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• Centers for Integrative Medicine
• Directory of Alternative Medicine Practitioners

The Diana Padelford Binkley Foundation (“The Diana Foundation”) was established in 2004 as a charitable institution in memory of Diana Binkley. Diana taught yoga and Vedic chanting (ancient Sanskrit parables) and relied largely on complementary and alternative medicine, including Chinese herbal remedies and acupuncture, for treating illness. She died in August 2003 following adverse side effects of a treatment of high-dosage steroids prescribed for chronic back pain caused by a herniated disc. High dosage steroid treatments can induce neuropsychiatric impairments in one out of five patients. In 3% of affected cases, steroid psychosis leads to suicide in patients with no prior history of suicidal behavior.

The Foundation was established to provide information and facilitate dialogue between western physicians, alternative medicine practitioners, and patients and family members regarding the diagnosis, treatment and management of pain in women. The Foundation has underwritten research on the incidence of steroid-induced psychosis and gender bias in clinical trials for new prescription medications that may adversely affect women’s health. The Foundation co-sponsored with the University of San Diego's Department of Psychiatry, a symposium, Glucocorticoids and Mood: Clinical Manifestations, Risk Factors and Molecular Mechanisms held last year, June 20-21 and two annual conferences on Pain Management in Women Over the Life Cycle, 2006 and 2007 in San Diego, California.

Long-Term Objectives

To assist practitioners of alternative medicine and western medical doctors to communicate and coordinate better pain medication, treatment, and services provided to women patients who rely primarily on homeopathic remedies for the treatment of common illness and pain.

Short-Term Objectives

• Community Outreach:  The Diana Foundation teamed up with UCSD-TV (University of California, San Diego) to produce 20 hours of programming based on speaker presentations at the two Pain Management In Women Conferences in 2006 and 2007. The talks were broadcast as part of UC-TV’s Medical Hour over UC-TV satellite and cable to hospitals, clinics and medical practices.
  
  In 2009, the New York Academy of Sciences has agreed to publish the research papers presented at the Glucocorticoids and Mood symposium, June 2008, in a book edited by Dr's. Lewis Judd, UCSD Medical School and Esther Sternberg PhD and M.D., National Institutes of Health. The book will be marketed to medical school libraries worldwide.
• Establish a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to address the mission of the Diana Foundation, established in 2004. All donations are tax-deductible and can be made on our Contribute page.
• Underwrite research on the incidence of steroid-induced psychosis. See Diana Foundation Web site article “The Neuropsychiatric Sequelae of Steroid Treatment” by Benjamin H. Flores, M.D. and Heather Kenna Gumina, MA Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
• Underwrite research into gender bias in clinical trials for new prescription medication by pharmaceutical companies seeking FDA approvals, 1968-1993. See Diana Foundation Web site article “A Review of Clinical Research and Pain Management in Women” by Witney G. McKiernan, RN, University of California, San Francisco.