This R13 application requests support for a conference entitled, 2018 International Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health to be held in Baltimore, MD at the Marriott Waterfront May 8-11, 2018. The conference is sponsored by the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health (The Consortium),which represents 71 academic health centers and health systems in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, with programs focusing on education, research and clinical delivery of complementary therapies and models of integrative health. This conference is meant to showcase by way of keynote and plenary presentations, posters, symposia and workshops, original scientific research, provide opportunities for experiential learning; and foster innovation in the area of complementary and integrative health. Basic science investigators, clinical and health service researchers, practitioners, and educators will present original research, moderate panel presentations, host workshops, and share innovative developments in the field of complementary and integrative health selected through a peer-review process. Leaders in the field will be invited to provide keynote addresses and to moderate concurrent research presentations. The planning for the conference is overseen by the Program Planning Committee with two co-Chairs, with liaison to the Consortium's Board of Directors and Working Groups. The Chairs and members of the committee are leaders from the conventional and complementary health research communities of the United States, Canada and Europe, including funded investigators, directors of integrative health centers, educators and policy advocates. The Program Planning Committee is charged with determining the themes for the conference and selecting the keynote speakers. Proposals for sessions (symposia, featured discussions and workshops) will be solicited, as will submission of abstracts. All will undergo peer-review for quality by roughly 250 expert reviewers previously used for the 2014 and 2016 Congresses, and the de-identified peer review process is directed by the Program Planning Committee. This will be the sixth scientific conference sponsored by the Consortium. The 2016 Congress (held in Las Vegas, Nevada), was attended by 792 researchers, healthcare practitioners, educators and policy advocates, representing over 150 academic institutions and organizations from 23 countries. The chosen Congress theme for 2018, Collaboration in Action: Advancing Integrative Health through Research, Education, Clinical Practice and Policy, reflects both the collaborative nature of the field and the scope of the scientific program. This proposed international scientific Congress builds upon the experience of five highly successful previous international scientific conferences, many of which have been supported by the NCCIH. This funding will be used to support key conference programs, especially those devoted to research and training in integrative medicine. This gathering is aimed to achieve our goal of strengthening integrative health around the world.
Public scientific meetings, where new peer-reviewed work is presented and discussed, are crucial to the advancement of all research disciplines, as they allow scientists, regulators, funders, researchers-in-training to come together in a focused setting to explore data from important recent work in their respective disciplines, address issues of common concern, and provide much-needed peer-review regarding the emerging knowledge and understanding. The general public benefits by way of the improved therapeutic and other scientific advances that make their first appearance at these meetings. NIH support of this particular conference on integrative medicine and health for the past five meetings has been critical in allowing an extension of benefits of attending to a larger and more diverse audience, especially to members in training.
