Wednesdays Off

By Jacob Schor ND, FABNO
Convention Speaker Selection Committee Chair

I’ve taken Wednesdays off since our first year in practice. It was easy at first. We didn’t have many patients and it made more sense to squeeze them together on the schedule. Wednesdays became my ski day and over the last twenty-one years it’s been a rare Winter Wednesday that I haven’t been on skis.

Summer Wednesdays are different - they are my dog days.  The dog and I head for the mountains and go for a walk, though in Colorado there isn’t really such a thing as a walk; we hike. These days off are essential for my mental well-being and probably for my health as well.  I’m not one for gyms or exercise machines but am content to spend a day on the trail. It gives me time to think, time to let those inner dialogues roll.

We hiked up Herman Gulch last Wednesday and I found myself thinking about which presentations are going to be on my ‘gotta see’ list at the AANP conference.  I realized that I’ve been looking forward to hearing what Britta Zimmer is going to have to say ever since reading her abstract last winter. Dr. Zimmer is the medical director of Pacific Quest, an adolescent and young adult wilderness and residential living program located on the Big Island of Hawaii.

I believe deeply that there is something innately healing about being outside in nature and I assume that many of you do as well.  There is something about the experience of fresh air, wind, rain, snow (though probably not so much snow in Hawaii), fresh running water and the sound of the ocean (not so much in Colorado), that enhances our well being. To turn this belief into a practice, now, that is a challenge. Thus I want to hear what Dr. Zimmer has to say. Is what they are doing really working?  Has she and this group at Pacific Quest figured out the appropriate dose of ‘outside’ required to help a troubled teen? I’ve got a thousand questions and I’m hoping she will be able to answer them.

Board Approves Scientific Affairs Committee

By Michelle Simon, ND, PhD
Scientific Affairs Committee Chair

In January, the AANP Board of Directors approved the creation of a Scientific Affairs Committee. This committee is advisory to the AANP Board. We have seven members, Ather Ali, ND, MPH, Carlo Calabrese, ND, MPH, Peter D’Adamo, ND, Bill Walter, ND, Heather Zwickey, PhD, Michael Cronin, ND, and me, Michelle Simon, ND, PhD as chair.

Our mission is to support the naturopathic profession by facilitating access to and education about current research on naturopathic medicine and to expand the available body of naturopathic medicine research. We have three areas of focus:

1. Science and Policy - The interface of these disciplines is necessary to support licensing, scope expansion, and insurance and government program inclusion. To support policy we need to help policy makers understand the available research, facilitate its presentation in an accessible location, and update this regularly.


2. Education and Training - We aim to increase the research literacy of our profession for both our existing graduates as well as current students. This may also include increasing the infrastructure or training for ND researchers and contributing to the educational opportunities at the AANP annual conference.


3. Research Facilitation - The science itself: its techniques and objectives. The SAC aims to provide input into determining what types of research, and on what topics, might be good priorities. For example using data mining techniques or bioinformatics, whole practice research, and cost effectiveness research. We might also provide input into what studies or surveys would assist patients or potential patients in their decision-making about naturopathic healthcare. One goal might be to utilize research in order to help differentiate our profession from other healthcare professions.

In May, we provided a one page white paper focused on the cost effectiveness research of our medicine which was presented at the DC Federal Legislative Lobby Day. Watch for more to come from our Scientific Affairs Committee.