David Peters is a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of integrated healthcare at the

University of Westminster , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

Career

Peters trained as a

family doctor Family medicine is a medical specialty within primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body. The specialist, who is usually a primary ...

and later in

osteopathic medicine Osteopathy () is a type of alternative medicine that emphasizes physical manipulation of the body's muscle tissue and bones. Practitioners of osteopathy are referred to as osteopaths. Osteopathic manipulation is the core set of techniques in ...

and as a musculoskeletal physician. From 1990 until 2005, he directed the complementary therapies development programme at Marylebone Health Centre (MHC), a Central London NHS GP unit set up in 1986 to develop new approaches to inner city primary healthcare. Peters was among the founding faculty of the

School of Integrated Health which merged with the Department of Bioscience in 2009 to form the School of Life Sciences.

Publications

Peters has co-authored or edited five books about integrated healthcare. His works include co-author/editorship of the ''Encyclopaedia of Complementary Medicine'' and ''Understanding the Placebo Effect in Complementary Medicine''.Peters D (ed) 2001, Understanding the Placebo Effect in Complementary Medicine, Harcourt Brace, Edinburgh.

Research and clinical interests

Peters has led a series of research projects concerned with implementing or evaluating of

complementary medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...

in mainstream settings. One current project is developing PCT-wide access to acupuncture and stress reduction for people with long-term low back pain. Peters was, until 2010, chair of the British Holistic Medical Association, whose '' Journal of Holistic Healthcare'' he edits. He is a director of

The College of Medicine The College of Medicine (CoM) is a United Kingdom-based organisation founded in October 2010 that grew out of The Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health after it was shut down due to accounting fraud. It is chaired by Michael Dixon, a former di ...

whose aim is to encourage medicine to move in a more patient-centred and values-based direction. His clinical work as a musculo-skeletal physician includes osteopathy and acupuncture, and by somatically-oriented psychotherapeutic methods devised by Peter Levine, as well as exploration of working with the relaxation response,

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

, and meditation. A particular clinical interest is in dysregulatory syndromes where persistent pain and/or fatigue commonly overlap with trauma and breathing pattern disorders. His research and development interests include the role of non-pharmaceutical treatments in mainstream medicine, and self-care – particularly in long term conditions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, David Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Academics of the University of Westminster