(Posted November 8, 2013)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Dr. John Neely, a 1968 graduate of Juniata and a pioneer in the area of integrative medicine, will speak at Juniata College on "Changing our Thinking About Medicine" at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 20 in Room C225 in the Brumbaugh Academic Center of the Juniata campus.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

His talk will focus on how doctors should treat a patient as an entire human being, rather than just focusing on a specific illness.

Neely, professor of pediatrics, humanities and family & community medicine at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and the Penn State College of Medicine, established the first practice in integrative medicine at Hershey Medical Center in 2005.

His talk will focus on how doctors should treat a patient as an entire human being, rather than just focusing on a specific illness. At his practice in Hershey, Neely would like to engage his patients in a discussion that addresses their entire being, including topics such as nutrition, digestion and dermatology.

He will describe how the United States' current medical system is centered on treating acute illness and does not concentrate on keeping a patient living as healthily as possible.

"While there is no question I received a superb science education at Juniata, it was the exposure to so many liberal arts subjects that has helped me be open-minded and creative throughout my career," Neely says.

Neely has received the Best Doctors in America designation every year from 2003 to 2013 and was a finalist for Doctor of the Year in Central Pennsylvania by Central Penn Parent's Magazine in 2008 and 2010. He also served as chair of the Department of the Humanities at the medical center from 2007 to 2008.

Neely founded the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Hershey Medical Center and Children's Hospital in 1985 and practiced there until 2005. He was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical honor society, in 1986. He also worked as a clinician and researcher at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1978 to 1985.

He earned a bachelor's degree at Juniata in 1968 and earned his medical degree in 1973 from the Penn State College of Medicine.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.