March 2014 John Weeks Integrator Round-Up: People & Awards

by John Weeks, Publisher Editor of The Integrator Blog News & Reports James Gordon, MD and Tieraona Lowdog, MD receive 2014 awards from the Integrative Healthcare SymposiumThe increasingly robust, interprofessional gathering, the Integrative Healthcare Symposium, chose to honor two medical doctors with

by John Weeks, Publisher/Editor of The Integrator Blog News & Reports

James Gordon, MD and Tieraona Lowdog, MD receive 2014 awards from the Integrative Healthcare Symposium

The increasingly robust, interprofessional gathering, the Integrative Healthcare Symposium, chose to honor two medical doctors with its 2014 awards. The Visionary Award was granted to James Gordon, MD, the integrative psychiatrist, founder of the Center for Mind Body Medicine at Georgetown University and past chair of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. Gordon has recently been focusing much of his energy on using mind-body approaches to help large and small groups in community medicine and public health arenas. He is addressing the needs of populations in such hotspots of stress and pressure as Bosnia and the West Bank. In addition, Tieraona Lowdog, MD, the education director for the fellowship in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine was granted the 2014 Leadership Award. Lowdog is a unique integrative MD whose clinical experience includes time as both a midwife and a massage therapist. The next IHS conference will be February 19-21, 2015.

Jerrilyn Cambron, DC, PhD elected president of the Massage Therapy Foundation

The Massage Therapy Foundation (MTF) has announced that Jerrilyn Cambron, DC, MPH, PhD, LMT was elected to a two-year term as president of MTF. Cambron is research professor at the multidisciplinary National University of Health Sciences. Cambron is also a licensed massage therapist and founder of MassageNet, a practice-based research network for massage therapists. The associate editor for the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies also writes a column for Massage and Bodywork and serves on the Research Working Group of the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care. She succeeds Ruth Werner, PhD.

Comment: Any observer of the roller-coaster activity in the massage field - with its trade vs. profession identity issues - will know that the Massage Therapy Foundation has consistently drawn many of the best in the field onto its board and into its presidency. Cambron is one more in a succession that goes back to Janet Kahn, PhD, LMT and includes Washington State-based policy and coverage leader, author Diana Thompson, LMP, as well as Werner. Expect good things in Cambron's term.

American Botanical Council and American Herbal Products Association announce 2014 awards

The Anaheim trade show for the natural products industry is always marked by the herbal medicine and herbal industry awards. Here are those recognized in 2014.

American Botanical Council

• Gordon M. Cragg, PhD, received the Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award for 2013. Dr. Cragg is a former research director of the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), where he was involved in the NCI's search for new cancer medicines from plants and other natural sources.
• Herbal Advocate Sara Katz received the American Botanical Council Mark Blumenthal Herbal Community Builder Award
• Co-authors, herbalists, clinicians, and researchers Kerry Bone and Simon Mills receives ABC's James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award
• Wakunaga Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd., of Osaka, Japan was given the Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award for its “rigorous scientific and clinical research of its products, including its top-selling, clinically researched odorless Aged Garlic Extract.”

 

American Herbal Products Association awards were announced here.

• Daniel Gagnon, owner of Herbs, Etc., was awarded the AHPA Herbal Hero Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to AHPA committees and initiatives.
• Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps was awarded the AHPA Herbal Industry Leader Award for taking steps above and beyond normal business practices to advance the herbal products industry.
• Lyle Craker, PhD, was awarded the AHPA Herbal Insight Award in recognition of his efforts to significantly increase and further knowledge and understanding of botanicals and their uses.
• Six members of the VIRGO executive team were awarded a special AHPA Visionary Award for supporting and promoting the industry's responsible growth through education.

Payment expert Anthony Hamm, DC elected president of the American Chiropractic Association

In a note to members sub-headed Dr. Anthony Hamm Brings History of Interprofessional Cooperation and Payment Policy Expertise, the American Chiropractic Association announced that Anthony Hamm, DC has been elected to head the organization. Hamm made history in 2011 as the first chiropractic physician to be elected co-chair of the American Medical Association's (AMA) Health Care Professionals Advisory Committee Review Board (HCPAC) which develops recommendations on billing codes.

In assuming his position, Hamm told chiropractic leaders that the profession "possess(es) the opportunity to shape health care into a conservative-first approach, to promote health, wellness and preventive strategies and to promote patient-centered, evidence- informed health care."

Comment: Hamm and the A.C.A. would be served to focus right here on the note that Hamm struck - promotion of more conservative treatment - especially amidst the growing plague of opioid overuse.

American Chiropractic Association announces 2014 awards – Harkin, Overland, DeVries, Mayer

• Chiropractor of the Year Award, was presented to immediate past-president Keith Overland, DC, for navigating massive changes within the association, the profession and the nation's health care system.
• Retiring U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) received the Humanitarian of the Year Award recognizing his commitment to patients' access to the health care provider of their choice.
• Renee M. DeVries, DC, chiropractic dean for Northwestern Health Sciences University received the Academic of the Year Award
• John M. Mayer, DC, PhD, Lincoln College Endowed Chair in Biomechanical & Chiropractic Research, School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida (USF) received the George B. McClelland, DC, Researcher of the Year Award