In March, CIIS appointed Meg Jordan, one of the most recognized experts in the field of integrative health and wellness, as the director of its master¹s degree program in Integrative Health Studies. She begins on July 1, 2008. Current director, Arisika Razak, who is credited with getting the Integrative Health Studies program started, will become the director of CIIS' Women's Spirituality department.

Successfully combining careers in health and journalism, Meg Jordan, PhD, RN, is a clinical medical anthropologist, an award-winning health journalist, and a registered nurse specializing in behavioral health and integrative practice. As CEO of Global Health Media, she is editor and founder of American Fitness Magazine, and hosts Global TV’s Healthy Living weekly newscasts. as well as her own radio program Global Medicine Hunter. She is a former health commentator for CNN, NBC’s Today Show and KTVU in San Francisco.

Meg has long been associated with CIIS. In 1996, she was the first graduate of CIIS’ Women’s Spirituality program and served as a CIIS board trustee for seven years, as well as an alumni board president.

“We are excited to welcome Meg Jordan back to CIIS,” said President Joseph Subbiondo. “She brings a wealth of experience, expertise, and leadership in the health and wellness fields, and we expect her to make a significant contribution to the growth of CIIS’ Integrative Health Studies program.”

Meg is the author of several books, including her latest The Fitness Instinct and the forthcoming Adventures of a Global Medicine Hunter. She has been called a “health trend spotter” by USA Today and “a new breed of wellness futurists by Newsweek. As a medical anthropologist, she focuses on integrating the most valid healing traditions from around the world into biomedical settings. She has studied with curanderas in Oaxaca, ayurvedic practitioners in India, (where she was a columnist for The Hindu), Taoist and qigong healers in Nepal, and shamans in Ecuador and Peru. Her “Four Quadrant Theory” of how healing systems emerged on the planet has been presented to the Society of Medical Anthropology, and the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine. As director of integrative practice at the Health Medicine Institute, Meg conducted a groundbreaking study of healing circles comprised of practitioners from disparate traditions. As an ICU/CCU registered nurse, she helped establish the first hospital-based wellness center in Los Angeles, and also served as a hospital trustee for ValleyCare Health System, providing leadership for their first Complimentary Alternative Medicine or CAM-based wellness center. 

Meg currently sits on numerous boards, including the National Wellness Institute, and has won the prestigious Healthy American Fitness Leader Award from the White House and Jaycees. Prior to her appointment at CIIS, she was on the faculty at the Institute of Holistic Health Studies at San Francisco State University and guest lectured on wellness trends at SFSU’s College of Extended Learning, UCLA, University of British Columbia, Laney College, and other institutions. She is a sought after national speaker on cultural trends in health, integrative medicine, and wellness.