On the small Greek island of Alonissos, in the northern Aegean, sits one of the best-known teaching centres for classical homeopathy in the world. The International Academy of Classical Homeopathy, usually shortened to IACH, was founded by Prof. George Vithoulkas, and it is where Dr. Dhiman Roy earned his Diploma (Dip.IACH). This page explains what the academy is, who founded it, how it teaches, and what its presence in Bangladesh means for local students and practitioners.
An academy on a Greek island
Alonissos is a quiet island in the Sporades group, better known for pine forests, clear water and a protected marine park than for medical education. It was here, in the mid-1990s, that Prof. Vithoulkas opened the academy. Sources differ slightly on the year: the Right Livelihood Foundation dates the opening to 1994, while several other accounts give 1995. Either way, the purpose was the same from the start: to offer postgraduate training in classical homeopathy to doctors and health practitioners from around the world.
Over time the academy added distance learning, so the island became the home of the school rather than the only place to attend it.
Prof. George Vithoulkas
George Vithoulkas was born in Athens in 1932. His study of homeopathy began in South Africa in 1960 and continued at homeopathic colleges in India, where he received a diploma from the Indian Institute of Homeopathy in 1966. He returned to Greece and, from 1967, began practising and teaching homeopathy to a small group of Greek medical doctors.
In 1970 he founded the Athenian School of Homeopathic Medicine, later renamed the Center of Homeopathic Medicine, which was dedicated to teaching medical doctors. He also helped set up the first Greek Homeopathic Society in 1971, started the journal Homeopathic Medicine in 1972, and organised the first International Homeopathic Seminars in 1976.
His books
Prof. Vithoulkas is perhaps best known through his writing. His books have been translated into around twenty languages. Among the most widely read are:
- Homeopathy: Medicine of the New Man (1979), an introduction for general readers.
- The Science of Homeopathy (1980), a systematic account of the principles and methods of classical practice.
- Levels of Health, which sets out his theory of how a person's overall state of health can be assessed, and which appeared in a revised edition in 2017.
- Materia Medica Viva, a multi-volume study of individual remedies drawn from clinical experience.
- The Essence of Materia Medica, a shorter guide to the central picture of many remedies.
The Right Livelihood Award
In 1996 Prof. Vithoulkas received the Right Livelihood Award, often described as the "Alternative Nobel Prize". The award was given for his outstanding contribution to the revival of homeopathic knowledge and for training homeopaths to the highest standards.
What "classical homeopathy" means
The word "classical" signals a return to the method described by Samuel Hahnemann, the German physician who founded homeopathy, and refined by later teachers such as James Tyler Kent. At the academy, it rests on a few working principles:
- A single remedy at a time. The practitioner gives one remedy and observes its effect, rather than combining several in one prescription.
- Individualisation. Two people with the same diagnosis may receive different remedies, because the choice depends on the person as a whole and not on the name of the complaint alone.
- The totality of symptoms. Physical symptoms, emotional state, sleep, appetite, reactions to heat and cold and many other details are gathered together to form a complete picture.
- Careful follow-up. The patient is reviewed over weeks and months, and the practitioner judges whether to wait, repeat or change the remedy based on how the person is responding.
This approach asks a great deal of the practitioner. A long first consultation, patience, and honest record-keeping are central to it, and the academy's teaching is built around developing those habits.
How the academy teaches
Today most students meet the academy through its e-learning programme. The academy describes a structured online course, typically spread over two to three years depending on the version, that combines video lectures, assigned reading and clinical training. Students can study at their own pace, with tutor support and tests along the way, and those who complete the course and pass the final examinations receive the academy's Diploma.
The course content covers several areas:
- the theory of classical homeopathy, including Prof. Vithoulkas's Levels of Health;
- materia medica, the detailed study of individual remedies and how to tell similar remedies apart;
- repertorisation, the method of searching symptom indexes to narrow down a remedy;
- clinical cases, many showing long-term follow-up over several years.
The case teaching is the part students often remember most. Prof. Vithoulkas is shown taking and analysing cases, explaining why he chose a remedy and how he read the patient's response afterwards. Seeing a real consultation unfold, and then following the same patient over time, teaches judgement in a way that a textbook cannot.
A worldwide community of students
Although its home is a small island, the academy's reach is international. It reports that its students have come from more than ninety countries, and recognised representatives promote its programmes in different parts of the world. Lectures are offered with subtitles in a number of languages, which helps practitioners who do not study in English as a first language. Graduates share a common method and vocabulary for discussing cases.
VithoulkasBrain
VithoulkasBrain is an online expert system for homeopathic practitioners and students, developed under the guidance of Prof. Vithoulkas and built on his teaching and clinical methodology. It runs in a web browser on computers, tablets and phones. Its tools support case analysis and remedy selection, offer advanced searching of repertories and several materia medicas, and include an online space for recording and reviewing clinical cases over time. It is designed to support a trained practitioner's judgement, not to replace it.
Dr. Dhiman Roy and the IACH in Bangladesh
Dr. Dhiman Roy holds the Diploma of the International Academy of Classical Homeopathy, Alonissos, Greece. He is a direct student of Prof. George Vithoulkas and has travelled to Greece to study within the academic environment associated with him. His wider training includes a BHMS from the University of Dhaka, an MSc in Homeopathy from the University of Central Lancashire, an MSc in Public Health from the University of East London, and a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Rajshahi.
Dr. Roy serves as the Bangladesh Representative of Prof. George Vithoulkas and the IACH, promoting classical homeopathy education in Bangladesh. He also serves as the Bangladesh Representative of VithoulkasBrain. In practical terms, this means:
- students and practitioners in Bangladesh have a local point of contact for information about the academy and its programmes;
- those interested in VithoulkasBrain can ask about the platform and how it fits into everyday practice;
- questions can be discussed with someone who has studied the method directly with its founder.
If you are a homeopathy student, a BHMS graduate or a practising homeopath in Bangladesh and would like to know more, you are welcome to get in touch with Dr. Roy in Khulna.
Conclusion
The International Academy of Classical Homeopathy began as a school on a quiet Greek island and grew into an international teaching programme. Its approach follows the classical method: one remedy at a time, chosen for the whole person and checked through careful follow-up. Prof. George Vithoulkas built it on decades of practice, teaching and writing, work that was recognised with the Right Livelihood Award in 1996. For Dr. Dhiman Roy, the academy is both where he trained and an ongoing responsibility, as its Bangladesh Representative. For students and practitioners here, that link offers a clear route to studying classical homeopathy as it is taught on Alonissos.
Official information about the Academy's programmes is published by the IACH itself.