Researcher Profile

The University of Arizona's Department of Integrative Medicine launched a study of Johrei, a spiritual bio-energy healing practice originated in Japan. The university received a grant from the Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant provides funds for researching various alternative healing therapies, including Johrei.

The first part of the study will document the effects of Johrei on patients recovering from cardiac bypass surgery lead by Dr. Allan J. Hamilton, a Harvard-trained neurosurgeon.

The Johrei Institute - Non-invasive energy healing research institute

	Dr. Gary E. Schwartz, Ph. D. (520) 621-5497 Professor of Psychology gschwart@u.arizona.edu Dr. Gary E. Schwarts, Ph.D. is a professor of psychology and head of the Human Energy Systems Laboratory at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Dr. Schwarts submitted a proposal in November 2000 to conduct research on "energy medicine" as a healing technique. The proposal called for establishing a Center for Frontier Medicine in Bio-field Science. Two of the proposed projects involve research into the effectiveness of Johrei. Funding for the first project, which is approximately $300,000 a year for three years, focuses on the effectiveness of Johrei in reducing pain, reducing complications as a result of surgery, and speeding the rate of wound healing on patients having heart bypass surgery at the University Medical Center. A second study will measure changes in brain wave patterns and heart rhythms of pairs of Johrei members as they give and receive Johrei. Specialties, Board Certifications & Awards Dr. Schwarts received his doctorate from Harvard University. He served as a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Yale University, director of the Yale Psychophysiology Center, and co-director of the Yale Behavioral Medicine Clinic. He has published more than four hundred scientific papers, edited eleven academic books, and is the co-author, with Linda G. Russek, Ph.D., of The Living Energy Universe. The University of Arizona Department of Psychology
	Dr. Allan J. Hamilton, MD (520) 626-4409 Chairman, University of Arizona Dept. of Surgery louanne@u.arizona.edu Dr. Hamilton, a Harvard-trained neurosurgeon, is the principal investigator for the clinical study examining the effects of prayer on patiients recovering from cardiac bypass surgery. He says "Our project is designed to determine if Johrei has effects that can be documented scientifically." "This is the first randomized, double-blind clinical trial to evaluate the potential effects of biofield practices on recovery from surgery." Specialties, Board Certifications & Awards American Board of Neurological Surgery Dr. Hamilton is a recipient of several international awards for his groundbreaking work in the area of minimally invasive stereotactic neurosurgery of the spine. He treated the first spinal radiosurgery patient in the world. Among many innovations, he developed techniques for shielding the spinal cord from excessive radiation during stereotactic radiosurgery. He also invented a device for using laser guidance systems to aim beams of radiation at spinal cord tumors without damaging the spinal cord. The University of Arizona Department of Surgery
	Dr. Lewis E. Mehl-Madrona MD Ph. D. Coordinator, U of A College of Medicine Dr. Mehl-Madrona is a director and practitioner core for the Center for Frontier Medicine in Biofield Science, University of Arizona. He is coordinating the study of Johrei healing upon recovery from coronary artery bypass surgery for the Center. Specialties, Board Certifications & Awards American Board of Family Practice with added qualifications in geriatrics American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona holds an M.D. from Stanford University and has been a practicing doctor for over 20 years. Dr. Mehl-Madrona is affiliated with the Native American Research and Training Center at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson. He is a family physician, geriatrician, psychiatrist, and psychologist, and has worked many hours in rural emergency rooms. He also teaches Mind-Body Medicine with Dr. Andrew Weil's program in Integrative Medicine.
	Dr. Ronnie Fass, MD Associate Professor of Medicine at the University Ronnie Fass, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Director of the GI Motility Laboratory at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center and head of The Neuro-Enteric Clinical Research Group. Dr. Fass earned his medical degree at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva, Israel and completed a one-year internship at Tel-Aviv University. He later moved to the USA and did his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, where he later became a Chief Resident. He then completed a fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of California in Los Angeles where he focused on GI motility and functional bowel disorders under the mentorship of Emeran Mayer, MD. He supplemented his GI motility at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN under the mentorship of Michael Camilleri, MD. Dr. Fass is a member of several professional organizations, including the American College of Gastroenterology, the American Gastrointestinal Association and the American Motility Society. He is also involved with national committees that include the Publication Committee of the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), the Publication Committee of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), the Annual Scientific Program Committee € Sub-chair of the Esophagus sub-section of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Dr. Fass is also chair of the American College of Gastroenterology Practice Parameter Committee and a member of the Board of Directors of the American College of Gastroenterology Institute for Clinical Research and Education. Dr. Fass is the recipient of the American Gastroenterological Association/Janssen Award for Digestive Sciences in Clinical or Basic Research and the Department of Veteran Affairs, Investigator of the Year award (2004). A frequent lecturer and presenter, Dr. Fass is a reviewer for more than 40 journals and has published more than 250 abstracts, editorials, letters and articles in journals such as Gastroenterology, Gut, American Family Physician, American Journal of Gastroenterology and Archives of Internal Medicine.