Restoring the Balance Between Earth and Health

The Nature & Medicine Symposium brings together a diverse group of people working at the intersection of nature and medicine to share experiences and resources so that together we can create a more sustainable and healthier future. Our goal is to raise awareness about the relationship between nature and health and foster a more widespread understanding of the ecological dimensions of medicine.          

People have always been aware of the relationship between health and nature. Indigenous cultures contextualized health within their natural environments and developed a wide range of healing practices using the resources that they found in nature. In ancient Greece, physicians believed in the healing power of nature or vis medicatrix naturae, which was considered one of the guiding principles of Hippocratic Medicine.

But somewhere along the way, we started to think of ourselves as not being part of nature. Now, we live in a world in which climate change represents the biggest threat to global health and the impact of COVID-19 is a call to mend or broken relationship with nature.

We welcome health professionals, educators, researchers, and students to participate, free of charge, in this two-day event focused on reimagining the role of health professionals in addressing the global environmental crisis.