Graduate Certificate in Medical Herbalism
Designed for Licensed or Certified Healthcare Professionals
Now Enrolling April 2010
View the complete program brochure.
Program Overview
Every day many of your patients are consuming herbal supplements. Herbs and herbal supplements are a growing, multi-billion dollar industry that today consists primarily of consumers purchasing and using herbal products, often with a limited understanding of what they are buying and how to appropriately use them.
Tai Sophia Institute’s Graduate Certificate in Medical Herbalism provides a foundational knowledge of herbal medicine that emphasizes issues of quality, safety, and efficacy. You will learn about the most popular herbs in the U.S. market and their likely interactions with conventional pharmaceuticals. Both modern science and traditional herbal wisdom will be discussed to provide an integrated and comprehensive perspective on the use of herbs in a variety of health-care models.
Delivered by an internationally recognized faculty, the Medical Herbalism graduate certificate program will build and enhance your knowledge of herbs and give you the capacity to have an open, informative dialogue about herbs with your patients, your colleagues, and experts in the field of herbal medicine.
The nine-month Medical Herbalism program consists of four master’s-level courses offered in an executive format to accommodate working professionals. The program is designed specifically for doctors, physician’s assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, chiropractors, osteopaths, and other licensed and certified health-care professionals who seek to be better informed about the safe and appropriate use of herbal medicine. Situated just miles from the renowned Green Pharmacy Garden, Tai Sophia’s main campus offers an impressive herbal dispensary, library, and herb garden to support all of its academic programs in herbal medicine.
Program Outcomes
- Possess a practical working knowledge of the safe and appropriate use of 30 of the most popular herbs in the U.S. market.
- Contextualize herbal research findings within a broader body of knowledge including the traditional use of herbs, allowing for a balanced assessment of clinical relevance and safety concerns.
- Capacity to gather, process, and assess relevant data regarding quality, safety, and efficacy for any herbs or herbal supplements of interest.
- Understand and differentiate between the application of herbs in wellness-based and disease-based models of health care.
Program Dates
ISci 632: Foundations of Health and Wellness
April 14-18, 2010
HRB 530: Fundamentals of Herbal Medicine: Past to Present & Soil to Clinic
May 15-16, 2010
June 19-20, 2010
July 24, 2010
HRB 632: Herbal Medicine: Issues in Quality, Safety and Efficacy
July 25, 2010
August 14, 2010
September 11-12, 2010
October 16, 2010
HRB 604: Frequently Used Herbs: Understanding for the Health Professional
October 17, 2010
November 13-14, 2010
December 4-5, 2010
Tuition and Fees
Application Fee: $50
Matriculation Fee (due upon acceptance): $100
Tuition: $500 per credit for a total program cost of $6000
Financial Aid
Federal Financial Aid is available for this program. To apply for federal financial aid, complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) online at www.fafsa.ed.gov. Tai Sophia Institute's school code for completing the FAFSA is G25784. A limited number of scholarships are also available. For additional funding options, such as private or alternative education loans, please contact the Director of Financial Aid John Gay, Jr., at ext. 6628 or .
Course Descriptions
ISci 632: Foundations of Health and Wellness
This course provides a context for a wide variety of studies
relating to perspectives on wellness by introducing basic health philosophies, history of the current health-care system, proposed health-care reform legislation, balance/imbalance in health, and the investigation of how these issues apply to an informed perspective on our current health-care system. Concepts of wellness and sickness are discussed, including the role that language plays in supporting wellness. The foundations of health and wellness are further examined focusing on the knowledge of the physiologic basis for wellness practices.
HRB 530: Fundamentals of Herbal Medicine: Past to Present & Soil to Clinic
This survey course begins by looking at the history and use of herbal medicine around the world. The course continues with a more focused look at the history of herbal medicine in the United States, up to and including current practices and regulations. The second part of this course familiarizes the student with the fundamental areas of study relevant to medicinal plants, providing an overview of field botany, harvesting and drying, herbal preparations, phytochemistry, phytopharmacology, and materia medica.
HRB 632: Herbal Medicine: Issues in Quality, Safety and Efficacy
Standards of quality, safety, and efficacy are of paramount importance in all fields of health care. The phytochemical complexity and natural variation of medicinal plants provides unique challenges in developing and applying these standards in the field of herbal medicine. This course provides a research framework for understanding the key issues in herbal quality, safety, and efficacy. In addition, the student will gain practical tools for evaluating the reliability of herbal products.
HRB 604: Frequently Used Herbs: Understanding for the Health Professional
Applying the knowledge developed in previous coursework, this course investigates approximately 30 of the most frequently used herbal medicines and related supplements. Each herb will be discussed from the ethnobotanical perspective as well as the modern phytotherapeutic perspective, providing a contextual understanding of usage by the general public. Available in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro data also will be reviewed to evaluate the therapeutic activity of the covered herbs. Topics such as quality control, pharmacology, traditional use, clinical trials, dosage range, interactions, and safety parameters will provide an overview of the covered herbs. In addition to addressing the most commonly used medicinal plants, the course will provide the student with the skills to effectively research herbs not coveredin the class.
Faculty
Jillian Borchard, M.S., RH(AHG)
Jerry Cott, Ph.D.
Robert Duggan, M.A., M.Ac. (UK), Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM)
James Duke, Ph.D.
Jim Gordon, M.D., FACP
Leena Hilakivi-Clarke, Ph.D.
Paige Lescure, M.S., J.D., LL.M.
Simon Mills, M.A., FNIMH, MCPP
Gerard Mullin, M.D., M.S., CNSP
Andrew Pengelly, Ph.D., RH (AHG), FNHAA
Rebecca Snow, M.S., LDN, RH (AHG), CNS
James Snow, RH (AHG)
Kevin Spelman, Ph.D., RH (AHG), MCPP
To learn more about this dynamic and life-changing program, contact the Office of Graduate Admissions at admissions@tai.edu or 410-888-9048 ext. 6647.