SIO Member Dr. Greg Plotnikoff Walked an Unusual Path to a New Field of Study

Just a few weeks ago, on May 13, the cover story of New York Times Magazine was titled, "Some of My Best Friends are Germs."  It contained this quote, "medical science may be on the trail of a Grand Unified Theory of Chronic Disease, at the very heart of which we will find the gut microbiome."

At the 9^th International Conference of the Socieity for Integrative Oncology, NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD asserted that the most exciting frontier in medicine is the human microbiome. Since then peer-review research on the microbiome has exploded, according to the presenter for June’s members-only SIO Webinar, Gregory A. Plotnikoff, MD, MTS, FACP.  “The American Gastroenterological Association’s 2013 annual conference had over 130 poster presentations on the microbiome,” he said, “and the New York Academy of Sciences’ conference this month, “Probiotics, Prebiotics, and the Host Microbiome: The Science of Translation, is sold out.”

Integrative Cancer Therapies to Publish Top Abstracts from 10th International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology

The Society for Integrative Oncology is pleased to announce that the top abstracts from its 10th International Conference, to be held in Vancouver, British Columbia on October 20-22, will be published in the January 2014 issue of Integrative Cancer Therapies (ITC).  ICT is a peer-reviewed quarterly journal focused on the scientific understanding of alternative medicine and traditional medicine therapies, and their responsible integration with conventional health care. ICTis a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

SIO Members Contribute to Complementary Therapies and Integrative Medicine Chapter in CHEST Guidelines

Diagnosis and Management of Lung Cancer, 3rd Edition: American College Of Chest Physicians (ACCP) Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines, published last month, includes a chapter entitled “Complementary Therapies and Integrative Medicine in Lung Cancer.”  According to the press release issued by ACCP, “The guidelines also devote attention to complementary therapies and integrative medicine in lung cancer. This includes interventions such as acupuncture, nutrition, and mind-body therapies. The guidelines outline which treatments and situations are scientifically supported for integration with standard treatments for lung cancer.”

The authors of this groundbreaking chapter include past and present SIO members. Among them are past president Gary Deng, MD, PhD and current president-elect Heather Greenlee, ND, PhD. The supplement to the CHEST Guidelines is the result of an exhaustive systematic review of literature that included five rounds of review over a period of two years.

Meet Your Board Member: Lynda Balneaves, PhD, RN

Dr. Lynda Balneaves joined the board of the Society for Integrative Oncology in 2011 and serves as co-chair of the committee preparing to bring the 10th International Conference of SIO to Vancouver, where she currently serves as an associate professor in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Balneaves is also an affiliate nurse scientist and principal investigator of the Complementary Medicine Education and Outcomes (CAMEO) research program at the British Columbia Cancer Agency.

The CAMEO program is one of the first research programs in Canada focused on development and evaluation of education and decision support interventions aimed at helping cancer patients and oncology health professionals make informed decisions about complementary medicine therapies. Dr. Balneaves has a special interest in how individuals and families touched by cancer can best be supported in making safe and informed treatment decisions about complimentary medicine. She has focused her research for the past 17 years on health care decisions made by people living with cancer. It is a specialty that grew out of her early years as a practicing and research nurse. "When the formal presentations were over, or when I was being interviewed, someone always turned off the mike and started to ask questions about alternative medicine," Dr. Balneaves said. "I kept asking myself 'Why don't I know more about this?' and started to take a closer look."