Charles Elder

Charles R. Elder MD, MPH, FACP received his MD and MPH degrees from Boston University School of Medicine,

and completed residency training in internal medicine at the University of Michigan hospitals.  He has served as a primary care internist at Kaiser Permanente Northwest (KPNW) for 26 years, and has been the physician lead for the complementary and integrative medicine program at KPNW for 18 years. In this capacity, Dr. Elder offers a referral based integrative ayurvedic clinic for Kaiser patients,  advising patients in the areas of diet, exercise, herbal medicine, mind-body practices, and other complementary medicine modalities. He has also provided leadership in shaping and implementing policy related to management of chiropractic, acupuncture, naturopathy, and other complementary medicine benefits.  Dr. Elder holds a Senior Investigator appointment at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, where he has served as principal or co- investigator on a range of federally funded studies evaluating mind-body and other complementary medicine interventions in the setting of chronic disease management.  He also has a clinical faculty appointment at Oregon Health and Science University, and for over 2 decades has mentored and taught residents and students in both internal and integrative medicine settings.

Publications

Elder, C and Elder, L.  Picture of Health: Transform Your Self-Care and Health Care through Ayurvedic and Integrative Medicine.  The Permanente Press, 2018. Portland, OR. In press

Elder C, DeBar L, Ritenbaugh C, Dickerson J, Vollmer W, Deyo R, Johnson E, Haas M.  Comparative effectiveness of usual care with or without chiropractic care in patients with recurrent musculoskeletal back and neck pain.  Journal of General Internal Medicine (in press).

Penney L, Ritenbaugh C, DeBar L, Elder C, Deyo R., MPH, MD. Provider and Patient Perspectives on Opioids and Alternative Treatments for Managing Chronic Pain: A Qualitative Study.  BMC Family Practice.  2017 Mar 24;17(1):164. doi: 10.1186/s12875-016-0566-0.

Elder C, DeBar L, Ritenbaugh C, Vollmer W, Deyo R, Dickerson J, Kindler L. Acupuncture and Chiropractic Care:  Utilization and Electronic Medical Record Capture.   American Journal of Managed Care. July, 2015. 21;7: e414-421.

Elder C, Nidich S, Moriarty F, Nidich R. Effect of Transcendental Meditation on Employee Stress, Depression, and Burnout: A Randomized Controlled Study. Permanente Journal, Winter, 2014.   18(1): 19-23.

 Elder C, Gullion C, DeBar L, Funk K, Lindberg N, Ritenbaugh C, Meltesen G, Gallison C, Stevens V.  Randomized Trial of Tapas Acupressure Technique for Weight Loss Maintenance.  BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2012, 12:19 (15 March 2012) PMC3375195.

Elder C, Gullion C, Funk K, DeBar L, Lindberg N, Stevens V. Impact of sleep, screen time, depression and stress on weight change in the intensive weight loss phase of the LIFE study. International Journal of Obesity. (2012) 36, 86–92 PMC 3136584.  doi:10.1038/ijo.2011.