A chance to try complementary and integrative therapies
Expo features free demonstrations, crafts, food and music
March 28, 2012
| | Insights from an international palliative care expert Scheduled concurrently with the expo, the Integrative Health Academic Interest Group Lecture Series will feature Suzana Makowski, MD, assistant professor of medicine, who will present “Adding Wings to the Peppertree: Healing at the End of Life.” Dr. Makowski, the program director for palliative care in the Cancer Center of Excellence at UMass Memorial Medical Center, is a palliative medicine physician interested in humanism in medicine, integrative medicine, interventional pain management and cultural competency. Having grown up in Brazil, England, the Philippines, Peru, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Austria and the United States, she brings a multicultural perspective to palliative care. She is the founder of the Lois Green Learning Community, a network for professional development in palliative care named in memory of the late Lois Green, MPA, who was the first director of the Medical School’s Geriatric Community Clerkship. Free and open to the public, the lecture will take place at 6:30 p.m. in Amphitheatre I. |
Complementary and integrative therapies comprise a diverse group of medical and health care systems, practices and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine. Therapies are considered complementary when they’re used in addition to conventional treatment to reinforce the immune system, relieve symptoms and enhance the effectiveness of conventional therapies.
At the fourth annual Complementary and Integrative Therapies Expo (formerly the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Expo), attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions, observe demonstrations and even receive free treatments. The expo, which will be held Tuesday, April 3, from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Medical School new lobby, brings together experienced practitioners from throughout Massachusetts who represent a wide range of integrative and complementary disciplines.
The annual event was established by the Department of Psychiatry’s Integrative Health Academic Interest Group (AIG), which invites students, researchers, physicians, nurses, hospital staff and community members to experience these modalities first hand and learn about how they are being used more and more frequently in modern medicine. The expo will be followed by a lecture by Suzana Makowski, MD, assistant professor of medicine at 6:30 p.m. (see sidebar).
In addition, multicultural crafts will be on sale, with all proceeds benefiting the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Healthy food will be available, and Vin Mitchell, Jr. will perform on acoustic guitar. This year’s expo is hosted by exhibitors Mental Massage and Body Therapeutics as well as the Integrative Health AIG.
"From its inception, the Complementary and Integrative Therapies Expo and Lecture Series has been a wonderful adjunct to what we learn in medical school about the world of medicine,” said Vincent Minichiello, a fourth-year School of Medicine student and member of the Integrative Medicine AIG (and son of Vin Mitchell, Jr.). “There are many therapies that the general population uses in conjunction with conventional medicine in order to obtain and maintain optimal health. As future health care providers and, honestly, as people, it is important for us to both academically and experientially understand the full spectrum of safe and effective medical therapies."
| Visitors to the Complementary & Integrative Therapies Expo can try out: |
- Aromatherapy
- Ayurvedic medicine
- European natural medicine
- Herbal medicine
- Japanese-style acupuncture
- Massage therapy
- Medical qigong
- Music therapy
- Naturopathy
- Osteopathic manual manipulation
- Polarity therapy
| - Reflexology
- Reiki
- Tai Chi
- Thai massage
- Tibetan medicine
- Tong ren healing
- Tui na
- Traditional Chinese medicine
- Vibrational medicine
- Wellness/lifestyle education
- Yoga
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The expo has grown in size every year since it started in 2009. This year, the expo hosts 51 practitioners; more than 300 visitors are expected. To learn more, email vincent.minichiello@umassmed.edu or barbara.grimes-smith@umassmed.edu.