WASHINGTON INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCES (W.I.N.S.)
Washington Institute of Natural Sciences (W.I.N.S.) is an IRS-approved non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and State of Washington registered charitable institution. Since 2013, the OCIMC (Orcas Community Integrative Medicine Clinic) at W.I.N.S.'s has served hundreds of patients across thousands of appointments with integrative medicine in the San Juan Islands.
W.I.N.S.’s is currently raising funds for future academic and educational programs, including a College of Integrative Medicine, to train holistic and integrative (eastern and western medicines) healthcare providers so that they can go on to make valuable contributions to the healthcare system globally. This is especially important now for many reasons, including helping to serve our aging and continually growing baby boomer population so that they may have a long, joyous, healthy life and to provide affordable, compassionate holistic medical care.
We greatly value the importance of evidence-based translational sciences in providing a comprehensive foundation for providing medical care. We respect medicinal herbs and plants that have been proven to be effective over millennia. We strive to seek scientific validation and discovery of their potential healing power through advanced molecular, cellular and genetic imaging technologies and clinical trials.
Our upcoming plans to found a College of Integrative Medicine on Orcas Island (part of the San Juan Islands in Washington) means we will engage in the development of scientific research and training of graduate students in the latest basic research methodologies in the natural sciences, in collaboration with academic institutions globally. We will aim to earn an international reputation for documenting the results of natural science practices with rigorous methodology. In doing so, our goal is to build and develop a bridge of comprehensive understanding of life sciences between western (mainstream) and eastern medicine and thus consolidate a single discipline and entity under the W.I.N.S. banner.
If you would like to donate or sponsor any aspect of our upcoming College of Integrative Medicine, please contact Dr. Vincent Shu.
We are passionate about these goals & objectives
To provide a compassionate, comprehensive integrative health care system for the diversified population on the San Juan Islands in Washington state, including low socioeconomic and/or no-income populations of all ages with sliding scale fees.
In collaboration with oncologists at UW Medicine, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Island Hospital Cancer Care Center and Peace Island Medical Center to provide complementary alternative medicine for islanders undergoing chemotherapy in order to improve their quality of life and prolong their life by mitigating chemotherapy-associated adverse side effects
To found a W.I.N.S.’s College of Integrative Medicine on the San Juan Islands that includes comprehensive 3-year programs that encompass the five modalities of traditional Chinese medicine and includes requisite Western Biomedical Sciences as well as other required subjects in order to prepare students to become responsible, skilled healthcare providers and practitioners.
To grow medicinal herbs – both traditional Chinese herbs as well as newly local-discovered herbs– locally in the San Juan Islands, then research and document validation of their therapeutic properties before clinical usage in data-driven research studies.
To maintain and enhance community economic vitality by creating an intellectually challenging environment that encourages and supports our children and grandchildren to develop local careers in solving growing national issues around healthcare, farming, and the environment, e.g., in evidence-based natural healing centers and clinics, herb-growing farms, as well as green energy production.
Want to learn more about our upcoming college on Orcas Island?
W.I.N.S. COLLEGE OF INTEGRATive MEDICINE
MISSION, VALUES & VISION
To promote a long, joyous, healthier life and to provide affordable, compassionate holistic medical care for islanders by implementing science-validated translational services.
To foster economic vitality and conserve natural beauty in our community with the implementation of scholar gardener and scholar farmer programs leading to meaningful usage and better management of our lands as well as potential new discoveries and inventions in the fields of herbal and agricultural sciences.
OUR LOCATION
Our clinic and research institute and our future college are all located on beautiful Orcas island in the San Juan Islands between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. Orcas Island is an idyllic setting amidst some of the most gorgeous natural lands, lakes, old growth forests and natural settings in the world. It is a quiet place with not traffic lights, a beautifully supportive community and a small population conducive to study, meditation and commitment.
Coho Preserve Land Bank, a hiking spot and salmon spawning spot located near our OICM clinic.
4 KEY QUESTIONS
Despite the recent economic downturn, American consumers have been spending approximately 34 billion dollars per year for “Alternative Medicines” claiming to be “secret remedies of thousand(s) of years". As consumers, we have legitimate reasons to question the presence of evidence-based data to support such usage, for example:
Are western medicine approaches to new drug discovery superior to those of eastern medicine?
With the advent of new fast and relatively inexpensive DNA sequencing technology making personalized medicine a real possibility, can either western or eastern medicines favorably modify the behavior of genetic profiles sufficiently to prevent or modify the expression of certain diseases?
Can a retirement community model for green land and natural beauty conservation evolve into one that drives younger generations to accomplish the same goals?
Can we re-shape our future to retain our children by developing local careers engaged in solving growing national issues in healthcare, environment, and green energy?
Research & Outcome-Driven
At our W.I.N.S.’s OICM clinic and upcoming College of Integrative Medicine, research will be an active priority.
INITIAL RESEARCH PROJECT
In anticipation of adding an integrative Cardio-Oncology Clinic at OICM under our W.I.N.S.’s umbrella, we will be applying for grants and/or donations to support a research project seeking to answer the following question:
Can acupuncture improve the clinical outcomes of cancer patients who develop chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity?
Grants and donations would fund a thorough review of background problems and issues by reviewing existing literature and studies on the subject, in addition to a prospective pilot outcome study using Longitudinal Strain (GLS) and Mechanical Dispersion Index. The data-driven outcome study/research project would include a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study in healthy subjects using a common Chinese Herbal Formula to study the flow cytometry and cDNA expression arrays to assess immune functions and gene expression.
IMPACT SUMMARY
In the relatively near future, we envision that medical care decisions will link with western genetic-based personalized medicine, and through this link, the better treatment outcome can be predicted and evidenced by either herbal medicines or ( reduced dosage of ) western medicine or both with accompanying significant healthcare cost savings and improving quality of life.
While working on medicinal herb research projects at W.I.N.S. grant-sponsored scholar gardeners/ farmers will help sustain local economic vitality and meaningful land usage, thereby also helping to fulfill the missions of, for example, San Juan County’s Land Bank and Agricultural Guild.
Nature-Science College Academic Programs will bring in diverse talented professionals in the fields of medicine, herbs, agriculture, green energy, and environmental science, helping the San Juan Islands to become renowned for personalized medicine based healing, attracting people seeking not only the enjoyment of natural beauty but also healthy life.
The San Juan Islands will over time become a center for organically-grown science-validated medicinal herbs in North America. Locally held research seminars in Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture will attract many people around the world to both work and visit.
W.I.N.S. will provide a supporting source of academic unbiased data and act as a liaison between the western and eastern practitioners with resultant improved treatment outcome and quality of life in patients with chemotherapy and/or chronic diseases.
W.I.N.S. founder Dr. Vincent Shu has served as a health care provider to the Orcas community since 2016 and to Friday Harbor and San Juan Island since 2013. He is board-certified in internal medicine, geriatrics, and cardiovascular diseases. He received his MD degree in Taiwan, completed his residency and training at UC Irvine and UC Davis, and has worked at five different hospitals over the years. He now specializes in the integration of Eastern and Western medicine and aims to help people heal in the most natural ways possible.
WANT TO DONATE OR SPONSOR?
The Washington Institute of Natural Sciences will be accepting donations to make our College of Integrative Medicine a reality. We also take donations to support the work and treatments we do at the Orcas Community Integrative Medicine clinic, which helps us provide sliding scale treatment to all on the San Juan Islands. Our team is working on accepting donations through the website soon. In the meantime, please reach out to Dr. Vincent Shu with any questions by email or phone.