Individuals with a background or interest in horticulture and gardening, culinary arts and nutrition, public health and education, and the environment and sustainability, as well as people who are parents and caregivers, will find the program relevant and valuable.

Combining modern scientific knowledge with traditional wisdom, the coursework uses the cycles of nature to guide the integration of herbs into daily life. The program’s emphasis on practical skills ensures that students are familiar with the identification of local plants and possess the ability to make medicinal food and herbal preparations. The program empowers students with the knowledge and skills needed to support self-care through the safe and effective incorporation of herbs into daily life, using body care products, food preparations, and other herbal supplements. Class groups are personal and rely on the collective experience of a group to inform the learning experiences, guided by experienced faculty. For students that choose to take classes on campus, the program provides unique experiential learning opportunities through MUIH’s herbal dispensary and garden. On-campus projects will be available for students to engage in hands-on learning in medicinal plant harvesting, processing, formulary, medicine making, and quality control analysis.

The PBC Herbal Studies program can also serve as an entry point and advanced standing in MUIH’s M.S. Clinical Herbal Medicine degree and M.S. Herbal Product Design and Manufacture degree. The four courses of this PBC program are transferrable and make up the first four required courses of both of these master’s degrees.

Comparison of Herbal Medicine Approaches: To learn more about various herbal medicine approaches to health and wellness and how they align with MUIH’s programs click here.

Upon completion of this program students will be able to:

• Describe the safe and appropriate use of a limited number of herbs as dietary supplements within the framework of a wellness-based model of healthcare.
• Identify local herbs in the field for harvesting and manufacturing of herbal and food preparations.
• Determine safety concerns of herb-herb and herb-drug interactions for herbal product users.

Required Courses

The program consists of 12 credits of the following required courses:

• HRB600 Fundamentals of Herbal Medicine (3 cr)
• HRB605 Materia Medica I (3 cr)
• HRB622 Herbal Pharmacy (3 cr)
• HRB641 Safety of Botanical Medicine (3 cr)

Course Descriptions

Course descriptions are available in the Academic Catalog.

Graduates of MUIH’s herbal medicine programs are employed in a variety of settings including private practice; integrative group practices; herbal shops and dispensaries; wellness centers; community, non-profit, and outreach organizations; herbal and botanical gardens; herbal product research, development, and manufacturing companies; agricultural companies and agencies; colleges and universities. Many graduates chose to have a portfolio career in which they have multiple positions and employers within one or more profession, rather than one full-time job. A portfolio career provides such individuals with variety in their work life and the opportunity to develop a wide and varied professional network.

Consumer use of herbal medicine continues to grow. More than 40 million individuals in the U.S. used non-vitamin, non-mineral supplements in 2012, up from 38 million users in 2007. In 2017, total U.S. retail sales of herbal supplements surpassed $8 billion for the first time, reaching nearly $8.1 billion. In addition, U.S. consumer spending increased 8.5%, from 2016 – the strongest sales growth for herbal supplements in more than 15 years. Total U.S. retail sales have increased every year since 2004, and since that time consumer spending on herbal supplements has nearly doubled.

Increasingly, herbal supplement consumers are reaching out to professionals to help them understand what is safe and effective from the vast array of herbal supplements found in the market. Herbalists and other healthcare practitioners with herbal skills and knowledge will support the continued projected growth of healthcare occupations in the U.S. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics projects healthcare occupations to grow 14% from 2018 to 2028, much faster than the average for all occupations.

View more about career opportunities.

Program Format

This program is offered in the online and hybrid formats. Click here to view MUIH’s definition of online, hybrid, and on-campus course and program formats.

The hybrid format gives students the opportunity to elect to take HRB600 and/or HRB622 in the on-campus format instead of online; not all of these courses are offered in both formats or in every trimester.

Program Schedule

For trimester start and end dates, see the Academic Calendar.

Spring 2020 Intake Program Dates

The schedule for students starting the program in the spring 2020 trimester is:

Spring 2020

• HRB600 Fundamentals of Herbal Medicine (3 cr)
• HRB641 Safety of Botanical Medicine (3 cr)
• MUIH550 Academic Scholarship and Research (0 cr)

Summer 2020

• HRB605 Materia Medica I (3 cr)
• HRB622 Herbal Pharmacy (3 cr)

Fall 2020 Intake Program Dates

The schedule for students starting the program in the fall 2020 trimester is:

Fall 2020

• HRB600 Fundamentals of Herbal Medicine (3 cr)
• HRB641 Safety of Botanical Medicine (3 cr)

Spring 2021

• HRB605 Materia Medica I (3 cr)
• HRB622 Herbal Pharmacy (3 cr)

Kathleen Warner, Ph.D.
Department Chair

Bevin Clare, M.S.
Program Director, Clinical Herbal Medicine

Michael Tims, Ph.D.
Program Director, Herbal Product Design and Manufacture

Rachel Voss, M.P.A.
Department Manager

Matthew Mazick
Academic Advisor