NIH director tours AWSOM, applauds focus on whole health

Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, director of the National Institutes of Health, was in Bentonville on Tuesday (Oct. 22) to get an update on the Alice Walton School of Medicine (AWSOM) and the Heartland Whole Health Institute (HWHI) and their mission to revolutionize health care.

Bertagnolli was hosted at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville by U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., and U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, and execs from the medical school and sister institute.

Dr. Sharmila Makhija, founding dean and CEO of the AWSOM, said the medical school will welcome its first class of 48 students in July 2025, pending final accreditation. Makhija said the focus is whole health that incorporates physical, mental, emotional, and social health. She said there is no blueprint for the curriculum so much of it has been developed internally with the help of partners.

“ARCHES is what we call our curriculum. We look at the art of healing and we have worked with the museum on that, Research is a critical piece. Clinical, embracing whole health and science of medicine make the acronym,” Makhija said.

She said doing the operational piece based on American Medical Association foundations will be important and then incorporating real-time lessons learned.

“You are singing my song. … When I went to medical school it was science, science, science, and drugs and major machines will cure everything,” Bertagnolli responded. ”Health is just your whole life. It’s so wonderful to be in a time that this is being recognized.”

Makhija said the students will be introduced to clinical rotations in the first two months of school. Traditionally, she said clinicals are in the last two years of medical school. However, the AWSOM curriculum will have students doing clinicals, first in simulation labs and eventually in a true clinic setting in the first two years of their schooling. While some schools have switched to this, she said it is harder to retrofit into a system. Since AWSOM is a new institution, incorporating it into the base curriculum made sense.

Bertagnolli asked how the school was recruiting its inaugural class. Makhija said priority is given to candidates in the Heartland region, which includes Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Test scores and science aptitude are also considered along with their desire to stay and work in the region. She said under-represented social and economic factors are also a consideration.

Walter Harris, CEO of the HWHI, said young doctors want to see the system change. He said the entire region is supporting the school and the move toward the whole health approach.

Makhija said the partnerships with which AWSOM is aligning will be important to the success and acceptance of the new model. Mercy agreed to be an education partner and the Cleveland Clinic joined to contribute to heart health support. She said the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is sharing faculty and collaborating on faculty development where it makes sense, even though they are a competitor to some extent.

“I am just blown away by the total picture of what is been created here,” Bertagnolli said.

She said alternative payment models, payment reform, and team-based delivery models are also part of the bigger goal to reverse disease and promote healing. Bertagnolli said too many of the major life and death treatment decisions made at a patient’s bedside are not based on data and level-one evidence.

She said technology is a great equalizer and nearly everyone in the world has a smartphone or access to one. One NIH team is researching the use of smartphone-based care for elderly patients to monitor muscle mass loss. Another group is using technology and telehealth to help some indigenous populations with recent outbreaks of certain venereal diseases. She said there is anonymity in using telehealth and having the antibiotics mailed to the patients. But even the best use of telemedicine is not a substitute for a doctor or team of doctors working together to keep a patient healthy, Bertagnolli said.

Bertagnolli asked what she and NIH could do for the local movement. Makhija said research fellowship opportunities for students would help, and Bertagnolli said that could be done.