TAM (Translational and Advanced Medical) Center is a full service community hospital within the ocean-front suburb of Playas de Tijuana. Since its inception in 1979, TAM Center integrative medical practice has become world-renowned and has been long identified as the home of Mexico’s Center for Integrative Medicine and Research.
Our founding legacy represents the original medical practice of immuno-nutrition therapy developed by Max B. Gerson, M.D. (founder of immune nutrition) known for his many contributions to addressing chronic, degenerative, and infectious diseases, as well as the documentation and remission of cancer.
History
Dr. Gerson’s diet therapy was introduced in Mexico in 1977 with the dedication of several beds at the Hospital La Gloria. Both the treatment’s initial successes and popular demand prompted the opening of a second facility in 1979, the Hospital Jardines de la Mesa. The economic downturn of the 1980s led to the merger of these facilities. Following a major fire that seriously damaged the La Gloria facility, a temporary location was established at Hospital Del Sol in Playas de Tijuana. Within five years, the medical practice moved to new facilities at TAM Center, a full-service community hospital, where it has made its home for nearly twenty years.
During this time, the cancer therapy developed by Dr. Gerson has remained the nutritional foundation for the management of cancer and other chronic and degenerative diseases. Modern chemoprevention research into phytochemicals has led to a more precise understanding and refinement of the approach. Today, the seminal contributions of Dr. Gerson continue to advance in importance as vaccine-based immunotherapy comes of age because nutritional control improves the immune system’s responsiveness.
Collaborations
The medical practice of TAM Center collaborated with the Gerson Institute for 18 years until 1996. When Dr. Charlotte Gerson, daughter of Dr. Max Gerson, chose to pursue other options, solely diet-based treatment. In spite of Dr. Max Gerson’s endorsement of vaccine-based immunotherapies, the Gerson Institute was unsupportive. With its conflicting principles, TAM Center and the Gerson Research Organization (GRO) moved immediately to follow Dr. Max Gerson’s suggestion to integrate diet therapy with the Coley Fluid.
Shortly thereafter, Dr. Josef Issels joined TAM Center and GRO to establish a methodology for integrative immunotherapy focusing on cancer and other chronic, degenerative, inflammatory diseases. After Dr. Issels’ death in 1998, TAM Center and GRO researchers continued to pursue this approach, and do so today, incorporating new findings as they are discovered.
In an effort to reach out to the cancer community, our staff organizes educational lectures on immune-enhancing lifestyles, broadcasts educational videos worldwide, and in-hospital instructional activities for patients and their companions. TAM Center offers relatives and friends an opportunity to help by encouraging them to stay with their loved ones for spiritual support in our ‘companion stay’ facilities.