The University of California San Diego School of Medicine’s Centers for Integrative Health has secured a transformative five-year grant totaling $6.2 million from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) under the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This substantial funding initiative is dedicated to the creation of the REACH Center for Translational Science on Whole Person Health, aiming to revolutionize how health and disease prevention are approached by integrating multidimensional aspects of patient care. Whole person health represents a paradigm shift by addressing not only physical ailments but also the social, emotional, and psychological factors that contribute to comprehensive well-being, thereby fostering an individualized and cohesive healthcare delivery system.
At the helm of this initiative are three esteemed principal investigators: Dr. Cassandra Vieten, a clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine at UC San Diego; Dr. Gene “Rusty” Kallenberg, professor emeritus and founding director of the Centers for Integrative Health; and Dr. Ryan Bradley, an associate professor at UC San Diego’s Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science. Their combined expertise spans clinical, integrative, and public health disciplines, positioning the REACH Center to lead pioneering research that bridges scientific discovery and real-world application. The initiative embraces the principle that effective healthcare transcends the isolated treatment of organs or systems and instead focuses on the complex interplay of biological, psychological, and social determinants.
Whole person health stresses the importance of coordinated multidisciplinary care tailored to respect patients’ values and beliefs. This approach recognizes that conventional medicine’s specialization has propelled advancements in treating specific diseases but has largely overlooked holistic, systemic perspectives essential for sustained health outcomes. Dr. Vieten highlights this gap by emphasizing that humans are integrated entities rather than discrete organ systems, necessitating innovative research frameworks that integrate complementary modalities. This visionary perspective directs the REACH Center’s mission to integrate traditional and integrative health disciplines, addressing an urgent need in contemporary clinical research.
The REACH Center’s mission involves fostering robust partnerships with accredited institutions specializing in Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) modalities—including acupuncture, East Asian Medicine, naturopathy, and physical therapy-generated interventions. Despite their widespread educational offerings, these institutions have historically lacked access to advanced research infrastructure, funding opportunities, and cutting-edge technologies essential for translational science endeavors. By providing a virtual resource hub, UC San Diego offers these institutions unprecedented access to one of the world’s leading biomedical research ecosystems. This collaboration stands to elevate CIH academic and clinical faculties to new heights of research excellence.
Central to these efforts, the REACH Center will initially support a cohort of at least 26 research scholars drawn from six distinct CIH institutions. These emerging scientists will enter a rigorous two-year career advancement program designed to cultivate expertise in translational research methodologies. Each scholar will be paired with mentors from UC San Diego and allied University of California campuses, such as UC Irvine’s Samueli Institute for Integrative Medicine, UC Davis’s Center for Integrative Medicine, UCSF’s Osher Center for Integrative Health, and UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. This mentorship network provides both scholarly guidance and access to interdisciplinary collaborative platforms, significantly enhancing research quality and impact.
Participants will receive specialized micro-credential training focused on cutting-edge research techniques designed to translate fundamental discoveries into tangible health interventions. This includes critical guidance on developing pilot studies that adhere to stringent scientific standards, preparing them for competitive grant submissions. The scholars will also gain privileged access to UC San Diego’s state-of-the-art core facilities, such as the CIT Biomarker Laboratory, researchers at the Center for Microbiome Innovation housed within the Jacobs School of Engineering, and the Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute. These resources provide the technological backbone necessary to propel whole person health research to the forefront of biomedical innovation.
Alongside career training, the REACH Center will allocate funding for 15 to 30 pilot grants annually to support burgeoning research initiatives within CIH institutions. These grants are explicitly structured to overcome barriers often encountered in integrative health research, such as limited sample sizes, insufficient statistical power, and restricted access to comprehensive clinical datasets. Leveraging University of California’s broad patient populations and technology platforms, these funded projects will aim to develop rigorous, scalable, and generalizable evidence addressing clinical efficacy and mechanisms of action across integrative modalities.
Dr. Ryan Bradley underscores the strategic importance of this NIH initiative in fostering sustained research capacity by systematically building infrastructure and faculty competencies at CIH academic centers. Simultaneously, UC San Diego anticipates reciprocal scientific benefits through enhanced collaborative research that interrogates specific biological mechanisms, compares modality effectiveness, and elucidates patient-specific responses. Such insights are critical for delineating personalized therapeutic pathways and optimizing integrative medicine’s role within broader healthcare paradigms.
Over the five-year grant tenure, the REACH Center intends to catalyze a significant expansion in the quantity and caliber of research grant submissions originating from complementary and integrative health universities. Establishing long-term collaborative frameworks will ensure retention of skilled investigators within this niche field, nurturing a thriving research ecosystem. The anticipated outcomes include the generation of high-impact, evidence-based models that inform clinical practice, guide healthcare policy, and drive innovation toward more inclusive, patient-centered care.
The process of elevating research quality will likely commence through joint grant submissions co-led by UC San Diego and CIH institutions, leveraging shared expertise and infrastructure. The inaugural cohort of REACH trainees is slated to begin their training in January 2026, with immediate opportunities available for pilot grant applications. This timeline reflects a deliberate commitment to rapidly embed translational science capacities within CIH academia, propelling these disciplines into mainstream biomedical research.
Dr. Kallenberg further emphasizes that this initiative not only bolsters external CIH institutions but also enriches UC San Diego’s own Complementary and Integrative Health faculty. The establishment of a collaborative educational and research environment fosters intellectual exchange, cross-disciplinary projects, and shared training activities. This integrative strategy positions the REACH Center as a catalyst for systemic change in how healthcare research is conceptualized, funded, and translated into clinical practice.
In summary, this unprecedented NIH-funded REACH initiative marks a critical milestone in the evolution of whole person health research. By bridging the gap between complementary and integrative health education and translational biomedical science, the program enables the development of scientifically rigorous evidence supporting holistic health interventions. The resulting innovations promise to transform clinical outcomes and health policy, underscoring the profound importance of integrating physical, emotional, social, and cultural dimensions of health within modern medicine.
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Subject of Research: Whole Person Health and Translational Science in Complementary and Integrative Health
Article Title: UC San Diego Launches REACH Center to Revolutionize Whole Person Health Research
News Publication Date: Information not provided
Web References:
– https://cih.ucsd.edu/
– https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/whole-person-health-what-it-is-and-why-its-important
– https://cih.ucsd.edu/mindfulness
– https://rheumatology.ucsd.edu/research/center-for-innovative-therapy/biomarker-laboratory/index.html
– https://cmi.ucsd.edu/
– https://actri.ucsd.edu/
Keywords: Clinical Research, Translational Medicine, Whole Person Health, Integrative Health, Complementary Medicine, Biomedical Research, Translational Science, Integrative Medicine, NIH Grant, Career Development, Pilot Studies
Tags: comprehensive well-being approachesindividualized healthcare deliveryintegrative health fundingmultidimensional patient careNCCIH grant for healthNIH funding for health researchpublic health and integrative medicinesocial emotional factors in healthtransformative healthcare initiativestranslational science in healthcareUC San Diego REACH CenterWhole Person Health research
