NUNM President David Schleich Announces Plans to Retire
National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) President David J. Schleich, PhD, has announced his plans to retire July 1, 2019. During his 
tenure, NUNM has undergone a period of growth and transformational change, becoming one of the nation’s foremost leaders in integrative natural medicine education, clinical care and research.
The NUNM Board of Directors announced that a search is underway for his successor. It is anticipated that Dr. Schleich will assist the new president through the transition.
Appointed president of the institution in April 2007, Dr. Schleich took the helm of what was then National College of Natural Medicine (NCNM), a medical school that offered two accredited postgraduate degrees—its flagship programs of naturopathic and classical Chinese medicine. Since then, he has presided over the roll-out of nine more degree programs—including three new undergraduate offerings that have created increased enrollment, while the school has achieved a worldwide reputation for excellence in natural medicine education and research. During Dr. Schleich’s tenure, NUNM’s Helfgott Research Institute has received more than $3.35 million in research grants from the National Institutes of Health.
It was also under Dr. Schleich’s watch that the institution launched a campus master plan, built the school’s first on-campus health clinic, and opened a number of health clinics throughout the Portland, OR metro area. Dr. Schleich also helped usher in NUNM’s first major donations for capital campaigns and other campus improvements, including those from locally known philanthropists Bob and Charlee Moore of Bob’s Red Mill, the Zidell family, and philanthropic foundations such as the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust and Meyer Memorial Trust.
In 2016, Dr. Schleich supervised the institution’s rebranding as National University of Natural Medicine to reflect its university status.
“David has been instrumental in guiding NUNM to prominence,” said NUNM Board of Directors Chair Willow Moore, DC, ND. “He was the perfect leader to propel our institution forward. He has a unique combination of skills and a deep breadth of knowledge that one can only hope to find in its academic leader—he is both an innovator and a scholar. But above all, David is a visionary. And he has been unrelenting in bringing his vision of a world-class university to fruition during his tenure. We will remain forever grateful for his unflagging dedication to NUNM, to the integration of the profession of natural medicine into the broader context of health care, and especially to the continuing success of our students and graduates.”
Moore noted that Dr. Schleich stepped into his role as president at a particularly tenuous time in the school’s history. “The legacy David will leave behind is particularly impressive when we remember that the school had just recently emerged from an extended period of difficulty prior to his appointment as president,” she said.
For more information, visit https://nunm.edu.
