About Us

Mission

The College of Integrative Medical Sciences (CIMS) will educate healthcare professionals who will serve the underserved. To this end the college is poised to offer academic and clinical education of doctors, pharmacists, medical herbalists, allied health professionals and natural medicine practitioners within an educational framework that integrates both orthodox and traditional medical knowledge systems.

Education at the college emphasizes development of a thorough, up-to-date, scientific understanding of the structure and function of the human body and the disease process, balanced with a profound appreciation for, and ability to activate, the unique self-healing ability inherent in every human being.

We are committed to nurturing a new generation of high quality integrative medicine practitioners, and to foster teaching and research of complementary and alternative medicine under the scrutiny of modern scientific methodology.

Our students will be prepared to serve the public by providing quality education, research and care in the science and art of health promotion, disease management and prevention based upon these principles.

 

Each doctor in Ghana cares for over 15,000 people, compared to the 400 patients for each physician in the United States.  With over 22 million inhabitants, Ghana hosts only 1,500 physicians, according to the Ghanaian Ministry of Health. The current situation, as well the high costs of scientific medicine, compels over 80% of the Ghanaian population to turn to the 25,000 practitioners of traditional herbal medicine, passed down by observation and oral instruction for centuries. While traditional medicine provides care for those in need, the field does not have adequate support or regulation. Because there are no formal training institutions, almost all herbal practitioners in Ghana lack science-based knowledge to complement their traditional practices.

Enter Dr. Mununkum-Kwaakye. Born and raised in Bonwire, a Kente cloth-weavers’ community in Ghana, he attended the School of Medical Sciences at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, followed by the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, where he then practiced medicine as a thoracic surgeon. Upon his return to Kumasi in 1998, he founded the Rural Care Network, aiming to bring affordable, accessible healthcare to families in rural Ghana. The network established community-based healthcare clinics, developed, maintained, and supported at a local level. Dr. Mununkum branched out in 2001, joining the Ministry of Health to orchestrate the National Health Insurance Scheme, which now provides Ghanaian families to purchase health care at the rate of $10 a year. The plan decreases the financial weight of healthcare, but it does not provide adequate professional infrastructure. 

Dr. Mununkum’s latest project, supported by Village Volunteers in Seattle USA, aims to ameliorate this gap in the system by training healthcare professionals and manufacturers of herbal medicines. The first of its kind, the College of Integrative Medical Science promotes a holistic and pluralistic form of healthcare that integrates western allopathic and traditional African herbal medicines. The college, with a pioneer class of 60 students and 8 lecturers, is the next step to providing accessible healthcare to Ghanaians, and, with its success, it may catalyze the development of a sustainable healthcare system in Africa.

The college brings together teachers of various disciplines – from conventional medical practitioners and pharmacists to herbal practitioners, nutritionists, psychologists, and midwives – as active participants in the students’ educational experiences. Both students and teachers profit from small class-based courses, research partnerships, and collaborative opportunities. Ghanaian citizens reap the benefits of the college’s clinical services and cutting-edge natural and conventional medical care. The school will even have its own institutional review board for ensuring the safety and ethical treatment of human subjects enrolled in clinical trials.  

Right from the beginning the college is offering professional certificate and diploma programs aimed at raising medical herbalists, proficient traditional practitioners, emergency medical practitioners, clinical laboratory scientists, herbal medicines manufacturers in the country. By 2011, the college will provide professional degree programs in Integrative Medicine and African Herbal Pharmacy: Doctor of Integrative Medicine (MID), Bachelor of Science in African Herbal Pharmacy (BSAHP), and Postgraduate Certificate in Botanical Medicine, for doctors and pharmacists.

Additionally, the college is currently finalizing a Memorandum of Understanding with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Medical School in Ghana and Temple University Medical School in the United States. The memorandum will lead to accreditation by the National Accreditation Board for degree programs in integrative medicine, nursing and midwifery, herbal pharmacy and clinical laboratory science. It will also provide faculty and student exchanges, enhancing levels of scientific contribution and supporting with teaching materials and laboratory equipment.

The high demand for medical education, as well as the fragile state of health services in Ghana, presents great opportunities and challenges for the College of Integrative Medical Science. Aware of its surroundings and its obstacles, the college commits to enhance and promote the credibility of science-based African natural medicine integrated with allopathic techniques. Through the hard work of collaborators, administrators, teachers, and students, Ghana’s College of Integrative Medical Science will evolve into a fully developed, well-resourced, respected academic health center, with a heart for every patient and an eye to national change.

 

The high demand for medical education, as well as the fragile state of health services in Ghana, presents great opportunities and challenges for the College of Integrative Medical Science. Aware of its surroundings and its obstacles, the college commits to enhance and promote the credibility of science-based African natural medicine integrated with allopathic techniques.

To this end the College adopts an educational approach that combines traditional didactic instruction with innovative, problem-based learning in a rigorous academic environment. The learning experience emphasizes academic excellence, the development of individual talents, and mastery of critical competencies.

CIMS therefore aims to:

Through the hard work of collaborators, administrators, teachers, and students, Ghana’s College of Integrative Medical Science will evolve into a fully developed, well-resourced, respected academic health center, with a heart for every patient and an eye to national change.

In pursuit of its vision and mission, CIMS dedicates itself to:

Academic Excellence: curricula which present the cutting edge of natural and conventional medicine philosophy and practices; programs which facilitate students’ developing high-level academic and/or clinical expertise; utilization of teaching methods which optimally facilitate student skill and knowledge  base development; and an educational environment which incorporates and models the principles of both conventional and natural medicine. 

 
Pioneering Research: foundational inquiry into the underlying concepts of traditional African medicine; iterative research which continuously evaluates the efficacy of therapeutic strategies and agents;   and research partnerships to deepen and broaden the types of possible inquiry.

Renowned Clinical Services: cutting edge natural and conventional medicine care; teaching which helps students model ideal clinical practice behaviors; and collaborations to provide the opportunity to explore and develop integrated care protocols and clinical practices.