Dr. Stephen Brewer was supposed to wrap up his fellowship with Dr. Andrew Weill and the University of Arizona this summer.

        But he's happy to report that the fellowship on integrative medicine will be extended through at least the fall.

Brewer

        “It's just been great,” he says.

        Dr. Brewer, the director of TriHealth's integrative medicine program, is one of 40 physicians from around the world enrolled in a distance learning program with the University of Arizona's Program in Integrative Medicine.

        Dr. Weill, the author of Eating Well for Optimum Health (Quill; $14) and 8 Weeks to Optimum Health (Fawcett; $13.95), along with the newly released The Healthy Kitchen(Knopf; $24.95) founded the program in 1994.

        The fellowship focuses on techniques for melding traditional Western medicine with alternative and complementary therapies, including hypnosis, herbals and acupuncture.

        As part of the fellowship, Dr. Brewer recently became certified in guided imagery, a kind of self-hypnosis technique popular for managing pain and easing stress.

        “The whole basis of guided imagery is that you yourself know how to cure your own problem and in the hypnotized state, you know how to work it out,” Dr. Brewer says.

        He's also focusing more on functional medicine, a concept focusing on improving the function of bodily systems impaired by chronic stress and other factors that affect the metabolism.

        “It kind of speaks to me because it really looks at chronic illness like chronic fatigue syndrome and chronic stress syndrome and the thyroid diseases,” he says.

Works in progress
1883 a true frontier for PBS families
DAUGHERTY: Everyday
Her avocation is collecting career-oriented Barbies
KENDRICK: Alive and well
Laying his illness on the line
TriHealth doctor gets more time to study alternatives
Carnegie celebrates centennial, renovation
Delhi Flower wins show's top prize
DEMALINE: The arts
'King' revisits dysfunctional family
MCGURK: Film notes
Miami draws Marsalis
MARTIN: Foodstuff
Serve it this week: Dill
Trot to Parker's or Turfway for Derby dining
Get to it