Institute For Traditional Medicine
Dharmananda established ITM as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization in 1979, incorporated it in 1983 in Santa Cruz, California. He moved it to its current location in 1988. It has been a significant support to Chinese medicine in the United States, and has moved to support a variety of other indigenous medicines including Ayurveda, Latin American indigenous medicines, Tibetan medicine and Eastern European traditional medicine. ITM has a mission to enrich the lives of people seeking traditional medicine knowledge and services by clarifying the nature of traditional medicine and demonstrating how it can be utilized in the modern setting.
Part of ITM's activity involves the training of practitioners and charitable administration of Chinese medicine. ITM operates two clinical facilities, the charitable Immune Enhancement Project (IEP) and the multimodal An Hao Natural Health Care Clinic which demonstrates a model for integrative health care by combining naturopathic medicine, chiropractic, acupuncture, shiatsu, Chinese herbs, and modern medicine. IEP is a low cost treatment center providing acupuncture, herb therapies, and shiatsu primarily for patients with serious ailments such as cancer and HIV. The clinics are also training centers for acupuncturists from schools in the Portland area, especially the National College of Natural Medicine.
ITM sponsors clinics or donates materials where people are in need. One project is funding of the Drepung Gomang Monastery clinic run by Tibetan monks in exile in Mundgod, south India. The clinic is run by a Tibetan doctor in the refugee camp. ITM has aided Chinese, Indian, Tibetan, Native American, Central and South American clinics that represent potential reservoirs of traditional medicine culture and resources. Herbs have been donated to Honduras, Guatemala, East Europe, Sri Lanka, India, and New Orleans to provide traditional Chinese health care relief after disasters or to areas in need. ITM has funded the International Trust of Traditional Medicine in India.
In addition to running clinics, Dharmananda has collected a large library of books and journals involved with traditional medicine and supports a variety of research translations on traditional herbal medicine. Dr. Fu Kezhi in Harbin, China provides ongoing translations of Chinese medicinal research, much of which is disseminated through the START Group by subscription to practitioners of Oriental Medicine.
Read more about this topic: Subhuti Dharmananda
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