Specialty Care: Clinical Programs

UCLA Health Center for East West Medicine (CEWM): Consultative Clinical Specialty

The UCLA Center for East-West Medicine began as a subspecialty consultative clinic in 1993 and has since become known throughout the UCLA Health system for its patient-centered approach utilizing therapeutic practices from both the Western medical model and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Patients throughout the spectrum of disease often benefit from the combination approach, and the center also has become known as the clinic of last resort for patients whose conditions are resistant to the best of modern Western medicine. Patients in consultative care are empowered to take part in their healing process through patient-centered education, focusing on self-care techniques, a home exercise program, and integrative Chinese nutrition. Currently, there are four UCLA Health locations offering East-West medicine consultative care: Santa Monica, Westlake Village, Palos Verdes, and Torrance.

Providers: Kakit Hui, MD, FACP; Malcolm Taw, MD, FACP; Lawrence Taw, MD, FACP; Andrew Shubov, MD; Katie Hu, MD; Grant Chu, MD, MS;  Annie Zhang, MD; Alan Chu, MD; Payam Bokhoor, MD, Ricky Chang, MD, MS, Calvin Fong, MD, Megan Jolicoeur, DO, Qiuxue Tracey Tan, MD and Sara G. Ptasnik, MD

Locations: Santa Monica, Westlake Village, Torrance
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://uclahealth.org/cewm/

UCLA Health Integrative Diabetes and Endocrinology Care

Rashmi Mullur, M.D., board-certified in endocrinology and integrative medicine, leads a 90-minute group clinic where patients learn about integrative approaches to managing and coping with diabetes. The session focuses on the role of stress in blood sugar management and reviews the common dietary approaches, supplements, and mind-body techniques that have been proven to be effective in diabetes care. Each participant undergoes an assessment of their diabetes-related distress and leaves with an individualized action plan, including yoga and mindfulness practices that can be done at home. Dr. Mullur also sees patients for individualized counseling on integrative approaches for diabetes care, review and management of herb and supplement use, as well as consultation for the integrative management of endocrine disorders, including thyroid and adrenal diseases.

Website: Integrative Medicine & Diabetes Care - Diabetes | UCLA Health

UCLA Integrative Medicine in Rheumatology

The UCLA Integrative Medicine in Rheumatology program empowers patients to take charge of their lives for optimum health. Through educational seminars, patients can learn about new perspectives on the role of central pain syndrome in rheumatologic disorders, including primary and secondary fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, connective tissue disorders, and rheumatoid arthritis. Nutrition seminars also are offered, in collaboration with the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine (CEWM) and UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. These seminars provide updates on the emerging field of integrative rheumatology and the impact of vitamin D, exercise, meditation, and sleep on immune system function, with implications for health and illness. Educational seminars are offered, including, “Integrative Rheumatology: Engaging, empowering and educating patients to take charge for optimum health,” and nutrition seminars in collaboration with the CEWM and the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition.

Provider: Mihaela B. Taylor, MD

UCLA Health Simms-Mann Center for Integrative Oncology

Built on a foundation of academic, evidence-based research and whole-person care, the Simms/Mann-UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology has become a national model of integrative oncology care and training.  The center’s highly trained multidisciplinary staff of oncology social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, nutritionist, chaplain, and others provides essential psychosocial support to patients and their families, as well as guidance in navigating the complex medical system throughout the entire cancer trajectory to support your wellbeing in mind, body and spirit.

The Center offers a number of comprehensive programs with in person care and telehealth, to serve all patients receiving oncology care at UCLA, across the cancer continuum and across all of the community oncology practices. We care for you: mind, body and spirit:

• Patient/Family Support–a wide range of supportive care options for patients and loved ones, including individual and family meetings to cope with cancer challenges:

               - improve psychological adjustment from diagnosis to bereavement

              - develop and improve adaptive coping skills

              - improve family communications related to cancer and assist parents in discussions with minor children (limited child consultations)

              - facilitate communication with medical team

• Groups/ Workshop Support–designed to build supportive communities and facilitate participation in mindful meditation, qigong, art therapy, spiritual care, and more to improve coping skills.
• Spiritual Care- individual and group meetings to support individuals access their individual sources of meaning and spiritual health through the cancer journey
• Psychiatry Support–oncology-specific consultation/care from UCLA psychiatrists
• Nutrition Counseling–offered to patients and those at risk of cancer, this oncology specific consultation from our registered dietician provides evidence-based recommendations for nutrition through cancer treatment and beyond
• Simms/Mann Center Website – educational blogs, articles, and cancer-specific resources for the community

Most services are provided at no cost to patients. The center has served the Greater Los Angeles community since 1994 and is funded through philanthropic support from the Simms/Mann Family Foundation and UCLA Health, along with grants and donations of any amount.

Provider: Aashini Master, DO 

Email:  [email protected]
Website: Simms/Mann UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology

UCLA Health Greet the Day Program

Greet the Day therapists provide comfort-oriented hand and foot massages to patients while they are receiving treatment at the UCLA Bowyer Oncology Infusion Center. Participants in a recent study at an academic outpatient, comprehensive cancer center reported a statistically significant reduction in pain, fatigue, nausea, and anxiety after receiving therapeutic massage.

Phone Number: (310) 267-8223

UCLA Center for Human Nutrition

For more than two decades, the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition has been at the forefront of research, patient care, and education. Because nutrition is a major pillar of health, the Center for Human Nutrition’s main approach to clinical care and research is developing personalized nutrition plans to enhance health. Malnutrition from over or under nourishment is the most prominent nutritional disorder affecting a person’s risk for more than 100 diseases.

Currently, two-thirds of the United States population and over half of the world population are either overweight or obese. The UCLA Risk Factor Obesity Program and the UCLA Clinical Nutrition Clinic are multidisciplinary clinics within the center whose dieticians, physicians, and psychologists utilize a personalized approach to help patients lose weight. The UCLA Center for Human Nutrition has helped thousands of patients achieve their health and weight loss goals, as well as manage their medical conditions through nutrition and lifestyle modification. In addition, the center takes pride in providing the latest nutritional guidance for transplant patients, and patients with cancer and many other chronic diseases.

The Nutrition Oncology program allows faculty from the center to work with patients who are receiving care from medical, surgical and radiation oncology. The program, which originally started in Westwood, has expanded to the Santa Monica Oncology Clinic.  We have launched a new perioperative program for head & neck patients with goal of decreasing perioperative morbidities and mortality; improving quality of life via achieving nutrition goal without tube feeding.

Precision Nutrition is a new field within Nutrition Science with the goal of integrating information from nutrient and food analysis, genetics, epigenetics, microbiome, and metabolomics for the ultimate purpose of developing innovative approaches to providing personalized nutrition prescriptions and advancing research in human nutrition. UCLA is leading the way in the science of precision nutrition and translating research from bench to the clinic to provide patients services beyond one-size-fits-all diet and physical activity plans. 

Website: uclahealth.org/clinicalnutrition

UCLA Health Integrative Digestive Health and Wellness

Under the leadership of Drs. Eric Esrailian and Lin Chang in the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases, UCLA is at the forefront of a new frontier in the way patients with gastrointestinal conditions are treated — one that recognizes the importance of not exclusively treating the digestive tract, but looking at the whole person. The Integrative Digestive Health and Wellness Program within the Melvin and Bren Simon Digestive Diseases Center has a dedicated team of experts who work collaboratively to improve overall health and enhance quality of life. In addition to the gastroenterologist, other team members include a GI nurse practitioner with long-standing expertise in the brain-gut axis and mind body approaches such as mindfulness, registered dietitians with expertise in digestive health, and GI psychologists who specialize in the use of evidence-based psychological treatments, such as gut-directed cognitive behavioral therapy, gut-directed hypnosis, and acceptance and commitment therapy to improve GI symptoms and psychological adjustment. Our program’s evidenced-based integrative health approaches provide patient empowerment and health enhancement to improve symptom management and the ability to cope with illness and thrive. By working together through team-based care, our program creates personalized care plans to meet each patient’s needs grounded in the latest knowledge about digestive health, the brain-gut connection, and strategies for enhancing health. We aim to achieve the best possible outcomes for our patients’ digestive health and overall well-being.

Website: uclahealth.org/gastro/gi-wellness

UCLA Brain Wellness Consultation Service

Worried about the wellness of your brain? Potentially concerning symptoms include changes in memory, attention, concentration, and abilities to perform various mental tasks; difficulty retrieving the right words; problems with executive functions, such as setting priorities and maintaining focused attention; and increased trouble multitasking, following instructions, or managing daily activities. Early detection of changes in cerebral function can lead to earlier, more-effective treatment. The Brain Wellness Consultation service provides, when appropriate, a complete medical history, physical and neurological examination, neuropsychological testing, blood labs, and brain imaging for patients with worrisome symptoms, along with an integrated evaluation encompassing all components of this assessment. The consultation service closely coordinates care with other clinical services available at UCLA Health, including East-West Medicine, geriatrics, internal medicine, neurology, neuropsychology, psychiatry, nuclear medicine, and radiology. This range of services make possible accurate identification and measurement of alterations in brain chemistry, structure, and function, sometimes occurring even years before patients are otherwise diagnosable with conditions affecting their cerebral function, such as early Alzheimer’s-type changes and other neurodegenerative processes, those occurring as a result of recent head trauma or long after cancer therapy, or autoimmune diseases, which may have resulted in variable degrees and types of brain impairment. The service then guides patients to the most effective treatments for their specific conditions at a time when it will most benefit them.  For questions about this service, or to request an appointment, call (310) 794-5067, ext. 2.

Email: [email protected]

UCLA Longevity Center

The UCLA Longevity Center focuses on helping people live better longer. The center’s innovative memory and brain health programs encourage lifelong learning, a vital component of longevity, in community members of all ages and are available across 14 states and internationally. Longevity Center programs are flexible to fit the populations’ needs, from those with age-related memory concerns to mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.

Email: [email protected]
Website: Semel Institute: UCLA Longevity Center

UCLA Health Sleep Disorders Center

The faculty members of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center are a multidisciplinary group actively involved in clinical care, as well as basic science and clinical research, aimed at identifying and treating sleep disorders in children and adults. As sleep disorders negatively impact overall health and can contribute to other health problems, the center also works closely with community-based UCLA physicians and practices to promote healthy sleep, and to identify and expedite treatment for sleep disorders.

Website: uclahealth.org/sleepcenter

UCLA Integrative Psychiatry Clinic

Integrative psychiatry is an integrative, patient-focused approach to health and wellness that aims to improve well-being of the whole person by emphasizing mind-body-spirit connections. This clinic uses integrative and complementary therapies for psychiatric disorders.  We can provide strength-based assessment of resilience and spirituality, and help patients select complementary mind-body and other therapies of their choice to promote wellness and resilience, patient engagement, and to improve overall psychiatric outcomes.  

Contact: [email protected]

Providers: Helen Lavretsky, MD, MS & Sarah Nguyen, MD

Website: Semel Institute: UCLA Integrative Psychiatry Clinic

UCLA Health Rape Treatment Center Integrative Approaches

The Rape Treatment Center provides comprehensive treatment for sexual assault victims and their families, including 24-hour emergency medical care, forensic examinations and crisis counseling. Our medical clinic is dedicated exclusively to sexual assault victim care 24 hours a day. It is located within the hospital, in a private, safe, therapeutic setting. The medical clinic is staffed by highly trained professionals with specialized expertise in the medical, forensic and psychological aspects of victim care.

Website: uclahealth.org/rtc

UCLA Health Operation Mend Integrative Approaches

Operation Mend heals our nation's post 9/11 military, veterans, and family members by providing innovative, comprehensive, world-class, care for the physical and psychological wounds of war.

Website: https://uclahealth.org/programs/operationmend

UCLA Health Medicine in Geriatrics

Dr. Meena Makhijani is a Board Certified Integrative Medicine physician specializing in Geriatrics. She sees patients 65 years and up for primary care as well as for consultations on Geriatric Syndromes. She utilizes a dynamic patient-based approach choosing from Integrative Medicine, the Indian-orginated healing techniques of Ayurveda, classical Osteopathic Manipulative techniques, and yogic meditation practice to help patients achieve their health and life goals.

UCLA Health Integrative Medicine in Cardiology

The UCLA Health Women’s Cardiovascular Center offers specialized care for women with heart disease. Women often present with different heart disease symptoms than men, so it’s important to provide targeted, personalized care. Our specialists take a holistic approach to cardiovascular disease in women, and may work on lifestyle changes and heart disease prevention or coordinate a heart disease treatment plan. 

UCLA Health Integrative Medicine in Urogynecology

The UCLA Center for Women’s Pelvic Health in the Departments of Urology and Obstetrics & Gynecology is excited to be developing Integrative Medicine in Urogynecology. Program components will include aspects of Integrative Medicine related to research in addition to clinical care. Lynn Stothers, MD., who recently joined the UCLA faculty, has advanced training in Integrative Medicine and will broaden the research and clinical aspects of the program. She joins other members of the Urology and Gynecology teams in bringing Integrative Medicine to both surgical and nonsurgical aspects of care. Appointments: 310-794-7700. 

UCLA Health Integrative Medicine in Gynecology-Oncology, Survivorship Yoga

The weekly gynecologic oncology survivorship yoga and meditation class is intended to provide an opportunity for survivors to connect with each other as well as improve their overall health and well-being.  Class focuses on specific asanas, pranayamas and restorative techniques to decrease treatment related side effects and improve menopausal symptoms.  Class is taught by gynecologic oncology PA-C and certified yoga and Pilates instructor, Rachel Frankenthal.