The Institute for the Study of Health & Illness (ISHI) was founded by Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, in 1991 at Commonweal. In 2016, the Institute became part of the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine and was renamed The Remen Institute for the Study of Health & Illness (RISHI). In all that time, the Institute has provided education and support programs for health professionals who practice a medicine of service, human connection and compassionate healing.
Our Mission
RISHI’s mission is to contribute to healing the culture of health care through innovative educational programs and the formation of supportive communities. Our programs provide innovative tools, practices and resources to enable health professionals to sustain their service values, their humanity and their passion for their work. At every level of professional training RISHI’s programs enable learners to:
- Find deeper satisfaction and meaning in their day-to-day work lives.
- Strengthen their original sense of calling.
- Identify as healers within a worldwide community and long lineage of healers.
- Form authentic, non-competitive community with colleagues.
- Uncover the community of service that underlies the diversity of professional expertise.
- Discover they are not alone.
- Learn tools of self-care.
- Renew their commitment to themselves, their patients, their students and medicine.
About Rachel Naomi Remen, MD
Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen is a nationally recognized medical reformer and educator who sees the practice of medicine as a spiritual path and a path of service.
In Dr. Remen’s Own Words
I founded the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal because I felt alone and hoped to find others who yearned for a medicine that was more than applied science. Through the work of the Institute, its programs and its outreach, I have discovered that doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals all over the world share a dream of service which is larger than our training and connects us to one another and to our patients from the heart.