The American Osteopathic Association (AOA), based in Chicago, will put more than $1 million toward osteopathic medicine research.

The funding will go toward nine separate research projects, which will study chronic diseases and conditions, osteopathic philosophy, osteopathic manipulative medicine, musculoskeletal injuries and prevention and pain management, the organization said in a statement.

"The osteopathic profession understands that in this period of exponential growth, we need to invest in research that objectively assesses the value our distinct philosophy of medicine brings to patients and the overall healthcare system," said Adrienne White-Faines, MPA, CEO of the AOA, in a statement. "Osteopathic physicians take a whole-person approach to medicine and seek to find the root causes of illness. This effort is about measuring outcomes and seeing if and how osteopathic physicians deliver higher quality care at a lower cost."

The organization, which represents more than 123,000 osteopathic physicians and medical students in the U.S., chose projects to fund that focus on population health issues.

Funding is going to osteopathic programs at institutions across the country including the New York Institute of Technology, the University of North Texas and Midwestern University outside of Chicago.