Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, has announced grants totaling $5.5 million from businessman Bernard Osher and the Bernard Osher Foundation in support of its Center for Integrative Health.

The grants — $500,000 for immediate use and a $5 million to create an endowment — are designed to align the center, which will be known as the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt University, with existing Osher Centers for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, Harvard Medical School, and at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Each Osher Center conducts research on integrative medicine and therapies and works to develop an empirical case for their application; reaches out to the larger community with an emphasis on preventive care; and establishes clinical treatment programs in which the knowledge and resources of integrative medicine can be used to directly help people and train medical students.

"This generous gift will enable Vanderbilt to play an increasingly significant role in the field of integrative medicine," said Jeff Balser, dean and vice chancellor for health affairs at Vanderbilt's school of medicine. "The gift also gives Vanderbilt the opportunity to collaborate with the foundation's other centers for integrative medicine as we seek to increase knowledge, develop new clinical programs, and train students in this emerging discipline. I want to express my appreciation to Mr. Osher and the Bernard Osher Foundation for their support and encouragement."