Office of Primary Care and Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program

Assistant Professor of Family Medicine Jon Porter, M.D., is director of UVM’s Osher Center for Integrative Health and medical director of the UVM Medical Center Comprehensive Pain Program.

(MAY 25, 2023) In an opinion piece published in The Other Paper, chronic pain sufferer John R. Killacky lauded the UVM Medical Center Comprehensive Pain Program (CPP), whose medical director is Jon Porter, M.D., assistant professor of family medicine and director of UVM’s Osher Center for Integrative Health. The CPP offers innovative 16-week programs for those grappling with debilitating chronic pain and collects data for research on the program’s efficacy. “I am currently a [study] participant,” Killacky wrote. “It is quite a wondrous paradigm of care and well-being.”

Porter and a team of UVM researchers gather qualitative data from people participating in evidence-based integrative therapies — such as yoga, nutrition, mindfulness, massage, acupuncture, and Reiki — paid for by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont. Preliminary data show that participants report reduced pain, improved physical function, better sleep, and fewer visits to primary care and emergency departments for pain relief. “Blue Cross has been looking at the claims data, and they see it’s working. As the payer, they are satisfied that it’s a reasonable investment,” said Adam Atherly, Ph.D., director of UVM’s Center for Health Services Research at the Larner College of Medicine. He collaborates with Porter and Janet Kahn, Ph.D., LMT, a research assistant professor at Larner and massage therapist at CPP, on the study. “We’re helping individuals feel more hopeful and confident in working with their pain,” said Porter.

Killacky is grateful for the CPP’s focus on helping him target a more balanced holistic body. “This is profound and transformational, providing enormous physical, psychological, and emotional healing.”