The Bravewell Collaborative was a community of leading philanthropists who worked together to transform our health care system and improve the health of the American public through the advancement of integrative medicine.
Bravewell began in 2002, when a small group of philanthropists joined in conversation with prominent physicians in the field of integrative medicine to discuss potential solutions to the growing health care crisis. The goal of the Collaborative was to fund strategic programs which could accomplish more than individual philanthropists working alone, and to help the field of integrative medicine further its work in providing some of the answers to our health care system’s mounting problems. Following that meeting, The Bravewell Collaborative established itself as an operating foundation and began to fund initiatives that supported broad systems change.
BraveNet was one of the major strategic initiatives of the Collaborative. Several of the other important initiatives include:
The Bravewell Clinical Network
In 2003, to help develop effective clinical models for the delivery of integrative health care, The Bravewell Collaborative established a network of leading integrative medicine centers. Bravewell assisted Clinical Network members in building the capacity to serve patients, developing successful models of care, and improving financial viability. The progress of these centers was documented in the 2007 publication of Best Practices in Integrative Medicine: A Report from the Bravewell Clinical Network.
Mapping the Field of Integrative Medicine
In 2012 Bravewell sponsored a convening of integrative medicine centers around the country in an effort to support and map the clinical delivery of integrative medicine. This led to the report entitled Integrative Medicine in America: How Integrative Medicine Is Being Practiced in Clinical Centers Across the United States, which provided current data on the patient populations and health conditions most commonly treated with integrative strategies.
The Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health (formerly known as the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine)
With Bravewell’s financial support, the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health has grown from its four founding members to a strong organization of over sixty member schools and health systems. This network of clinical centers connected with leading medical universities in the United States and Canada is helping to transform patient care, health professional education, and research in integrative medicine and health. The BraveNet Executive Committee maintains a close and collaborative relationship with the Research Working Group of the Consortium. For more information on the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health visit here