A Culture of Caring As a proud alumnus of NWHSU and Acting Chair of the Board of Trustees, I am thrilled by Dr. Chris Cassirer’s strategic initiatives for our Northwestern community. These new partnerships are essential to our ability to prepare students in the delivery and advancement of integrative health care. Thank you for your support as we carry on our culture of caring with renewed vision, determination, and innovation in the years to come. Christopher Jo, D.C. Acting Chair of the Board of Trustees Looking Forward As a community of learners, practitioners, supporters and innovators, we lift up one another. Realizing our vision for a healthier world depends upon the ability to establish new frameworks for collaboration and partnership. In fiscal years 2016 and 2017, Northwestern Health Sciences University has created a strong foundation of collective achievements. Over the past few years, Northwestern Health Sciences University has grown and evolved on multiple levels. We’ve built a strong leadership team with deep expertise and knowledge. Our academic programs attract outstanding students, leading to year-over-year growth. Our community clinics and community health work have grown, both in patient and staff volume, and in process efficiency. Our pioneering work in research, innovation, and advocacy initiates productive conversation about patient choice at the state level and promises to advance work on clinical trials at the federal level. These are the tools that lay our foundation. As the only Midwestern university that is 100% focused on health and wellness, we are responsible for building critical health care solutions and policy for the public. At a time of escalating demand for integrative health and health care delivery, we have an opportunity to stabilize and ensure Northwestern’s legacy. Through energetic collaboration and bold leadership, we forge ahead as innovators in our field. Our growing network of partnerships and clinics brings evidence-based and holistic solutions to mainstream care, transforming perceptions and attitudes of integrative care among a broader population. In programs such as WorkSiteRight, our onsite wellness clinics, we provide both treatment and injury-prevention education to employees in the workplace. These workplace clinics have dramatic returns on investment and reduced injuries. By developing scalable models for cooperative holistic health care, Northwestern delivers affordable health care now. As we strive to improve and optimize health, crises such as lower back pain, the soaring cost of health care, and the growing opioid epidemic have brought the need for new approaches into sharp focus. Now more than ever, Northwestern is poised to lead the way as a premier health sciences university; together, we commit to live, learn and serve healthy for generations to come. Keep leading together, Christopher Cassirer, Sc.D., MPH President and CEO