Getting Ready To Celebrate The Foundation of Medicine

By Sara Thyr, ND

Photo by gregoryjameswalsh, via Flickr, used under the Creative Commons license.

This is the time of year when I am knee deep in reviewing abstracts. This is one of the most time-consuming yet inspiring jobs that one can volunteer for. (Luckily, it’s fairly short-lived.)

The deadline for abstracts was January 15. And, of course, at least half of what we have to review came in at the deadline. I appreciate that. I’m a deadline girl. But I know that made our convention organizers work like crazy to get those out to the committee.

It is really difficult to select one over another. I am amazed at the diversity of presenters and topics. So many of them catch my eye and make me very excited to see their presentations in August.

The AANP has been working to continue to increase practice development assistance for members, and there have been several excellent submissions so far that will fall into that category. There are also some great talks on pediatrics, women’s health, and mind-body medicine, and even cannabis.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the AANP, so we’ve selected the theme of “Celebrating the Foundation of our Medicine” and it is wonderful to see how many people are submitting talks that will fit into that theme, reflecting on the roots of our medicine and the recognition of the modalities that have been used by our forebearers.

Submissions have come in from all over the globe, and from presenters of many different disciplines. Of course, most of our abstracts come from the naturopathic community, but we also have submissions from medical doctors, and several other disciplines, such as chiropractors, business specialists, and mind-body medicine researchers and practitioners.

We are working very hard to make sure that there is no corporate bias in the continuing education program at our convention. It is more transparent to all committee members when a presenter has ties to any company. We have eliminated corporate sponsored research, striving to make sure that our attendees' continuing education is from the highest quality education sources.

The committee is as well-rounded as its ever been, with members from nearly all of the different naturopathic medical schools. We have also asked that people on the committee not submit abstracts for presentations this year, hoping that this will free the other committee members to be as frank as possible as we discuss every abstract submission. Our consensus will be what our attendees will most appreciate.

As I review what all of these professionals have written, I feel so blessed to be a part of this diverse, passionate and brilliant community. I hope to see you in August as we benefit from the fruits of their labor.