University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine launches Noetic Medicine Initiative to help humanize healthcare

Can a doctor's words influence recovery? New initiative says yes.

TUCSON, Ariz., May. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Noetic Medicine Initiative has launched with backing from integrative medicine pioneer Andrew Weil, MD. The initiative combines research, clinician training, and public education focused on how communication and mental state influence health outcomes.

The Noetic Medicine Initiative is a partnership between the University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine and Steve Bierman, MD, an emergency and family medicine physician specializing in noetic medicine. In addition to research, the initiative offers online training programs designed to help healthcare professionals improve patient communication and support healing-centered care. 

"Noetic medicine teaches doctors and caregivers that words can harm or heal, and so we need to learn how and what to say when delivering accurate and honest information to our patients," said Bierman. 

"I have always felt that the neglect of mind-body connection is one of the great limitations of conventional medicine," said Weil, founder of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. "I am very pleased that we are creating a Noetic Medicine Initiative."

The initiative's peer-reviewed article, Placebo and the law of identification, was published in Frontiers in Psychology. The paper examines weaknesses in current definitions of placebo and nocebo and proposes clinical studies to observe how practitioners' words and body language affect patient health outcomes.

First training program now available

The Noetic Medicine Initiative has launched The Marvels of Mind Medicine: The Impact of Ideas on Health & Healing, a 15.25-hour online course now available on demand for healthcare professionals. The program teaches physicians, nurses, and other caregivers to avoid inadvertent harmful communication patterns that can negatively impact patient outcomes.

Course content includes proper techniques for delivering difficult diagnoses, presurgical hypnosis, painless injection methods, informed consent communication, and understanding how mental states influence healing. The on-demand course is available to medical, osteopathic, nursing, and allied health professionals at all career stages.

Healthcare professionals, caregivers, and interested learners can register at https://awcim.arizona.edu/education/online_courses/noetic_medicine.html.

Use promo code MINDMED30 for 30 percent off course registration.

The Noetic Medicine Initiative's advisory board includes Ann Marie Chiasson, director of education at the University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine; Wayne Jonas, president of the Healing Works Foundation; and Stephen Dahmer, director of the University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine.

About Noetic Medicine Initiative

Founded in 2025 with support from the University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, the Noetic Medicine Initiative is dedicated to humanizing health care by scientifically affirming that mind matters. Through research, health care worker training, and public outreach, the initiative demonstrates that practitioners' words and patients' mental states influence health outcomes. 

Contact: Nic Dahl, Director of Communications University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, [email protected]

SOURCE University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine