused, and more culturally sensitive. I think conservative MDs can only be conservative for so long, as eventually people will see that integrative medicine is best for patients.

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