A Consensus Statement for Ecological Medicine: Moving Toward Connection-Based Medicine
Mounting evidence across multiple disciplines supports the health benefits of connection to nature. Although this trend suggests that the human-nature relationship is integral to health, its importance is often overlooked in clinical practice due, in part, to lack of consensus on its scope, limits, and terminology. To fill a needed gap, we developed a consensus statement on an inter-connectivity based view of health termed Ecological Medicine. The study recruited an expert working group and used modified Delphi technique and focus groups. The Ecological Medicine Working Group was directed toward Ecological Medicine consensus goals that included: (1) a consensus definition and framework, (2) priorities for practice, research, education, and policy, and (3) Ecological Medicine's implications. A consensus definition and framework for Ecological Medicine was reached, focusing on the importance of human inter-connections (to self, others, non-human species, and natural environment) in informing health understanding. Ecological Medicine suggests that healthcare should shift toward inter-connectivity, relationality, and health practices involving connection-based interventions, especially nature-based interventions. This framework may benefit research, practice, education, policy and other domains of healthcare by focusing on the importance and benefits of connectivity-based health interventions and on the inseparability of human health and planetary health.
Authors
- Roberto Rodríguez-Echeverría (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6545-0913)
- Ziva D. Cooper (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8001-2332)
- Wendelin Slusser
- Olivia McAnirlin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1321-078X)
- Dana Cuff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2587-0523)
- José Sánchez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2913-1126)
- Manijeh Berenji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7255-8837)
- Michelle V. Porche (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8706-7675)
- Diana S. Grigsby‐Toussaint (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0796-7284)
- Olga Solomon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4505-3320)
- Jay E. Maddock (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1119-0300)
- Thomas E. Lynch
- Suma Jacob (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7434-7398)
- Matthew H.E.M. Browning (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2296-7602)
- Katrina DeBonis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9264-7914)
- Cynthia J. Davis
- James C. Bassett
- Felix E. Schweizer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4731-2231)
- Daphne Miller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2974-4893)
- Elena Ríos
- Aubrey H. Fine (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8909-487X)
- Jamie Beachy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9513-7862)
- Benjamin Collins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2416-3184)
- Conor H. Murray (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9954-7601)
- Francis Baumont de Oliveira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5386-2008)
- Yosuke Chikamoto
- Kate E. Armstrong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9850-5717)
- Ronan Hallowell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2019-8555)
- Lynette A. Hart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7133-6535)
- M. Kaufmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1437-0996)
- Teresa L. Penbrooke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4705-7472)
- Alessandro Ossola (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0507-6026)
- Daniel T. Blumstein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5793-9244)
- Heather Kuiper
- Brian Anderson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8134-4697)
- Lindsay Branham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9544-2757)
- Laura H. Kahn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9706-0821)
- Somayeh Dodge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0335-3576)
- Marco Iacoboni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0035-5413)
- Nurit D. Katz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8974-5601)
- Jessica Kay Jeffrey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4334-5626)
- Sam Gandy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2877-6244)
- Nancy R. Gee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2890-9884)
- Michael Makhinson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6493-9699)
- Allison C. Alberts
- Karen J. Lewis
- Helena Hansen
- Tim Bryant (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7141-349X)
- Patricia Pendry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9479-0098)
- Celina M. De Leon
- Anya K. Bershad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3011-3730)
- Lisa R. Fortuna (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5336-4970)
- Tieraona Low Dog
- Jennifer Wolch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4252-7495)
- Barbara Natterson-Horowitz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6145-9689)
- Melissa Sundermann
- David S. King (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7305-7652)
- Avik Basu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4494-8453)
- Jessica D. Pratt
- Charles S. Grob
- Beatriz Caiuby Labate
- Landon Pollack
- Rosalind Watts
- Sherri L. Stewart
- Jack Saul
- S. A. Thomas
- Joanna E. Bettman
- Sheila Laffey
- Joseph McCowan
- Sylvie Rokab
- Sue Sisley
- Martyna Skalna
- Lee Zasloff
Institutions
- University of Southern California (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- UCLA Medical Center (US)
- Los Angeles Medical Center (US)
- Neurobehavioral Systems (US)
- Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (US)
- Texas A&M University (US)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- EcoHealth
- Published
- 2025-10-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-025-01757-3
- Primary Topic
- Urban Green Space and Health
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles