Education in natural medicine: what's love got to do with it?

This paper raises the question of how complementary medicine curriculum designers can balance pressure to conform to the constructs of biomedicine and externally-imposed pragmatic models, and yet retain philosophical authenticity and integrity. The author explores components of various educational models, including concepts of care, love, and suffering, and questions the direction of educational practice in CAM. The paper suggests that the philosophy be given more weight in curricula, and that it is critical to the future of the emergent profession that holistic principles be instilled in students with equal commitment to the sciences.