New Board Member Envisions a Truly Integrative Health Care System

Board Member Maxine Hayes A pioneer in integrative medicine, Bastyr University continues to play a major role in the movement toward creating a U.S. health care system in which conventional and natural health care practitioners work side by side. Joining Bastyr University in this effort is new Board of Trustees member Maxine Hayes, MD, who brings a wealth of relevant experience to the board.

Dr. Hayes, who holds the prestigious position of state health officer for the Washington State Department of Health, has a strong vision for the future of health care in the state of Washington and in the U.S. She believes the current health care system can be transformed into one that is integrated — where it's not about choosing doctors who are "conventional" or "alternative," but instead, creating a medical model where the two can work together.

"I'm very interested in the health problems that we're facing in the 21st century and how they can be addressed through integrative medicine," Dr. Hayes says. "That is my goal in joining the Bastyr University Board of Trustees. I want to serve as a bridge between allopathic and natural medicine. I want to advocate that we need to be more open and work in a complementary fashion, not in an oppositional one."

Dr. Hayes is a conventionally trained pediatrician with a master's degree in public health from Harvard University. And, in her current position, she is charged with advising the governor and Department of Health secretary on such issues as responding to emergencies (pandemic influenza threats, for example) and preventing childhood illness. She sees this integrative approach to medicine as the answer to many health crises that face us today.

"We have to look outside of the traditional way of viewing health," she says. "There are many things that influence health; not just treatment and cure. We need to think about how we can keep people from needing treatment." She offers the example of the obesity epidemic and how it has contributed to a rise in many preventable chronic diseases.

Dr. Hayes believes that as a board member at Bastyr University, she will be able to wield this type of influence. She elected to take a position on the board, she says, because "Bastyr's focus on health and ensuring the community's wellness fits with my values."

And she's in good company, as fellow board member Treuman Katz is her former supervisor at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center. She notes the significance of this: "The fact that Treuman Katz, the former CEO of Children's Hospital, is on Bastyr's board, with his vast experience in traditional medicine, really signals a new day of trying to have both forms of medicine in an integrative fashion."

Even in the legislative arena, Dr. Hayes believes the climate is changing. She notes that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) now has a whole division devoted to exploring alternative medicine practices. "The NIH has realized it needs to take natural medicine more seriously and that these therapies have results that are compelling." She proposes that "We need leaders who are open, who are making room for this. I hope I will have an opportunity to promote and advance an understanding of working together, because I really believe in it."

And consumers are ready for change, she says. "The public is telling us by voting with their feet that they're tired of allopathic solutions alone — all the pharmaceutical drugs. They want more. If someone needs a drug, that's okay, but for many health conditions, drugs aren't the only choice."

One of the ways Dr. Hayes would like to promote change is to influence university training and curriculum for physicians. "We need to give them more diversity in their perspective," she says. "One day I'd like to see our MD and ND students trained together. I have such respect for what they both bring. We would be breaking down some incredible biases and that can only happen when they have the opportunity to work together."

Dr. Hayes is the perfect person to bring about change through courageously tackling tough issues. She has had a lifelong interest in advocating for health care services for marginalized communities including women, children and people of color. Growing up poor in her native state of Mississippi, she was all too familiar with what it felt like to be discriminated against. This motivated her to begin a life-long mission to seek equity and justice for all people. After she earned her MD degree from State University of New York in Buffalo in 1973 and then finished her Master of Public Health at Harvard in 1977, she returned to Mississippi to spearhead the development of a clinic for underserved populations that is still in operation today. Based on the success of that work in Mississippi, Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle recruited her in 1985 to serve as medical director of the Odessa Brown Children's Clinic, a position she held for three years.

Since then, she has effectively inspired grassroots community activists and policymakers to take action on controversial issues, including needle exchange programs, health care for the homeless and incarcerated, smoking bans, migrant farm workers' exposure to pesticides, child labor, HIV/AIDS, and teen pregnancy.

Dr. Hayes has held a variety of positions at the Department of Health, including assistant secretary for the Division of Community and Family Health. Over the years she has formed alliances and partnerships that have had a key influence on national health policy, particularly policies impacting maternal and children's health. She is currently a clinical professor of pediatrics at University of Washington School of Medicine.

She is the recipient of many awards and honors for her work in maternal and children's health, including the American Medical Association's 2002 Nathan Davis Award and the 2003 Heroes in Health Care Lifetime Achievement Award through the Washington Health Foundation. A recipient of the 1999 Distinguished Alumna of the Year for the State University of New York at Buffalo, she was most recently presented an honorary doctorate of science by former acting U.S. surgeon general and current president of Spelman College, Audrey Manley, MD. In October of 2007, she was inducted into the Institute of Medicine and in November of 2007, she received the APHA Helen Rodriguez-Trias Social Justice Award.

Today, in her position as state health officer, Dr. Hayes works to improve the health of all residents of Washington. As she extends this mission to her work on Bastyr University's board, we could not be more thrilled to have her in our midst.