The Andrews University Lifestyle Medicine Clinic & Training Center opened on Monday, April 25, with the aim to prevent and treat chronic diseases. Its lifestyle medicine practitioners, wellness coaches, primary care physicians, and student interns will work together to administer lifestyle interventions, patient assessments, and other related services.

“Andrews’ philosophy of education is grounded in a holistic approach that emphasizes the whole person for the whole duration of their lifespan. At Andrews, we care about the body, mind, and spirit. And the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic & Training Center calls us back to the fundamentals of our philosophy,” says Christon Arthur, PhD, provost.

The clinic was made possible through a $97,000 grant awarded in October 2021 by the Ardmore Institute of Health, an organization dedicated to increasing the availability of lifestyle medicine projects through grant-driven efforts.

Padma Tadi Uppala, PhD, MPH, professor and chair of the Andrews University School of Population Health, Nutrition & Wellness, will also serve as director of the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic & Training Center. Uppala holds a degree in Lifestyle Medicine from Loma Linda University and, with a team of collaborators, applied for the competitive grant that secured funding for the clinic.

The center, located in the Andreasen Center for Wellness, is integrated with Andrews University wellness initiatives. It includes an exercise and health assessments laboratory and a counseling center for dietary and other non-drug modalities. Plans are underway to have branches of the clinic in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

Uppala says creation of the clinic was inspired by a conversation with John Kelly, MD, MPH, who received the American Medical Association’s Excellence in Medicine Award in 2004 for his leadership as founding president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM). Kelly shared from a historical church document that quoted Ellen White: “In due course of time, a sanitarium will be erected at Berrien Springs, not to compete with any other sanitarium, but to represent our work in clear, straight lines, and to give the students an opportunity of learning how to care for the sick” (Letter to Dr. David Paulson, 1902).

Uppala believes that as the clinic’s services are extended to Berrien County residents, it will not only be a source of physical healing but a place for spiritual healing in the end times as well.

“There is a need for the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic at Andrews University, whose founding principles are to ‘make man whole,’ to further the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus Christ, and to spread the Adventist health message,” states Uppala.

In addition, the School of Population Health, Nutrition & Wellness is preparing to offer a graduate Culinary Medicine Certificate that will take place fully online. The academic certificate program begins this fall.

For more information, contact Padma P. Tadi Uppala at [email protected].