Event Description:

A diverse panel of women’s health specialists will offer insights into the practice of integrative gynecology as they survey some of their most effective clinical tools and approaches for promoting fertility. Topics will include an innovative hospital-based lifestyle medicine program; the application of bioidentical hormones; food as medicine; fertility-oriented yoga; and the use of research findings to help guide treatment.

Christine Kaiser, DACM, L.Ac, FABORM, the panel’s moderator, will lead off by explaining how she tries to inform and inspire her fertility patients to implement recommended lifestyle practices–and how she makes it all accessible to a broader patient base than might otherwise be possible–through a new eight-week program she was instrumental in developing at University Hospitals Connor Whole Health in Cleveland.  She will illustrate how the program uses lifestyle-medicine visits to support fertility patients through education in a group setting that is structured around habit-building, nutrition, stress management, sleep, exercise, toxin reduction, and supplements.  The group visits are paired with individual health-coaching sessions to help patients implement these tools in their personal lives, while providing a space for community and connection to eliminate the isolation that is often felt during the fertility journey.

Dr. Amy Sapola, PharmD, will talk about how she uses yoga and “food as medicine” both as tools and motivation for enhancing fertility and women’s health generally.  Her presentation will cover phytonutrients, the energetics of food, glycemic load, trans fats, and omega-3’s.  She will also discuss fertility yoga–what it is, how it differs from a “regular” yoga class, what benefits it confers, and what the available research shows.

Dr. Lee Hullender Rubin, DAOM, MS, L.Ac., FABORM, will speak about how she uses research findings (both her own and the rest of what’s available in the literature) to inform her practice and translate their conclusions into specific clinical measures.   She will illustrate this process through a case presentation on Diminished Ovarian Reserve–a common factor in infertility–that describes an evidence-informed multi-modal approach to the issue and cites research suggesting that acupuncture and East Asian Medicine may support women who are dealing with it.

Dr. Tara Scott, MD, will speak about strategies for determining and implementing the use of bioidentical hormones in her practice, both to promote fertility and to address other gynecologic issues–and the challenges she may encounter with her patients in the process.  She will briefly review hormone physiology as it pertains to fertility, breast cancer, and endometriosis, and then discuss considerations in hormone testing, dosing, and monitoring.

_____________________________________________________

REGISTER HERE

This event is intended for integrative practitioners of all disciplines.

You do not need to specialize in integrative gynecology to attend.

Non-members and med students interested in integrative medicine are also invited to join the webinar. 

AIHM Cleveland Chapter contact: petergeller.lac@gmail.com

_____________________________________________________

Panelists Bios:

Christine Kaiser, DACM, L.Ac., FABORM, Dipl OM (NCCAOM), serves as the Connor Endowed Director of Reproductive Well-being and Clinical Manager of Acupuncture at University Hospitals Connor Whole Health in Cleveland, OH.  A licensed acupuncturist and Board-certified Chinese herbalist, she is also a Fellow of The Acupuncture and TCM Board of Reproductive Medicine (FABORM), Board-certified in treating fertility issues with Chinese medicine.

Christine integrates Traditional Chinese Medicine into the treatment protocols of the UH Fertility Center, while also creating programing to support reproductive well-being and favorable outcomes during fertility care, pregnancy, and postpartum.

Informed by a passion for women’s health, she has focused her work and studies for nearly 20 years on menstrual and fertility issues, pregnancy support, postpartum care, and menopause.  Christine also has a longstanding love of lifestyle medicine and of helping her patients improve well-being through their daily choices and habits.

Dr. Lee Hullender Rubin, DAOM, MS, L.Ac., FABORM, is an internationally recognized, award-winning doctor of acupuncture and a leader in the field of integrative reproductive medicine.  The founder of Rosefinch Health in Portland, OR, she has over two decades of clinical experience specializing in fertility, IVF support, pelvic and vulvovaginal pain, and cancer-related support.

Also an accomplished researcher who has authored more than 30 publications in the field, Dr. Rubin’s primary research has examined the impacts of acupuncture, integrative medicine and Eastern medicine on fertility and IVF birth outcomes, as well as acupuncture’s effect on reducing genital pain from vulvodynia.   Her work has been cited in several integrative medicine reference works, including the Oxford University Press textbook Integrative Women’s Health.

In addition to her work as a clinician and researcher, Dr. Rubin has taught at more than a half-dozen medical institutions, including Bastyr University, the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, and the UCSF Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.   She recently founded Rosefinch Academy, a continuing education hub for acupuncturists interested in learning how acupuncture and integrative medicine can support fertility.

She is a Fellow of the Acupuncture and TCM Board of Reproductive Medicine, and is also the first non-physician acupuncturist to become a Fellow of the International Society for the Study of Vulvovaginal Diseases.

Dr. Amy Sapola, PharmD, RPh, FAIHM, IFMCP, RYT-200, is a clinical pharmacist and a yoga and mindfulness instructor at University Hospitals Connor Whole Health, an Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner, and a wellness coach with a B.S. in nutrition.  She has completed a 2-year integrative medicine fellowship with honors from the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM), and has trained as well in culinary coaching and culinary medicine.

Dr. Sapola also has worked in rural healthcare, helping to start hospital and school gardens and assisting the local food shelf move to a produce-forward design. She later became the Director of “Farmacy” at the Chef’s Garden in Huron, OH, where she worked extensively with “food as medicine” and culinary medicine, as well as regenerative farming and soil health.

In her current role at University Hospitals, Dr. Sapola specializes in integrative medicine and women’s health. Additionally, she works with healthcare providers, community members, and schools, teaching yoga and mindfulness, food as medicine, and culinary medicine. Dr. Sapola is a co-leader of the AIHM’s Cleveland chapter.

Dr. Tara Scott, MD, medical director of Forum Health Akron, is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, functional medicine, and integrative medicine.  She recently “retired” from OB/GYN after almost 20 years to focus on her passions for functional and integrative medicine.

Dr. Scott has long specialized in women’s health, with specific emphasis on hormone-related issues, including fertility, breast cancer, and endometriosis.  Dedicated to educating both the medical community and the general public about advances in evidence-based hormone therapy, she has been teaching physicians around the world for more than a decade.

Dr. Scott has also appeared in numerous podcasts, including a recent TED-x talk, as well as in popular-press publications such as Newsweek, Women’s Health, and Parents.

For her expertise in this area, she has come to be known popularly as “the hormone guru.”

In addition to her triple board certifications, Dr. Scott has earned many other advanced credentials during her decades in practice. She has been named a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (FACOG); an Advanced Fellow of the Fellowship in Anti-Aging, Regenerative, and Functional Medicine (FAARM), certified by the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine; and a North American Menopause Society Certified Menopause Practitioner (NCMP).  She is also an associate clinical professor at Northeast Ohio Medical University, where she teaches OB/GYN residents.

Dr. Scott now serves as the Women’s Health Course Lead for the Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute’s Integrative and Functional Medicine Fellowship at the University of California, Irvine.