Coalition Kickoff for Whole Person Health

The inaugural stakeholder meeting of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) Coalition for Whole Person Health took place at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Natcher Center on November 1, 2024. NCCIH hosted this first meeting of the Coalition, which was attended by representatives from 60 member organizations with an interest in whole person health. 

My colleagues and I provided an overview of our work at NCCIH focused on whole person health and our collaborations across NIH, including with the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and with other Federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). We shared updates on our efforts to strengthen the research infrastructure for whole person health through different initiatives, including applications currently being reviewed for a funding opportunity on whole person research and the Research Across Complementary and Integrative Health (REACH) Institutions Virtual Resource Centers. 

I appreciated the opportunity to explore why advancing whole person health is so important right now and how doing so will help us understand how our bodies and minds respond to stressors or challenges to our health. More research in these areas will unlock critical understanding about approaches that can promote our ability to resist, recover, adapt, or grow from challenges (resilience) and mechanisms for health restoration following a challenge (salutogenesis). 

During the Coalition meeting, participants posed interesting questions about how the community of stakeholders can advance whole person health in the larger health ecosystem. Some of the questions that came up were foundational, like understanding the relationship between the terms “whole person health” and “whole health.” As more organizations join the discussion on whole person health, it was a welcome opportunity to take a step back and explore the different contexts and nuances in how the terms are used. 

In our work at NCCIH, the term “whole person health” represents our focus on the health of the whole person, integrating across body systems and spanning the continuum between less healthy and healthier states. In parallel, the term “whole health”—brought to prominence by the VA—describes an approach to health care delivery that recognizes the aspects of health and well-being that are most important to the patient. Working toward whole health orients health care systems and public health toward proactively addressing interrelated aspects of health, rather than treating diseases one at a time in a reactive fashion.

In parsing these definitions, the important takeaway is that these concepts complement one another. In better understanding whole person health, the research community is positioned to inform health system approaches that meaningfully contribute to moving individuals towards better health. 

Discussions like these are exciting because they represent important progress. As the community of stakeholders who recognize the importance of whole person health continues to grow, our efforts will be well served by a common language and a shared understanding of terms. I look forward to exploring these and other definitions that frame our work at the 2025 International Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health in March. 

In the meantime, the Coalition for Whole Person Health has set the stage for broader discussions aimed at making whole person health the framework for new frontiers in research. You can read more about the inaugural Coalition meeting in this summary. Stay tuned as we continue the conversation with stakeholders who support whole person health.