Congratulations
to our Award Winners!
Brad Jacobs, MD, MPH, ABOIM, ABOIM, recipient of the Lee Lipsenthal Lifetime Achievement Heart award, shown here with Mimi Guarneri of AIHM.
Our 2023 recipient of the Visionary Award was the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association, accepted by Kenneth “Khensu” Carter, MD MPH Dipl. Acupuncture.
The Change Maker Award went to the National Association to Advance Black Birth (NAABB) at the AIHM Annual Conference in 2023. Ravae Sinclair, JD, PBD, (IPP), CLC, AdvCD, (DONA); NAABB board member, accepted the award.
On October 5-8 of this year, the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM) was privileged to host its Ninth Annual Conference — “People. Planet. Purpose.” — at the gorgeous Paradise Point Resort in San Diego, CA. Now that all feedback has finally been collected, and a full post-conference assessment has been made, we are thrilled to report that, by every significant metric and measure, our signature conference was a resounding success — even despite coinciding with a holiday weekend. Peer-to-peer-based evidence that interest and participation in this event remain strong, year after successful year.
Erika Cappelluti, Director of Fellowship and Education, celebrates with her cohorts during the AIHM Annual Conference at Paradise Point.
They came from near and far
International attendees hailed from as far as Bolivia, and helped comprise an attendance of over 300 excited, invested, and fully engaged participants. Each attendee came looking to expand their own personal and professional experience with Integrative Health and Medicine, and to join an ever-growing collective of like-minded collaborators on their journey toward advancing the cause of Whole Health. From the keynotes to the breakouts to the insightful panel discussions and hands-on demonstrations, the conference was, at once, fulfilling, inspiring, and rewarding, proving memorable in so many meaningful ways.
Our speakers often noted the high level of interest and the earnest involvement they felt during every session or panel they headed — with many conversations spreading into the corridors well after those talks had concluded. Engagement between attendees, presenters, and the more than 25 invited exhibitors was also extensive and ongoing throughout the four days. Several representatives of those organizations remarked how they’d made important business connections and strategic alliances during those days.
The practice of networking
And this dynamic of connecting, live networking, and community-building is, of course, one of the major reasons why we hold this conference each year. Arguably, it remains one of the field’s most anticipated opportunities for connecting with all things related to integrative health — especially now, with our essential focus on Whole Health. It continues to be where conventional, traditional, and interprofessional practitioners meet with each other and share intelligence about those aspects of integrative health and medicine that are working best in their practices. It’s where students and residents expand their knowledge and make key contact with potential employers. Where Fellowship program candidates, from all over, meet in person, many for the first time, attending commencement ceremonies and inspiring future Fellows. It’s where teachers of interprofessional health and medicine come to both teach and learn. And it’s where all such practitioners, participants, and disciplines alike converge in one place to share and explore the latest research and advancements in the field of integrative health and medicine and the practice of Whole Health.
And, of course, Paradise Point Resort lived up to its name, an ideal backdrop for a conference so focused on patient wellness and practitioner/physician self-care. The property’s staff were super-attentive to all of our needs and supported our attendees with responsiveness and grace. And the sunrise Tai-Chi sessions on the island lawn appeared, and felt — quite literally — like poetry in motion. It was the ideal morning energizer, helping us focus the rest of the day on mind, body, spirit, community and planet. Two other noteworthy and much appreciated highlights were how representatives of Southern California University donated acupuncture services to participants, and many participants availed themselves to other treatment services at the conference’s Healing Room.
Don’t miss next year — our Tenth Anniversary!
If you weren’t with us in San Diego this year, we are truly sorry you couldn’t make it. Definitively, and it must be said, there was much that you missed. But no worries. Second chances are what annual conferences are all about. So, be sure to stay tuned for when we select and announce the date and place of our 2024 annual conference. It will mark our Tenth Anniversary, so you’ll surely want to attend.
Hope to see you then!
