EVENT DESCRIPTION:
Four distinguished integrative oncologists from contrasting professional backgrounds will speak about the differing paths they’ve taken to their current practice situations. The panelists, working in a variety of clinical, research, and educational settings, will address both the challenges and opportunities they have encountered along the way, as well as the prospects and obstacles they envision for the future of the field from their particular corners of it.
This event will afford practitioners even potentially interested in integrative oncology practice an invaluable chance to hear some of the experiences, hard-won insights, and informed perspectives of IO specialists from across the integrative spectrum.
Dr. Santosh Rao, MD, will talk about what it’s like to establish an ambitious IO program at a major hospital system (University Hospitals in Cleveland) with an extensive existing integrative medicine network, and to navigate that system as he attempts to carve out the new program.
Dr. Kevin Brown, MD, will speak from the perspective of an MD IO practitioner who himself innovated a multidisciplinary integrative program in a major Colorado hospital system, but who has now chosen to step away from institutional practice and venture into the radically different world of private practice by opening a new solo IO clinic in that state.
Dr. Nalini Chilkov, OMD, L.Ac., founder of the American Institute of Integrative Oncology and developer of the Outsmart Cancer™ system, will discuss her unique 35-year experience as a kind of ambassador from the world of Traditional Chinese Medicine (and other integrative perspectives) to that of conventional oncology, and her successful approach to bridging the divide between the two.
Dr. Lise Alschuler, ND, FABNO, will draw from her more than three decades of experience in both hospital and small-group settings to describe her own distinctive and distinguished path in practice, education, research, organizational service, and IO/IM development–but from the standpoint of an ND rather than an MD or OMD.
As always, time will be reserved at the end for questions and comments from the virtual audience.
LEARN MORE ABOUT EACH PANELIST
Dr. Santosh Rao, MD is the medical director of the new Integrative oncology program, and part of the larger integrative medicine team, at the University Hospitals Connor Whole Health network in Cleveland, OH. Dr. Rao is a board-certified medical oncologist specializing in GU malignancies, and a board-certified integrative medicine provider. Prior to joining the UH Connor group, he served for eight years as the medical director of integrative medicine at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center in Phoenix, AZ, and became its director of supportive oncology in 2021, leading a distinguished program that included massage, acupuncture, yoga, meditation, diet and lifestyle direction, and integrative oncology. He has been recognized as a “Top Doc” for Integrative Medicine in Phoenix for four years.
Dr. Rao’s interest in integrative medicine began in college and was a significant influence on his decision to pursue a career in the medical field. After studying biophysics at the University of Michigan, he went on to obtain his medical degree at the University of Michigan as well. Dr. Rao then completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Diego. He completed an Associate Fellowship in Integrative Medicine in 2006 as a Bravewell Fellow at the University of Arizona, and also studied hematology and oncology at UH in Cleveland.
The incoming president of the prestigious Society for Integrative Oncology and a member of the Integrative Oncology Working Group, Dr. Rao is passionate about incorporating integrative oncology and cancer prevention into cancer care.
Dr. Kevin Brown, MD, is an integrative medicine physician and medical oncologist based in the Boulder, CO area. Triple board-certified in medical oncology, hematology, and integrative medicine, he completed fellowship training in the first two disciplines at the University of Iowa, and then graduated from the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine fellowship program in the fall of 2017. More recently, he worked as the lead integrative oncology physician for Kaiser Permanente Colorado. While at Kaiser, he helped develop a multidisciplinary integrative oncology program that included in-person consultative visits as well as a monthly virtual group class on integrative medicine in cancer care. Dr. Brown is a founding member of the elite Integrative Oncology Working Group, an international shared-learning forum and networking group of specialists in the field. He has been an integral part of the IOWG since its inception and has been instrumental in its rapid development over the past three years. This May he opened Spring Trail Integrative Oncology, a solo practice in Louisville, Colorado, where he focuses on consultative integrative care for cancer patients.
Dr. Nalini Chilkov, OMD, L.Ac, is founder of the American Institute of Integrative Oncology Research and Education and is recognized internationally as an authority and pioneer in integrative cancer care, cancer prevention, and immune enhancement. She is also renowned for her ability to bridge the divide between the worlds of Traditional Chinese Medicine and conventional oncology.
Dr. Chilkov is the creator of the OutSmart Cancer System™ and author of a best-selling distillation of that system, 32 Ways To Outsmart Cancer. She brings more than 35 years of experience with thousands of cancer patients to her passion for training frontline clinicians from around the world to become skilled practitioners who are confident in serving the health needs of cancer patients. She has lectured at the UCLA and UC Irvine schools of medicine and at medical institutes worldwide, and frequently serves as an expert resource for the media. In her private practice in Santa Monica, California, she strives to surpass statistical expectations for her patients by combining the best of modern biomedicine, Oriental medicine, and wellness medicine, in a fully integrative, individualized, and collaborative model of oncology care.
Dr. Lise Alschuler, ND, FABNO, is a professor of clinical medicine at the University of Arizona, and the associate director of the Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the university’s Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Alschuler received her undergraduate degree in medical anthropology from Brown University in Providence, RI. She obtained her naturopathic medical degree from Bastyr University in Seattle, WA, where she also completed a residency in general naturopathic medicine. She is board certified in naturopathic oncology and maintains a clinical practice out of the Naturopathic Specialists office in Scottsdale, AZ.
Dr. Alschuler is past president of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) and a founding board member, past president and current Board member of the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians. Previously, she was the department head of naturopathic medicine at Midwestern Regional Medical Center – Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and prior to that, served as clinic medical director at Bastyr University.
She has been an invited speaker at more than 300 scientific/medical conferences, published dozens of articles, been a co-investigator on five research studies, written six chapters for medical textbooks, and co-authored two books: Definitive Guide to Cancer, now in its 3rd edition, and Definitive Guide to Thriving After Cancer. The AANP recognized Dr. Alschuler as Physician of the Year in 2014, and she received an honorary degree from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine and the Joseph Pizzorno Founders award from Bastyr University in the same year. She was honored with the AANP President’s award in 2016, the Impact award from the National Association of Nutrition Professionals in 2017, and the Sheikh Zayed International Award in Naturopathy in 2020.
For more than a decade, Dr. Alschuler has co-hosted a weekly podcast on healthful living in the face of cancer and chronic disease. She envisions a world where all individuals with disease are offered personalized integrative care and are empowered to live exuberant and meaningful lives.
For any questions, please contact: petergeller.lac@gmail.com
We look forward to seeing you there!
