Q&A: ACLM celebrating two decades of advancing lifestyle medicine

Key takeaways:

• The ACLM will be celebrating its 20th anniversary at its annual conference in Orlando.
• The conference will focus on topics like longevity, health equity and food as medicine approaches.

This year’s American College of Lifestyle Medicine annual conference is taking place in person in Orlando and virtually from Oct. 27 to Oct. 30.

Health care professionals like primary care providers, registered dieticians, nurses, physician associates and psychologists will come together to learn more about lifestyle medicine and how it is “changing the paradigm of medical education,” according to a press release.

Last year, the conference welcomed over 2,000 attendees. Those interested in attending this year can register here.

Meagan L. Grega, MD, FACLM, DipABLM, DipABFM, co-founder and chief medical officer of the Kellyn Foundation and American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) conference chair, spoke with Healio to highlight some of the sessions and topics being presented at the conference.

Healio: Is there a theme or special focus at this year’s conference?

Grega: This is a very special year for us because it’s the 20th anniversary of the founding of the ACLM. We have experienced tremendous growth over the last 20 years. We started out with this small group of about 100 passionate, purpose-driven health care professionals who were excited about lifestyle medicine back in 2004, and we've now grown into an organization that has over 13,000 members.

I think it's undeniable that there's a lot of excitement and enthusiasm for focusing on the root cause of chronic disease by supporting optimal, healthy lifestyle choices. It is an approach that resonates with a huge number of health care professionals but also with executives and the patients themselves. The focus of this year's conference is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the ACLM, including the progress that has been made over the last 20 years and the building momentum for a future where lifestyle medicine strategies are central to our approach to health care.

Healio: Is there anything new at this year’s conference?

Grega: We've always had fantastic conferences, but we've really upped our game this year. There is an amazing lineup of keynote speakers, concurrent sessions, workshops and research posters. There's so much for attendees to choose from, and all of the keynotes and concurrent sessions will be recorded this year, so attendees will have the opportunity to view those recorded sessions for the things that they missed, because we have a lot going on all at the same time. You can't possibly do it all at once in person, but you'll be able to view those until Jan. 15, 2025, and still get CME credit for those sessions.

Now, in regard to new experiences that are different from years past, we're really excited to have all 10 ACLM presidents attending the conference to reflect on the past 20 years, sharing their insights on the exceptional growth of lifestyle medicine and its immense potential for the future. And, to highlight the strategic partnership between the ACLM and the Blue Zones organization, we are thrilled to feature Dan Buettner Sr as our opening Keynote presenter to kick off a conference that aims to help all of us add more years to life and life to years.

Additionally, for the first time we’ll have a podcast — The Reverse Mullet Healthcare Podcast — broadcasting from the conference. We’re expecting a record number of attendees this year, so the energy and excitement will be exceptional.

Healio: Can you highlight some of the key sessions and research that will be presented?

Grega: ACLM has been a leader in the food as medicine movement for many, many years, and this year's conference will have some phenomenal sessions dedicated to that topic. One of them is with Christopher Gardner, PhD, and Michelle Hauser, MD, MS, MPA, FACP, FACLM, DipABLM, who are speaking about how there is more consensus than controversy regarding optimal nutrition. You may have seen some of their work before. Earlier this year they were highlighted in a Netflix series called You Are What You Eat, a study that explored the metabolic consequences when identical twins eat different dietary patterns. They are both incredible speakers, and I'm really looking forward to their session.

We're also thrilled to welcome chef Michel Nischan, who is a powerful advocate for food as medicine approaches, including things like fruit and vegetable prescription vouchers and bringing chefs onto the health care team for both prevention and treatment of chronic disease. His policy advocacy work focuses on changing the incentives in our system that favor commodity crops and ultraprocessed foods over things like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and spices. His session on “Bringing Food as Medicine to Scale: A Systems Change for Health Equity” is one that nobody should miss. It's going to be awesome.

Things like longevity, healthy aging and preserving cognitive health are another strong focus of this year's conference. We’re going to have an engaging and interactive session with Ayesha Sherzai, MD, and Dean Sherzai, MD, PhD, who will explore transformative strategies for cognitive resilience, which I think is something we all strive to achieve. I can't wait to hear their insights and recommendations.

Other themes of the conference include innovations in the health care landscape using lifestyle medicine approaches to achieve the quintuple aim, opportunities and strategies for education of the health care workforce in lifestyle medicine principles, and how lifestyle medicine clinical interventions are at the heart of whole person health. The conference will be packed with opportunities to explore the “How” of practicing lifestyle medicine in the clinic and in the community.

Healio: For attendees who may not be familiar with lifestyle medicine, how can they prepare for the conference?

Grega: The good news is, you truly don't need to do anything to prepare for the conference. Just come and enjoy! You don't have to do anything like pre-homework to have a phenomenal experience. However, if you would like to get a little bit more of a feel for the lay of the lifestyle medicine landscape and prep a little bit before you come, one of the things I would definitely recommend is registering for and reviewing the Lifestyle Medicine and Food as Medicine essentials course bundle, which is a free 5.5 hours accredited online CME course that's offered through the ACLM. This course was highlighted by the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health and you can find that through our website. That’s a great one to start with.

You can also check out the conference website and look at the different topic tracks, the learning objectives and the agenda to get an idea of all the amazing sessions to choose from, so that when you show up it won’t be as overwhelming.

Live onsite coverage for this year’s meeting, in addition to videos and stories from previous ACLM meetings, can be found here.

Reference:

• American College of Lifestyle Medicine celebrates 20th anniversary and announces speakers, presenting sponsor for 2024 annual CME/CE-accredited conference Oct. 27-30. Available at: https://www.prweb.com/releases/american-college-of-lifestyle-medicine-celebrates-20th-anniversary-and-announces-speakers-presenting-sponsor-for-2024-annual-cmece-accredited-conference-oct-27-30-302134515.html. Published May 2, 2024. Accessed Oct. 17, 2024.