The Institute for Functional Medicine Announces Lineup of Expert Speakers for the 2022 Annual International Conference: Advancements in Clinical Research and Innovative Practices in Functional Medicine

The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) is thrilled to announce the speaker lineup for this year’s Annual International Conference (AIC) 2022: Advancements in Clinical Research and Innovative Practices in Functional Medicine. This virtual event will be held June 4-5, 2022 and includes acclaimed clinical experts from Harvard Medical School, Tufts University School of Medicine, Yale Cancer Center and more. Clinicians from all disciplines are encouraged to attend at the special pricing of $195 to learn the latest in the clinical application of functional medicine to enhance patient care.

“Clinical care is evolving, and patients and clinicians alike are seeking advances in clinical practice to improve healing,” states Amy R. Mack, MSES/MPA, IFM chief executive officer. “We are excited to come together virtually to share new ways in which functional medicine is creating improved health outcomes for all patient populations.”

Functional medicine asks how and why illness occurs and restores health by addressing the root causes of disease for each individual. It is an approach to patient care that views health and illness as part of a continuum in which all components of the human biological system interact dynamically with the environment, producing patterns and effects that change over time. Interest in functional medicine continues to grow, both for practitioners and consumers, and is essential to the transformation of healthcare delivery.

As the largest gathering of functional medicine practitioners, AIC event attendees annually represent all 50 United States and more than 38 countries around the globe. AIC 2022 will provide this years’ attendees with a multitude of educational opportunities to advance their techniques and enhance delivery of patient care. The following expert speakers will be featured at AIC 2022:

D. Barry Boyd, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Yale Cancer Center

Dr. Boyd is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Yale Cancer Center and cares for patients at the Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Center in Greenwich. He received his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College and an MS from Columbia University’s Institute of Human Nutrition. He completed his Residency and Fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is currently an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Yale School of Medicine and Senior Attending in Medical Oncology at Yale-Smilow Cancer Center Greenwich Care Center.

Lori Knutson, RN, BSN, HNB-BC, Senior Director of Healthcare System Redesign, Whole Health Institute and Chopra Research Library

Lori Knutson is Senior Director of Healthcare System Redesign, Whole Health Institute and Chopra Research Library. Ms. Knutson served as the Associate Vice President for Health and Well-Being at Duke University Health System and Executive Director of Duke Integrative Medicine and served as the Director of Duke Leadership Program in Health and Well-Being. Her responsibilities also included the Duke Diet and Fitness Center and the Duke Health and Fitness Center. Prior to her work with Duke, Ms. Knutson was the Corporate Administrative Director of Integrative Health and Medicine for Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey.

Emeran Mayer, MD, Executive Director, G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience at UCLA

Emeran A. Mayer, MD, is a gastroenterologist, neuroscientist, and distinguished research professor in the Department of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, executive director of the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience at UCLA, and founding director of the UCLA Brain Gut Microbiome Center. He has published close to 400 scientific papers, coedited three books, published the bestselling book The Mind-Gut Connection in 2016 and The Gut-Immune Connection in June of 2021.

Daphne Miller, MD, Research Scientist at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health

In a typical work week, Daphne Miller, MD spends as much time with ecologists, soil scientists, and farmers as she does with medical professionals. She is a family physician, science writer, Clinical Professor at the University of California San Francisco, and Research Scientist at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health. As founder of the Health from the Soil Up Initiative, she studies the connections among health, culture, and agriculture, with the goal of building a healthier and more resilient food system from the soil up.

Adam Rindfleisch, MPhil, MD, Vice Dean of Education, Whole Health School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Adam Rindfleisch, MPhil, MD serves as Vice Dean of Education at the Whole Health School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Prior, he was an associate professor with the University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. Dr. Rindfleisch completed medical school at Johns Hopkins, his family medicine residency at UW, and as a Rhodes Scholar, received a Masters of Philosophy at Oxford in Comparative Social Research. In 2005, Dr. Rindfleisch completed the University of Arizona Integrative Medicine and the UW Academic Integrative Health fellowship. He directed the UW fellowship for the next 10 years and created a comprehensive, integrative health curriculum now being used at UW, UCSF, and other programs.

Shilpa P. Saxena, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Forum Health

In addition to over 15 years of progressive patient care in her successful medical practice, Shilpa P. Saxena, MD, IFMCP, currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer at Forum Health. She is a board-certified family physician, faculty with The Institute for Functional Medicine, faculty with the Academy of Integrative & Holistic Medicine, fellow & guest faculty of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, and faculty with George Washington University’s Metabolic Medicine Institute and the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy.

Scott Shannon, MD, FAACAP, Founding Board Member for the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine and the American Board of Integrative Medicine

Scott Shannon, MD, FAACAP, has been involved in holistic medicine since he joined the American Holistic Medical Association in 1978. Scott has elaborated a holistic and integrative perspective in psychiatry for the last two decades and published the first textbook in this field in 2001. Scott is a past president of the American Holistic Medical Association and a past president of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine. He was a founding board member for the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine and the American Board of Integrative Medicine, which is now the sole certifying body for the profession of integrative medicine.

Theoharis C. Theoharides, PhD, MD, Director of Molecular Immunopharmacology and Drug Discovery in the Department of Immunology at Tufts University School of Medicine

Dr. Theoharis C. Theoharides is a professor of pharmacology and internal medicine and a director of molecular immunopharmacology and drug discovery in the Department of Immunology at Tufts University School of Medicine. He was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, and graduated with honors from Anatolia College. He received all his degrees from Yale University (BA, MS, MPhil, PhD, MD) and was awarded the Dean’s Research Award and the Winternitz Prize in Pathology. He trained in internal medicine at New England Medical Center, received a Certificate in Global Leadership from the Tufts Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and completed his fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He has been serving as the clinical pharmacologist of the Massachusetts Drug Formulary Commission continuously since 1986.

Matthew Walker, PhD, Founder and Director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley

Matthew Walker, PhD, is a former professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and is currently professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the founder and director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Walker’s research examines the impact of sleep on human health and disease. He has received numerous funding awards from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health and is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. To date, Walker has published over 100 scientific research studies.

Join the functional medicine community for this virtual conference experience. Learn new ways to deliver personalized care and leverage the collective expertise of other practitioners and healthcare partners.

For more information on conference topics, schedule, and pricing, visit https://aic.ifm.org.

About IFM

The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) is the global leader in functional medicine and a collaborator in the transformation of health care. IFM is a nonprofit organization that believes functional medicine can help every individual reach their full potential for health and well-being. Founded in 1991 and dedicated to the widespread adoption of functional medicine, IFM works to advance education and training, clinical patient care, research, and outcomes in functional medicine worldwide. For more information, please visit IFM.org.

About functional medicine

Functional medicine determines how and why illness occurs and restores health by addressing the root causes of disease for each individual. The functional medicine model is an individualized, patient-centered, science-based approach that empowers patients and practitioners to work together to address the underlying causes of disease and promote optimal wellness.

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