President's Message: A Summer of Community

By Carl Hangee-Bauer, ND, LAc
AANP President

May was a wonderful month for the AANP and the naturopathic profession. Our annual Federal Legislative Initiative (aka the DC FLI) and our historic meeting with the AMA were significant successes. Thankfully, there has been a period of calm in my AANP duties before beginning to ramp up our summer activities, culminating with the ever-wonderful AANP Convention in August. It’s always good to have these more quiet times to reflect on all the trends and projects in progress, as well as take a few deep breaths. Having just returned from a Hawaii vacation, I feel refreshed and ready to focus on the next steps, and to see you all in August.

Summer is a season where we tend to get out more and be with others. The longer days and warmer weather foster opportunities like picnics, beach time, barbeques, and other activities that reinvigorate and deepen our connections with friends and family.

The naturopathic community reflects this greater seasonal trend. In early summer, the various elements of our profession begin to communicate more frequently as August approaches. Committees of both the Board and House of Delegates are meeting in preparation for the business of the convention. Our scientific community is busy preparing for the Naturopathic Research Summit on August 16. Students and NDs are preparing for the ZRT Cup.

At least as important as these formal relationships is the gathering of our tribe. This year we find ourselves back at the Biltmore in Phoenix, the most popular site for the AANP Convention, as well as at the East Coast remote convention site in Stamford, Connecticut. At both venues we will come together to learn new skills, find out what’s new in our field, be exposed to new products and diagnostic tools, have fun, and reconnect with our old friends and acquaintances. The latter is one of my favorite reasons for attending the convention. It is the one week each year that I can immerse myself in my profession and deepen my relationships with my colleagues. This always leaves me reinvigorated when I return to my practice.

Whether you are an AANP member or not (why not?), please join us at either site and experience the uniqueness of our community and the joys of being together.

A few reminders:

Vote! This year we are electing a new Treasurer to the board as well as three board positions. We have eight people running for these three positions so it will prove to be a competitive election. Packets containing candidate statements and other materials will be mailed to Members shortly. Voting will begin online on July 17 and continue into the Convention until August 19.

Nominate one of your colleagues for an award. The AANP is calling all of its members to nominate qualified candidates for the 2011 AANP Physician of the Year, Corporation of the Year, VIS, and New!!! Champion of Naturopathic Medicine Award (the "Champion Award"). This year's award recipients will be recognized at the closing banquet of the AANP's 26th Annual Convention and Exposition on Saturday, August 20, 2011, in Phoenix, AZ. All nominators and nominees must be members of the AANP in good standing. Click here to learn about the individual awards and download the nomination forms.

I am already thinking about who will get this year’s Presidents Award. So many deserving choices…

Our unity is our strength, and our community – represented by the AANP – is the vehicle we have to tell the wonderful story of naturopathic medicine. I invite all of you to help us build it even better. There is much to do. So, with all of the changes in health care, advances in medical knowledge and trends, and successes in our profession, the AANP Convention is the place to be to digest, absorb and grow – and connect.

I look forward to seeing you all there.

President's Message: Science and Naturopathic Medicine

By Carl Hangee-Bauer, ND, LAc
AANP President

Photo by CIAT - International Center for Tropical Agriculture via Flickr, used under the Creative Commons License.

When I was a teenager, my first career choice was marine biology. Growing up along the coast in Florida, I spent much of my spare time in nature and in the water, enjoying the marvels of life and the natural world around me, and I still spend most of my vacations in natural settings and in the water. In school, I was a science geek and took every course in biology, chemistry, physics, etc., I could. When I went to college at Florida State University, my major was Biology, with dual minors in Chemistry and Physics. It was during my four-year stint in the United States Army that my attention was redirected to the medical field (I was a Medical Service Corps Officer), which eventually led me to naturopathic medicine and my true life career.

I tell you this to let you know that I am no stranger to science. I still find it fascinating and appreciate the many ways it helps us understand the workings of nature and the world, helping us separate what appears to be the truth of things from reality. Studying naturopathic medicine, and especially acupuncture, presented me with many challenges, and I learned along the way that our medicine, as well as all other systems of medicine, are really a combination of science and art. When we work with our patients, we draw from both in order to stimulate the vis and provide well-rounded care to our patients.

Thus it has become an increasing concern to me when I read articles and blogs on the Internet blasting naturopathic medicine for being “unscientific.” These frequently polemic articles, while professing to come from scientific logic, to my eye are biased misrepresentations of the truth. They often lambast our profession and philosophy as unscientific, yet I have yet to see any one of them provide a critical analysis of research done by naturopathic physicians and researchers. It is sad that science can be used in these political ways.

This is important. As a student at Bastyr University, I remember Dr. Joe Pizzorno saying that if our profession is to be taken seriously by the larger world of medicine, we must speak in a language that everyone can understand and appreciate. That language is the language of science, and few have done more over the past 25 years than Dr. Pizzorno to increase the credibility of the naturopathic profession using this approach. While I think we all can agree that we draw both from science as well as traditional practices and experiences when evaluating the efficacy of our therapies and approaches to practicing medicine, advancing the research and science agenda remains an important step for our profession to move forward, especially with the continued interest in evidence-based approaches to health care.

Fortunately there is now a great effort within the profession to advance our understanding of how science informs naturopathic practice, especially in the realm of whole practice approaches to health issues. Dr. Michael Cronin, the AANP’s President-Elect, has been a strong advocate on the AANP Board for promoting scientific affairs. The Naturopathic Physicians Research Institute (NPRI), headed by Dr. Carlo Calabrese, is a group of academic and community clinicians, clinical researchers and other health scientists whose aim is to increase the amount of original data and analysis on the practice of naturopathic medicine for the purposes of its documentation and improvement, the discovery of potentially generalizable health applications, and to inform policy. And, of course, there is active research going on presently at all of our naturopathic colleges by well-trained and experienced researchers who are testing the theories and practices of naturopathic medicine. Much of the discussion I’ve heard lately focuses on studies of whole practice approaches to health care versus single agent actions.

On August 16, 2011, the Tuesday before the start of the 2011 AANP Convention, the AANP will be sponsoring a scientific summit. While only in the early stages of planning, it promises to be a gathering for the different players in the naturopathic profession to connect and define how the AANP mission, naturopathic research, and evidence-informed health policy can join and result in healthier patients, a more effective health-care system, and a flourishing naturopathic profession. Core discussion points will include articulating policy and practice issues driving our research agenda, where the profession is now and what future possibilities exist, and defining the core research questions relating to safety, effectiveness, and costs.

The AANP Board and many in our profession agree that where possible providing a scientific basis for our therapies and for the naturopathic approach is an important step in growing our professions credibility and inclusion in the greater health care system. How we prioritize this and communicate to the public is of vital importance.

I hope to see many of you there.