Why You Should Attend This Year’s Society for Integrative Oncology Conference

If your center provides conventional or integrative oncology care with medical oncologists on staff, or otherwise offers supportive cancer care services across a spectrum of interventions–i.e., nutritional support,  exercise physiology, mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques, acupuncture and psychosocial counseling–you should attend at the Eighth International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO), November 10-12, 2011 at the InterContinental Hotel and Conference Center in Cleveland, Ohio. This year’s CME event is jointly sponsored by Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. Download conference brochure here.

Before I go further, a disclosure: I am on SIO’s board and scientific planning committee for this year’s conference. FON provides SIO ongoing development consultation.

How SIO Began and its Mission

Founded in 2003 by stakeholders from several of the leading cancer institutions in the U.S., including MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, SIO’s mission is rooted in the rigorous study of complementary oncology interventions to test their effectiveness and safety.

The Inexorable March Toward Integrative Care

A steadily growing scientific base suggests that certain integrative modalities help mitigate the cytotoxic effects of conventional therapies, thereby increasing their efficacy by allowing patients to tolerate the prescribed course of treatment.  Strengthening the immune system through nutrition and select nutraceuticals and botanicals; increasing metabolic rate with prescriptive exercise programs; psycho-oncology and psychosocial support; epigenetics–these areas and more will be discussed along with approximately 100 abstract presentations and posters during the conference’s newly expanded three-day format.

Shifting the Management of Chronic Malignancy

Healthcare economists predict a significant shift in how chronic malignant disease will be managed in the future, with primary care docs seeing more cancer patients for routine care–labs, exams, monitoring–and medical oncologists focusing more on acute care. Integrative practitioners will also start to see more patients with cancer. If you are part of a primary care practice that provides conventional or integrative medical care–with even a small percentage of oncology patients–you too should attend this Fall’s conference.

Hear and Meet Leading Integrative Oncologists, Researchers and Clinicians Across Multiple Disciplines From Around the World

By attending the conference and taking in the high quality programming–keynotes, lectures, presented abstracts and poster sessions–you will gather the latest science that supports many of the integrative services your center or practice provides today. And this growing body of integrative medicine science may inform your center’s clinical care model moving forward.

The SIO conference affords you the opportunity to discuss integrative oncology–the science, evolving clinical models and business models–with like-minded folks who live in this world day every day. They are the clinicians, researchers and academics whose passion revolves around whole person, patient-centered care.

New to Integrative Oncology?

Are your patients constantly asking about complementary interventions?  Want to get up-to-date with the latest nutritional facts to help create an anticancer environment for your patients?  Looking for the expertise to sort through supplements that may be helpful as well as those with contraindications? Is your center or clinic looking to launch an integrative program in the near future? If you answered yes to any of these questions, there’s never been a better time for an integrative oncology immersion than this year’s SIO conference–where the evidence base is thoroughly examined and translated to real world clinical care.

National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, is Delivering the Keynote!

This is a big deal. When the NIH director addresses the SIO attendees for the first time ever, you know that the future of personalized, integrative care for malignant disease has begun its trajectory toward standard of care in the U.S.  The theme of Dr. Collins’ address is “Seeking Out the Most Effective Interventions for Cancer Prevention and Treatment”.

No Fee Sessions for Patients, Advocates and Practitioners New to Integrative Oncology

For the first time ever, SIO is proud to provide select, no fee sessions to those practitioners wanting to learn more about a whole person approach to addressing malignant disease. Think of it as “Integrative Oncology 101”–what you need to know now to inform your decision to practice the future of oncology care, today. Patients, families and their advocates are encouraged to attend over 15 experiential workshops covering several key areas of mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques. I will be moderating a panel with fellow patient advocates which will also be made available to the community at no charge. There is limited seating for these complimentary sessions and you must preregister online here.

Look forward to seeing you in Cleveland this Fall.  Please introduce yourself and say hello.