"If only cancer and other serious illness were easily cured with a single therapy. But the magic bullet approach to treating disease is generally more myth than fact. Truly effective treatment requires innovative thinking and a multi-faceted approach. The basic reason is that illness remains quite complex. In the case of cancer, the tumor itself is only half the problem. Conditions surrounding the tumor and its environment must be changed. Making such changes in a biologically specific and meaningful manner is an essential aspect of effective treatment. For this reason, we modify the biochemical terrain, while focusing on the whole person, not simply the disease.

"We now know that the treatment efficacy of conventional medicines can be enhanced when used in combination with supportive therapies that include nutritional pharmacology, botanical medicine, psychosocial support and improved physical conditioning. Research in this important area of medicine is currently on the rise. Major medical journals are demonstrating important possibilities when conventional treatments are combined with complementary strategies.

"Our center has been a leader in advancing the integrative treatment of cancer and other disease. We continue to explore how best to care for the physiological, nutritional, psychosocial and emotional needs of our patients as well as their disease. Human lives depend on it."

Keith Block, M.D., is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Medicine. After completing a residency in Internal Medicine at Illinois Masonic Medical Center, he undertook post-graduate training in nutritional oncology and enteral and parenteral nutrition. Among his many academic and national appointments are the following:

Academic Appointments:

Clinical Assistant Professor, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago

Editor in Chief, Integrative Cancer Therapies (A Sage Publications Journal)

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pharmacognosy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, University of Illinois at Chicago

Research Assistant Professor, Department of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Associated Health Professions, University of Illinois at Chicago

Clinical Instructor at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago

Member, Committee on Continuing Medical Education, Department of Continuing Medical Education, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago

Medical Preceptor. University of Illinois College of Pharmacy

Medical Preceptor. University of Illinois College of Medicine

Faculty Member, Functional Foods for Health Program; a joint program of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Urbana-Champaign

National Appointments:

Facilitator, NCI's POMES (Practice Outcomes Monitoring and Evaluation System) Project, and Medical/Research Consultant to the Office of Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Washington, D.C.

Member, Advisory Panel for Alternative and Adjunctive Cancer Therapy, Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C.

Medical Consultant on Nutritional-Oncology Research for the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C.

Consultant to the Congress of the United States; Health and Science Policy Issues, Washington, D.C.

Medical Director for the National Foundation for Alternative Medicine.

Member, Advisory Group and Research Team. The University of Texas-Houston, Health Science Center, School of Public Health, an alternative medicine research center for the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C.

In addition, Dr. Block is a member of a number of professional organizations, including the American Medical Association, Illinois State Medical Society, Chicago Medical Society, American Cancer Society, American Academy of Family Physicians, Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, American Society for Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition, American Society of Contemporary Medicine and Surgery and The Chemotherapy Foundation.

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