Interior of the Osher Wellness Center Suite in the UC Blood Cancer Healing Center. Pictured on Feb. 9, 2026.
Used with permission from the Osher Center for Integrated Health at the University of Cincinnati.
University of Cincinnati (UC) Health opened the Osher Wellness Center Suite in the Blood Cancer Healing Center on Mar. 2, 2026. The new space is designed to promote well-being and self-care through a variety of services.
“The suite is open to everyone, so it’s not just for patients,” said Emilie Fleming, marketing manager for the Osher Center for Integrative Health at UC. “It’s really for patients, students, faculty, staff, anyone experiencing burnout, looking for stress relief, that sort of thing. There are people experiencing cancer and the people that work here, obviously, have very stressful jobs, so they can come to the suite as a space for respite.”
The services offered through the suite include meditation, yoga, tai chi, art therapy, spiritual care and sound immersion. The suite houses a rooftop healing garden where “nature as medicine” and nature-based movement classes will be held during warmer weather. Fleming says the suite’s outdoor wing will allow bedridden in-patients at the Blood Cancer Healing Center to spend time outside.
The suite also houses the John and Carrie Hayden Community Learning Kitchen, a space designed to promote culinary medicine — a type of medical education that relates dietary habits and nutrition to health. The kitchen is the first of its kind in the Greater Cincinnati Region, according to Fleming.
The suite will host groups of students from UC’s College of Medicine to supplement the work students are doing in the classroom.
“From the medical school side of it, the kitchen is really integrating nutrition education into programming,” said Stephanie White, the culinary medicine director for the Osher Center. “Starting in the early spring, late summer, we should also have group medical visits, which will be an opportunity for patients to get in the kitchen through their medical visit, which is obviously much broader than just the culinary medicine, but it’s a component of it, it’s also billed through insurance, which is really great for those patients.”
White and the center’s medical director, Dr. Mladen Golubic, will begin each cooking class with presentations on the health data and science behind the meal they are preparing. They will then walk participants through how to make the dish. “Every participant has their own cutting board at the station, so they’ll work with other folks, but they’ll also have their own space to get a hands-on experience,” White said. “We’ll make a meal together, and then also get to sit down and enjoy them together.”
Through the month of March, all services offered through the suite are free — starting in April, services will be offered on a tiered payment system. “When you enroll for a class, you can choose what group you fall into, and most of the classes will be $5, $10 or $15,” Fleming said. “We would love to offer as much as we can for free, but at the same time, a lot of times people will sign up for free and take the spots and then not actually show up, unfortunately.
Suite staff plan to continue extend outreach and programming within the space. “We are expanding with group medical visits, so specific patient groups might come in here, and we’ll have programming for them,” Fleming said. “We’re also really looking for community partners that are interested in coming and offering programs here as well, and students, of course; any student groups that are interested in programming would be amazing as well.”
Fleming says suite staff are currently developing regular group therapy-like programming for cancer survivors and people touched by cancer such families and friends of cancer patients and caregivers. She also says UC Health plans to utilize the suite for integrative health research.
“More research is coming,” she said. “There is a lot of evidence that yoga can support you when you’re going through cancer treatment, mitigate side effects or help you sleep better. Our research would aim to make it more prescriptive. Like, for this specific cancer patient, what would actually help them through their treatment?”
