Thoughts on an integrative approach to teach wellness within the context of a traditional science/bioengineering curriculum.

: Engineers and scientists are valuable resources to society and might be referred to as human capital. Faculties are charged with protecting society’s investment in human capital by developing competency-based curricula. These curricula primarily focus on technical skills to assure society that the trainees are competent to perform their job but frequently neglect to teach the competency of self-awareness. Lack of self-awareness contributes to poor stress management, increased incidence of job burnout, high health care costs associated with stress-related chronic diseases, and a loss of valuable human capital. In this paper Guiding Principles are presented for incorporating the concepts of self-awareness, stress management and wellness into existing curricula. The guiding principles aim to provide an evidence-based approach to wellness by including opportunities for self-assessments of physiological parameters such as posturography, heart rate variability, and immune stress markers.