Bastyr University

About

Bastyr University is a private alternative medicine university with campuses in Kenmore, Washington, and San Diego, California. Programs include naturopathic medicine, acupuncture, Traditional Asian medicine, nutrition, herbal medicine, psychology, and midwifery. Some of Bastyr's programs teach and research topics that are considered pseudoscience, quackery, and fake by the scientific and medical communities. Quackwatch, a group against health fraud, put Bastyr University on its list of "questionable organizations" as a school which is "accredited but not recommended". Bastyr University and similar naturopathic programs are not accredited as medical schools but as programs that are overseen by a naturopathic council which is not required to be scientific. Bastyr's naturopathic program has been accused by critics of misrepresenting its medical rigor and its ability to train primary care clinicians. A 2024 report found that students in Bastyr's alternative medicine doctoral program had the second highest debt-to-income ratio among all US graduate programs, at 688%.

Bastyr University was established in 1978 as the John Bastyr College of Naturopathic Medicine in Seattle. Four co-founders, Sheila Quinn, Joseph Pizzorno, Les Griffith, and Bill Mitchell, named the institution after John Bastyr, a teacher and advocate of naturopathy in the Seattle area. Baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degree programs are offered. In 1984, the school was renamed Bastyr College; in 1994, it became Bastyr University. In 1996, Bastyr relocated to its current location in the Saint Thomas Center, formerly St. Edward Seminary, a Catholic seminary building in Kenmore, Washington. Pizzorno served as president until his retirement in June 2000. During his tenure, Bastyr became the first accredited university of natural medicine and the first center for alternative medicine research funded by the National Institutes of Health's Office of Alternative Medicine, the predecessor to the controversial National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Its campus is surrounded by Saint Edward State Park's fir and hemlock forest. In November, 2005, the university purchased the property, which it had been leasing from the Archdiocese of Seattle. In 2010, Bastyr merged with Seattle Midwifery School to offer a Master of Science degree to become a direct-entry midwife eligible for certification. In 2024, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that students who pursued doctorates of naturopathic medicine typically took on high levels of debt. For Bastyr, the median loan was $300,530 and the median earnings were $43,703, resulting in a debt to earnings ratio of 688%. This was the second highest ratio among graduate programs in the US, with only the naturopathic program at National University of Natural Medicine being higher.

Bastyr offers bachelor's completion, master's, combined undergraduate/masters, doctoral, and certificate programs. Bastyr presents itself as the "Harvard of naturopathic medicine." The Princeton Review reports that the naturopathic medicine program at Bastyr had an acceptance rate of 68%.

Bastyr University is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) as an institution that can grant undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Bastyr's Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine program is accredited by the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME), which is a naturopathic organization affiliated with the naturopathic profession. The Master of Science in Acupuncture (MSA), the Master of Science in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (MSAOM), and the Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (DAOM) are accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine (ACAHM). The Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics, the accrediting agency for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, has accredited Bastyr's Bachelor of Science with a major in nutrition with Didactic Program in Dietetics, Master of Science in nutrition with Didactic Program in Dietetics, and Dietetic Internship. Bastyr University has received approval from the state of Washington as a recognized midwifery training facility and provides education for midwifery students in the articulated Bachelor/Master of Science in Midwifery degree. Both programs are accredited through the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council. The university is a member of the American Association of Naturopathic Medical Colleges and Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.