Professor Jon Wardle responds to FSM statement regarding his appointment to SCU

Professor Jon Wardle (SCU)

On 11th March, FSM released a statement concerning the appointment of Professor Jon Wardle to the Maurice Blackmore Chair of Naturopathic Medicine at Southern Cross University (SCU) at Lismore. Here we provide Professor Wardle’s response to our statement.

Response from Professor Jon Wardle

“Thank you for your congratulatory email and for the resources you have provided. We agree that evidence-based science needs to be applied to naturopathy. We believe that the critical research and scholarship environment provided by the modern university structure is the ideal environment for this. 

The National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine will be taking a patient-centric view of its activities, meaning that while the Centre will be supporting the implementation and integration of naturopathic practices where they offer benefits to patients, it will also have a strong focus on de-implementation of practices that may be harmful or ineffective. Improving outcomes for the public is central to all of Southern Cross University’s health activities, and the Centre’s work will be no exception.

The University has conducted an international search to identify academic researchers who are not just leaders in naturopathic research, but are also leading health researchers in their own right, and we believe that with their critical and rigorous approach they are ideally placed to achieve these aims. The Centre’s work aims to positively shift practice, research and communication as it relates to naturopathy.There is much work to be done, but we look forward to engaging with all stakeholders in this endeavour, and we look forward to positive engagement with Friends of Science in Medicine in this role as well.

Many thanks

Jon Wardle
Professor of Public Health and Maurice Blackmore Chair of Naturopathic Medicine
Director, National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine.

Click here to download a PDF of Professor Wardle’s response.

Click here to read FSM’s original statement.