With US Senator Tom Harkin
John Weeks’ background 1977-1983 prior to working in integrative health and medicine included time as an aide to a Washington State Senator, community organizer, volunteer activist, issue spokesperson, political reporter and political fundraiser. His work in the integrative health and medicine realm has drawn on each of the above.
“His fingerprints are likely on every major policy and visioning statement within the integrative health movement of the last thirty years.” –Beth Clay, Former Congressional Aide, Lobbyist, Washington, DC
Proudly photographed with integrative health and medicine champion U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (2014), Weeks was honored to have a lead role in organizing a team that convened 120 stakeholders from across the integrative health and medicine field for the September 29, 2014 symposium: A Call to Action on Interactive Health and Medicine Policy, Advancing the Legacy of U.S. Senator Tom Harkin.
Sample Policy-Related Contributions
1983-1989
- Directed the community organizing, media and public campaign that is credited with successfully helping the then John Bastyr College to become the first regionally accredited college of naturopathic medicine.
1996
- Operational Issues in Incorporating Complementary and Alternative Therapies and Providers in Benefit Plans and Managed Care Organizations Writer; National Institutes of Health Office of Alternative Medicine/US Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. Presenter, author.
2001
2002
- Integrative Health Policy Consortium Fundraised the original $30,000 for start-up. Served on the founding steering committee. Re-joined the Board, 2016-present.
2005
- National Education Dialogue to Advance Integrated Healthcare: Creating Common Ground – Progress Report Co-organizer and director of the meeting; report author.
2009
- Clinicians and Educators Desk Reference on the Licensed Complementary and Alternative Healthcare Professions Managed multidisciplinary team and wrote key chapters in the first edition of this classic interprofessional education text.
2009-2011
- Position of “CAM” Professions on the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2011-2015 Strategic Plan Led interprofessional team in exchange with NCCIH leadership leading to a significant February 2011 meeting.
2011
- Competencies for Optimal Practice in Integrative Environments Managed interprofessional teams and was the primary drafter of the first version of the competencies document.
2013
- Meeting the Nation’s Primary Care Needs: Current and Prospective Roles of Doctors of Chiropractic and Naturopathic Medicine, Practitioners of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, and Direct-Entry Midwives Managed interprofessional teams and co-authored the text.
2014-2016
- Center for Optimal Integration: Project for Integrative Health and the Triple Aim Conceived and directed the development of a web-based resource on the potential convergence of integrative health and the value-based medical industry.
2016
- Prototypes of MD-Led and ND-Led Integrative Patient-Centered Medical/Health Homes 9-part report on experiences in 5 leading integrative PCMHs
Second WHO Working Group Meeting in Hong Kong, 2012
Governmental and Quasi-Governmental Engagements
1985-1989
- Managed political and media campaign for Bastyr University in its prolonged, political battle for historic regional accreditation before the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.
1993
- Panelist: Congressional Briefing managed by the Institute for Alternative Futures, on medical trends, Rayburn House Office Building
- Co-author: White Paper on Contributions of Naturopathic Physicians to Health Reform, for First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Clinton reform effort.
1995-1996
- Consultant: Seattle-King County Department of Public Health, on the first publicly funded integrated natural medicine clinic
- Presenter: Washington State Office of Insurance Commissioner, hearing on CAM-related legislation
- Presenter: US Senator Bernie Sanders-backed Vermont conference on CAM integration
1997-1998
- Co- organizer/facilitator for Washington State Office of Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn of the Clinician Work Group on the Integration of CAM
- Presenter/participant: US Health and Human Services-Bureau of Primary Health Care workshop
1999
- Presenter: Congressional briefing on CAM, Rayburn House Office Building
- Health Canada-funded symposia and conference on CAM
2001
- Panelist: White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy on coverage issues (2001)
2005
- Cited source: Institute of Medicine’s Complementary and Alternative Medicine in America
2011
- Panelist: presentation on CAM for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors
2012-present
- Alternate member: Institute of Medicine Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education
- Invited member: World Health Organization, 2nd and 4th Working Group meetings on the 2014-2023 Traditional Medicine Strategy
- Reviewer and cited participant: Institute of Medicine’s Establishing Transdisciplinary Professionalism for Improving Health Outcomes: Workshop Summary
2013
- Webinar presenter: Institute of Medicine workshop on Assessment in Health Professional Education
2017
- Invited presenter, Pan American Health Organization/WHO in development of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine strategy
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With the Integrative Health Policy Board in 2013 following two days facilitating the annual board retreat