Tailored treatments to restore your vitality.
We get to the root cause of your symptoms
Integrative medicine means combining the best of mainstream medicine with complementary and alternative therapies such as nutritional, herbal, and hormonal therapies. When used in the right combination, these therapies can be extremely effective against many chronic health conditions and can help you establish the highest level of health and wellness. What makes our approach so different from conventional medicine is that, rather than treat symptoms, we seek to address the underlying causes of your illness. We also seek to address this condition at the cellular level, rather than at an organ or system level. At The Carolina Center for Integrative Medicine you will get a treatment strategy tailored to your unique needs, and based on the results of our comprehensive, individualized testing, health history evaluation, and personal preferences.
Our Mission
Our mission is to assist you in optimizing and maintaining your health throughout your life. We accomplish this goal by bringing the art and science of healing to medicine. The science of healing means assessing, treating, and supporting the body at the cellular and metabolic levels. The art of healing means addressing the needs of the whole person—body, mind, spirit, and community.
Evidence Based Medicine
We strive to integrate therapies in a careful and balanced way—and only when there is sufficient research or evidence to indicate that they should be effective for your particular situation. Drawing from the published medical research, we evaluate studies and organize the evidence to support those strategies we think will be most effective for your specific situation.
Our History
The Carolina Center for Integrative Medicine has been offering innovative approaches to health and healing for 30 years, making this the oldest integrative medicine clinic in the Triangle area. Medical director John C. Pittman, MD, founded the Center as a vehicle for helping people prevent and overcome chronic degenerative illnesses by combining multiple healing modalities under one roof. The Center has always operated as an outpatient treatment facility that accommodates patients diagnosed with a wide variety of medical conditions.
About the Founder
Dr. Pittman has long been dedicated to the research-based integration of alternative, complementary and conventional treatments for achieving optimal health and maximizing the natural healing capabilities of the body. Born and raised in the small South Georgia town of Tifton, Dr. Pittman is a fourth-generation physician whose great grandfather was a circuit doctor, riding a horse from one small town to another, seeing patients in the late 1800’s. His grandfather graduated from the first class at Emory University School of Medicine and his father was a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia. Together they practiced medicine for over 75 years in Tifton. Dr. Pittman began his medical experience as a hospital volunteer at age 14, then as a nursing assistant at age 16, and continued working part time in the hospital setting almost continually until he graduated from medical school.
He received his B.S. in biology in 1980 and completed studies for a master’s degree in biochemistry and microbiology at the University of Georgia in 1982. He received his medical degree from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia in 1986 and attended the Pediatric Residency Program at NC Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Later, while serving as Emergency Department Director at hospitals in Rocky Mount and Southport, NC, he began exploring ways to combine conventional medicine with nutrition, botanicals, and other natural therapies as an integral part of clinical medical practice.
It was then that Dr. Pittman began exploring ways to incorporate nutrition and holistic therapies into clinical medical practice. He began attending conferences and training courses in nutritional and metabolic medicine. He also began working with integrative medical experts around the country, learning many things about healthcare that were not taught in school or residency. This intensive period of study culminated in the opening of the Carolina Center in 1994. From the beginning, Dr. Pittman’s vision for the Center was to bring multiple healing modalities together in order to help patients overcome chronic degenerative illnesses. He has since intensified his training, gaining certification in chelation therapy, mercury detoxification, and oxidative medicine. Treatment programs at the Carolina Center have developed at a pace commensurate with our evolving understanding of the diverse connections between nutritional biochemistry, physiology, toxicity, and chronic disease.
Since founding the Carolina Center in 1994, Dr. Pittman has further enhanced his understanding of integrative medicine through clinical training at the Autism Research Institute, the Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), and is a Certified Thermologist through the American Academy of Thermology. Dr. Pittman is certified in chelation therapy by the American Board of Clinical Metal Toxicology. He is an active member in the International College of Integrative Medicine and the North Carolina Integrative Medical Society, an organization that he co-founded in 2000. He has lectured frequently at the UNC School of Medicine’s Program on Integrative Medicine, has served as a member of the state’s Vector Disease Task Force and is a past president of the North Carolina Integrative Medicine Society. He is currently on the Membership Committee of ILADS. From the beginning, Dr. Pittman’s vision for the Center was to bring together multiple healing modalities in order to help patients overcome chronic degenerative illnesses and bolster their health and wellness.
Dr. Pittman is a classically trained pianist. He has studied piano since age 4. He double majored in music and pre-med in undergrad and graduate school, winning numerous piano competitions through his teens and in college. He continues to enjoy the piano, getting regular lessons from his college professor (and second mother), Dorothy Lewis Griffith, an award-winning and world-renowned pianist who continues to record and perform into her 90’s. In addition to the piano, he and his husband, Younger, split time between caring for their very enjoyable tract of isolated land in Cary, seeing patients in Wilmington where he enjoys spending time on the beach, and finally completely relaxing in the mountains at their second home in Linville, NC. An avid nature photographer, he enjoys historical travel and outdoor activities as well as cooking and spending time with his family, friends and their cat, Mojo.
Certifications and Training:
International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society – Physician Training Program
American Academy of Thermology – Certified Thermographer
American Board of Clinical Metal Toxicology – Diplomate
American Board of Oxidative Medicine – Interim Diplomate – (now defunct)
Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs - Fellow
Memberships:
International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society
North Carolina Integrative Medical Society - Founding member 2002, past president
American Academy of Thermology
Past Memberships:
International College of Integrative Medicine
International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology
Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs
American College for the Advancement of Medicine
International Bio-oxidative Medical Society – Vice President
American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
American Academy of Environmental Medicine
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
Vector-borne Working Group
Offices:
North Carolina Integrative Medical Society
Secretary/Treasurer 2002-2007
President 2007-2011
Leadership:
International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society – Membership Committee 2022 to
present
Board Member - North Carolina Integrative Medical Society 2002-2011
Board Member - American Academy of Thermology 2013-2015
Tick Borne Illness Medical Education Highlights:
International Lyme & Associated Diseases Society Annual Conference
Hartford - 2002
Philadelphia - 2006
National Harbor, MD - 2009
Jersey City - 2010
Toronto - 2011
Boston - 2012
San Diego - 2013
Washington, DC - 2014
Ft. Lauderdale - 2015
Philadelphia - 2016
Boston - 2017
Chicago - 2018
Boston – 2019
Virtual - 2020
Orlando - 2021
Boston - 2023
San Antonio – 2024
ILADS Physicians Training Preceptorships
Preceptorship with Joseph Jemsek, MD – 2012
Preceptorship with Richard Horowitz, MD - 2012
Preceptorship with Bernard Raxlen, MD – 2012
Preceptorship with Richard Horowitz, MD – 2013
Preceptorship with Bernard Raxlen, MD – 2014
The North Carolina Integrative Medical Society Conference
Asheville - 2010
Asheville - 2011
Clemmons - 2012
Greensboro - 2013
Greensboro - 2014
Greensboro - 2016
Asheville – 2019
Wilmington - 2019
Virtual - 2020
Asheville - 2021
Cary - 2022
Cary - 2023
Asheville – 2024
American Academy of Thermology Conferences and Training
Greenville, SC - 2012
Greenville, SC - 2013
Greenville, SC - 2015
Greenville, SC - 2016
Greenville, SC - 2019
Greenville, SC – 2022
Virtual – 2020
International College of Integrative Medicine
o Dallas – 2003
o Atlanta - 2004
o Anaheim - 2005
o Dallas - 2006
o Cincinnati - 2007
o Chicago - 2010
o Dallas - 2015
o Minneapolis – 2018