Application to Host The 2018 International Congress on Complementary Medicine Research Respectfully Submitted to the International Society for Complementary Medicine Research By Robert Saper, MD, MPH on behalf of The Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health March 31, 2016
Executive Summary The International Society for Complementary Medicine Research (ISCMR) is an international professional, multidisciplinary, non profit scientific organization that is devoted to fostering complementary and integrative medicine research and provides a platform for knowledge and information exchange to enhance international communication and collaboration. It has a longstanding tradition of hosting annual international conferences and is soliciting applications for hosts for the 13 th Annual International Congress on Complementary Medicine Research (ICCMR) in 2018. The Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health (the Consortium) is a non profit organization that currently includes 69 academic institutions and health care systems in North America. Our mission is to advance integrative medicine and health through academic institutions and health systems by disseminating information on rigorous scientific research, educational curricula in integrative health, and sustainable models of clinical care. The Consortium convened the 2006 North American Research Conference on Complementary and Integrative Medicine in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where discussion ensured between leaders of the Consortium and ISCMR to align both organizations in future conferences. At the 2009 North American Research Conference on Complementary and Integrative Medicine, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, ISCMR held a one day pre conference symposium prior to the meeting and discussions continued on how to best partner. Starting with the 2012 International Research Congress for Integrative Medicine & Health in Portland, Oregon, USA, the Consortium has closely linked with ISCMR in staging the research conferences. The 2012 Portland Congress was co sponsored by ISCMR and functioned as the 7 th Annual ICCMR. The following year, 8 th ICCMR held in London, England, continued our close collaboration with members of both organizations on the planning and program committees, and also by extending member registration rates to individuals from both organizations. This continued with the 2014 9 th Annual ICCMR held in conjunction with the IRCIMH in Miami, Florida, USA, and the 2015 10 th Annual ICCMR held on the beautiful island of Jeju, Korea. Lastly, the Consortium is making final preparations for its upcoming International Congress for Integrative Medicine and Health, to be held May 17 20, 2016 in Las Vegas, NV. We were delighted that ISCMR was willing to partner with us to organize the research track of this meeting. Moreover, we are honored that the ISCMR Board of Directors approved the Las Vegas meeting to serve as its 11 th Annual ICCMR. The ISCMR logo is prominently displayed on the home page of the Congress website and all printed materials. We look forward to continued collaboration as key members of the Consortium (Drs. Rick Hecht, Aviad Haramati, and Rob Saper) are closely involved in the planning of the 2017 ISCMR meeting in Berlin, Germany. With this application, the Consortium is proposing to continue to partner with ISCMR and host the 2018 13 th Annual International Congress for Complementary Medicine Research. The basis of this proposal is the strong belief that a truly global effort and partnership between our two organizations is needed to transform health care through rigorous evidence informed complementary and integrative medicine research. We propose that the 2018 International Congress for Integrative Medicine in Health convened by the Consortium will also be cosponsored by ISCMR and serve as its 13 th ICCMR. The Conference would include peer reviewed oral and poster abstracts presentations, investigator led symposia and workshops, keynote and plenary sessions, and panel discussions coordinated by key faculty members. The dates, city, and venue of the 2018 Congress are currently being determined. We hope to have these finalized in order to announce at the Las Vegas Congress and describe them to you in more detail at your annual meeting held during the ICIMH. We anticipate the meeting to be scheduled as in the past during the spring. We have solicited proposals from venues in Boston, Massachusetts; Baltimore, Maryland; Nashville, Tennessee; and the greater Phoenix, Arizona area which includes Scottsdale, Arizona. The Consortium is financially strong with substantial
reserves and is prepared to assume full financial responsibility for the meeting. Registration fees will be discounted for ISCMR Members and are anticipated to be in the range of our 2016 Congress fees. Although the Consortium and ISCMR will be the convening and co sponsoring organizations, respectfully, other organizations with missions and goals aligned with the Conference may be invited to sponsor and exhibit. Members of ISCMR will be invited and strongly encouraged to participate fully in the Congress planning including active participation on its organizing, program, scientific review and other committees. Consortium Background The Consortium is a non profit corporation that currently includes 69 North American academic health centers and health systems (62 in the US, 5 Canadian and 2 in Mexico) and represents over one third of US medical schools including many renowned for the quality of their research. The mission of the Consortium is advancing integrative medicine and health through academic institutions and health systems. As an organization, the Consortium is committed to sharing information and ideas, supporting member institutions and providing a national voice for integrative medicine research and education. Given the involvement of strong academic institutions and the written support of the Deans and Chancellors, this Consortium is particularly well suited to sponsor an international conference focusing on research in the field of complementary and integrative medicine. The Consortium is led by an Executive Committee, elected by a Steering Committee of the Consortium composed of one representative from each member institution. See the Appendix for a complete list of member institutions. The promotion and dissemination of rigorous research in complementary integrative medicine is central to our mission and goals. Thus, we are very aligned with ISCMR s mission and vision of fostering complementary and integrative medicine research and providing a platform for knowledge and information exchange to enhance international communication and collaboration. The Consortium s track record of sponsored research conferences is strong. The 2016 Edmonton, Alberta meeting attracted over 600 registrants and included five keynote addresses, 30 symposium/workshops, twelve oral abstract sessions, four poster sessions displaying over 200 posters, and a full day of pre conference intensive workshops. Our 2009 Minneapolis, Minnesota meeting had close to 800 registrants from 24 countries and had five keynotes addressing key topics such as placebo and nocebo effects, stress and wellbeing, and the microbiome. In addition, there were 33 symposia/discussions/workshops, 58 oral abstracts and over 250 posters. In 2012, the Consortium wanted to transform the Congress into a truly international gathering of researchers. To accomplish this, the Consortium began its formal collaboration with ISCMR to co sponsor the Congress. The name of the meeting was changed to reflect this global emphasis and renamed the International Research Congress of Integrative Medicine and Health (IRCIMH). IRCIMH was held in Portland, Oregon and attracted a record 1,021 participants from 30 countries, including 250 students, fellows, and new investigators. There were seven pre conference workshops, over 30 symposia/discussions/workshops (selected from 78 proposals) and sixteen oral abstract sessions. The eight keynote lectures and the final plenary presentations are all available to the public for free viewing at the Congress website (http://www.ircimh.org/2012). These included Barbara Fredrickson How Positive Emotions Heal; Sonia Lupien Neurobiology of Stress; Irving Kirsch Placebo Therapy as an Ethical Alternative; Michael Lauer and Sean Tunis Comparative Effective Research; Claudia Witt International Perspective on Acupuncture Research; William Haskell Science of Inactivity; and Walter Willett Diet and Health. The 2014 Congress in Miami, Florida attracted 685 participants from 23 countries, including 114 students, fellows, and new investigators. Webcasts of eight plenaries can be viewed at (http://webcast.icimh.org/portal) and include three from outside North America: Alan Bensoussan Building an Integrative Medicine Research Environment; Andrea Manca Assessing the Value for Money of Acupuncture for Chronic Pain in the UK; and Joseph Sung Implementation of Integrative Medicine A Chinese
Perspective. Comprehensive summary reports for the 2009, 2012, and 2014 meetings can be found in Appendix 2. We are excited about the Consortium s upcoming 2016 Congress. It has been renamed International Congress on Integrative Medicine & Health to be more inclusive, incorporating Education, Clinical and Policy areas along with Research. We are expecting over 750 attendees. There are twelve pre congress workshops, eight plenary speakers, four Emerging Leader Luncheons, 36 symposia/workshops/discussions and two poster sessions displaying over 200 posters. Thus, the Consortium has a successful track record of collaborating with the International Society for Complementary Medicine Research to convene and co sponsor well attended, intellectually stimulating international research conferences where the state of art work in this field is presented and debated. Planning the 2018 Congress A Program Committee will be constituted to organize the Congress. Although Education, Clinical and Policy tracks will be incorporated, research will remain the focus of the Congress. The Program Committee will work to designate specific selected areas that are of current interest to the global integrative research community, such as: 1. Methodological challenges inherent in comparative effectiveness research and assessment of costeffectiveness. 2. Exploring the mechanistic basis of mind body therapies and use of novel biomarkers. 3. Examining lifestyle interventions across clinical disciplines and conditions. 4. Integrative approaches to chronic pain. 5. Understanding the challenges of complementary and integrative medicine in the pediatric population. 6. Interprofessional collaboration and communication. 7. Integrative Medicine for Underserved Populations The organizing committee of the 2018 Congress will issue Calls for Abstracts and Sessions and the marketing materials to solicit abstracts and session proposals that address these themes. As in previous years, committees will be formed to oversee overall planning, plenary/workshop/symposia solicitation and selection; and peer review of scientific abstracts. As in previous meetings, members of ISCMR will play a vital role on all committees and subcommittees. Regular teleconference and videoconference meetings will be employed as well as ad hoc email communication for communication. Online electronic abstract submission and peer review will be utilized. Each abstract will be peer reviewed by at least four reviewers who are masked to the authors. Through past conferences, we have developed a pool of close to 250 international peer reviewers to systematically score and prioritize the abstracts submitted for peer review. All abstracts accepted for oral presentation (approximately the top 15%) and posters will be published in a peer reviewed journal. In May 2014 BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine was the official Congress journal. The involvement of reviewers will continue at the meeting where many will serve as moderators of their respective abstract sessions. The meeting will be vigorously marketed internationally to extensive mailing lists and those of our partners. The Consortium has already entered into an agreement with Degnon Associates, an association management company based in McLean, Virginia, USA, to oversee all aspects of conference management. Degnon Associates has successfully planned medical meetings for over 30 years for prominent organizations such as the American Psychosomatic Society, Academic Pediatric Association, and the American Academy of Clinical Toxicologists. The change to Degnon Associates was made to centralize all Consortium activities and be more efficient with Consortium assets.
Program The 2018 program will consist of oral presentations of the top rated abstracts, posters, investigator led symposium and workshops, keynote and plenary sessions, and panel discussions coordinated by key faculty members. These sessions will be grouped by theme and presented simultaneously allowing participants a choice of presentations to attend. The Program Committee will be charged with selecting keynote addresses, and scheduling the plenary sessions, symposia, workshops and panel discussions by leading scientists in the field. We anticipate a similar structure as in previous meetings, with approximately nine plenary sessions, 40 sessions, symposia, and workshops, 16 oral abstract sessions (four abstracts per session), and two large poster sessions. Abundant opportunities for networking will exist including breakfast tables for special interests, Meet the Speaker lunches, and small group discussions. Trainee Opportunities The conference will offer a reduced registration for all students and fellows who present a current photo ID or a letter from an appropriate academic director indicating their formal status as a trainee. At the 2012, 2014 and 2016 conferences, the Program Committee also included several opportunities for trainees to meet with leaders in the field. This occurred at the Opening Reception, where trainees met with the members of the Organizing Committee and encouraged to seek them out during the conference. Another important event are Emerging Leader luncheons in the four different meeting tracks (research, clinical, education, policy) to meet with veteran thought leaders. We hope to continue this tradition at the 2018 conference, and partner with you in identifying speakers for these luncheons. Special trainee lunches and receptions will be planned that will attract undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral and research fellows with interests in the area of complementary and integrative medicine. Registration discounts are provides for trainees. In the past, we have fundraised vigorously and have been successful in order to offer scholarships to worthy trainees who submit outstanding abstracts. For 2016, we have successfully raised over solicited over $300,000 USD in sponsor and exhibitor income. We will plan on doing this for 2018 and again anticipate we will be able to offer such awards. Access and Special Needs A priority of the conference relates to the Consortium s desire to ensure that appropriate access is provided for attendees with disabilities. Audio visual aids are available to course registrants who have visual or hearing disabilities. The conference hotel selected for this event will be disability accessible. Registration materials will carry a statement that special accommodations can be made for persons with disabilities. Disability access hotel rooms at the conference venue will meet guidelines of the American Disabilities Act. Responsible Organization and Financial Background of Organization The Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health was founded in 2002 by eleven academic health centers committed at the Dean s level to integrative medicine. Currently the Consortium includes 69 highly esteemed academic medical centers and health systems. The mission of the Consortium is advancing integrative medicine and health through academic institutions and health systems. The Consortium provides its institutional membership with a community of support for its academic missions and a collective voice for influence change. The Consortium s mission is accomplished through: Supporting and mentoring academic leaders, faculty, and students to advance integrative healthcare curricula, research, and clinical care. Disseminating information on rigorous scientific research, educational curricula in integrative health, and sustainable models of clinical care. Informing health policy.
The Consortium uses the following working definition of integrative medicine and health: Integrative medicine and health reaffirms the importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient, focuses on the whole person, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic and lifestyle approaches, healthcare professionals and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing. The Consortium is funded predominantly through membership dues, philanthropy, grants, and conference revenues. The Consortium s fiscal condition is strong and will assume full financial responsibility for the meeting. It is anticipated a proposed expense budget of approximately $700,000 USD. The Consortium s annual budget is approximately $1,500,000 USD. It uses an Accrual Method of Accounting, and conducts yearly audits. In addition to operating expenses, the Consortium has approximately $500,000 in reserves. Proposed Budget Income Total Full Conference Registration $410,430 Total One Day Registration $ 18,075 Total Pre Conference Workshops $ 37,250 Abstract Book Sales $ 6,000 Total Miscellaneous Registration Fees $ 49,265 Total Hotel Rebates $ 29,845 Total Contributions $140,500 Total Income $691,365 Expenses Abstract Processing $ 25,590 Administrative Costs $ 11,700 Audio Visual Fees $ 55,481 Congress Committees & Staff $ 28,699 Meals & Breaks $234,493 Celebratory Dinner $ 60,100 Poster & Exhibit Rentals $ 12,561 Conference Event Planner $105,738 Publication Materials $ 60,949 Publicity $ 17,195 Registration $ 49,123 Speaker Expenses $ 25, 387 Total Expenses $691,365 Fees including Reduction for ISCMR Members Registration fees will be discounted for ISCMR Members and anticipated to be in the range of the 2016 Congress fees ($595 for early registration, $650 for standard registration). This is the same discounted rate members of the Consortium receive and is $70 and $95 less than the non member rates, respectively. Cooperation Partners Other organizations will be invited to become sponsors to the meeting by contributing at different levels and/or purchase exhibit tables. Only organizations that have a mission aligned with the Consortium and ISCMR will be allowed. ISCMR representatives on the Organizing Committee will have input into these decisions. Examples of sponsoring and exhibiting organizations in the past have included publishers (e.g., Biomed Central, Elsevier, Mary
Ann Liebert), foundations (e.g., Osher Foundation, Weil Foundation, Dr. Rogers Prize), government agencies (e.g., NIH NCCIH), private institutes (Samueli Institute, Institute for Integrative Health), and professional societies (e.g., Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health formally ACCAHC, Society for Integrative Oncology). All sponsoring organizations receive appropriate recognition in published print and electronic materials. Role of ISCMR in the Planning and Running of the Congress As described above, members of ISCMR will play a significant role in Congress planning and running the Congress. In addition, the 2019 ICCMR Chair will be invited to join the Program Committee. Many ISCMR members will be invited as scientific review panel chairs and peer reviewers. Recognition of ISCMR s role in the Congress will be evident from the placement of the ISCMR logo on all Congress electronic and printed materials including signage at the meeting itself. The President of ISCMR will have an opportunity to welcome attendees to the Congress. ISCMR members active in the Congress planning will help moderate sessions. In addition, as was done in previous Congresses, we anticipate allocating time in the program for presenting on the upcoming ICCMR Congress (2019), as well as awarding of ISCMR prizes at the closing plenary. In summary, we would be honored if ISCMR will join with the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health and select the 2018 International Congress for Integrative Medicine and Health to serve as ISCMR s 13 th Annual International Congress for Complementary Medicine Research. Thank you for your consideration.