Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Eye of newt, and toe of frog…

More pseudoscientific med school fluff

This time it’s the University of Manitoba medical school. According to this report from cbc.ca the school’s alternative medicine program “encourages future doctors to find ways to combine old medical philosophies with modern knowledge.” The curriculum, designed for second year students, features acupuncture, yoga, homeopathy and chiropractic. Students “sip ginseng tea while handling bags of dried gecko lizards and jars of toad droppings.”

Dr. Greg Chernish heads the program. “Chernish says combining the benefits of ancient medicine with modern science provides the best care for patients – a concept that surprised student Heather Nowosad. ‘The integration part was surprising for me, because I've always had this belief that it's sort of like people believe in one or the other,’ said Nowosad, who plans to become a family physician.” Don’t feel bad, Heather. Abraham Flexner had that belief too.

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