Richard Hammerschlag

Richard Hammerschlag
Richard Hammerschlag
Born	1940
Residence	Portland, OR, United States
Nationality	USA
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Brandeis University
Known for	Bio-energetics
	Scientific career
Fields	Neurobiology, acupuncture research, biofield science
Institutions	Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope; Oregon College of Oriental Medicine; Consciousness and Healing Initiative

Richard Hammerschlag is an American biochemist and neurobiologist known for his research in acupuncture, energy medicine and biofield science. After a career in neurobiology, he became the founding director of research at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in Portland, Oregon, and later co-founded the Consciousness and Healing Initiative, where he serves as director of research.

Biography

Hammerschlag earned bachelor's degrees in chemistry and in humanities and science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He completed a PhD in biochemistry at Brandeis University and undertook postdoctoral training in neurochemistry at University College London.

His first research career, spanning roughly 25 years in neurobiology, was based at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope in Duarte, California, where he served as Associate Chair of the Division of Neurosciences. A growing interest in acupuncture led him to change fields, and he moved to Portland, Oregon, to become the founding director (later dean) of research at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, where he is now Dean Emeritus of Research.

Hammerschlag is a co-founder and director of research of the Consciousness and Healing Initiative (CHI), an international collaborative of scientists, health practitioners, educators and others that reviews, disseminates and designs studies exploring consciousness and the biofield view of health and healing. He has served as an executive editor of The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

Work

At the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, Hammerschlag coordinated collaborative clinical and basic-science research projects in acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine in partnership with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Oregon Health & Science University and the University of Arizona, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

His later scholarly work has focused on the proposed physiological mechanisms of biofield therapies such as reiki, external qigong and healing touch. He has explored the possible role of connective tissue as a whole-body network involved in regulating the flow of energy, integrating biofields within the body with those around it. He is a co-editor of the book Acupuncture Research: Strategies for Establishing an Evidence Base (2007).

Honors

NIH Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award (1989–1996)
Invited speaker at the 1997 NIH Consensus Development Conference on Acupuncture
President (co-president) of the Society for Acupuncture Research
Executive Editor, The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine

External links