Mark Pettus MD Joins The American Meditation Institute Faculty for the 8th Annual CME Conference on Relieving Physician Burnout with Meditation and Yoga
AVERILL PARK, NY (PRWEB) March 29, 2016 -- Board-certified internist and nephrologist Mark Pettus, MD will join the faculty of The American Meditation Institute (AMI) for a 30 credit hour mind/body medicine CME conference on meditation, gentle yoga and diaphragmatic breathing for physicians and other health care professionals, October 25-29, 2016 at the Cranwell Resort and Spa in Lenox, Massachusetts. Entitled "The Heart and Science of Yoga,” this comprehensive training, accredited through the Albany Medical College Office of Continuing Medical Education, is designed to help prevent and relieve physician stress and burnout.
Presenter Mark Pettus, MD currently serves as Medical Director of Education, Wellness and Population Health at Berkshire Health Systems, and Associate Dean of Medical Education at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. A featured speaker on a number of nationally broadcast television and radio programs, Dr. Petus is also the author of “The Savvy Patient” and “It’s All in Your Head: Change Your Mind, Change Your Health, & Change Your Life.”
Dr. Pettus’s two lectures on ”Epigenomics and Inflammation” are designed to help relieve symptoms of physician and patient burnout by reducing allostatic load––the physiological consequences of chronic exposure to fluctuating or heightened neural or neuroendocrine responses resulting from chronic stress. Drawing on the new, burgeoning fields of Epigenomics and Nutrigenomics, Pettus will focus on how these areas of study are generating unprecedented medical understanding and insight into how meditation, yoga and diaphragmatic breathing can have a fundamental influence on how our genes may express themselves.
According to Dr. Pettus, “we’ve left behind the genetic perspective in which everything is preordained; the belief that whatever the translation of your genetic coding is, will manifest over the course of your life, and ultimately, there’s very little you can do about it. To the contrary, current clinical research is now suggesting a very, very different picture, in which genetic predisposition is no longer considered destiny.”
The entire “Heart and Science of Yoga CME curriculum is dedicated to providing quality, comprehensive and evidence-based education to physicians and other health care providers on Yoga Science as mind/body medicine. In addition to Epigenomics, topics this year will include mantra meditation, diaphragmatic breathing, Yoga Psychology, the chakra system as a diagnostic tool, mind function optimization, neuroplasticity, trauma, PTSD, relieving physician burnout, resilience, Functional Medicine, Ayurveda, easy-gentle yoga and lymph system detoxification.
The dedication, enthusiasm, and teaching methodology of the entire AMI faculty create a dynamic and interactive course for their students. Each faculty member is committed to the advancement and training of Yoga Science as holistic mind/body medicine. In addition to Dr. Pettus, other presenters will include program director Leonard Perlmutter, AMI founder, meditational therapist, philosopher and award-winning author; Anthony Santilli MD, board-certified in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine; Prashant Kaushik MD, board-certified Rheumatologist; Sara Lazar PhD, instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and an Associate Researcher in the Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General Hospital; Susan Lord MD, a private practice holistic physician focusing on prevention and treatment, and former course director for the The Center for Mind-Body Medicine’s “Food As Medicine” program in Washington, DC; Jesse Ritvo MD, Assistant Medical Director, Inpatient Psychiatry, University of Vermont Health Center; Beth Netter MD MT, holistic physician and acupuncturist, Albany, NY; Jyothi Bhatt BAMS, Ayurvedic practitioner and faculty member of Kripalu School of Ayurveda and Physician’s Assistant at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center; and Jenness Cortez Perlmutter, faculty member of The American Meditation Institute.
In the December 2015 issue of Medscape Medical News 54.4% of U. S. physicians reported at least one symptom of burnout in 2014 compared with 45.5% in 2011. According to Tait D. Shanafelt MD, of the Mayo Clinic's Internal Medicine Department in Rochester, Minnesota, “American medicine is at a tipping point. If a research study identified a system-based problem that potentially decreased patient safety for 50% of medical encounters, we would swiftly move to address the problem. That is precisely the circumstance we are in, and we need an appropriate system level response."
According to AMI founder Leonard Perlmutter, “The more consistently the therapeutic practices of meditation and yoga are incorporated into the daily lives of physicians and patients, most symptoms of stress related burnout and chronic complex diseases can be diminished or eliminated.”
Recent graduate, Joel M. Kremer MD, Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology and practicing in Albany, New York, described his experience with the conference as follows: “This teaching has been an enormous benefit in my personal and professional life. I have less stress, more focus, and am able to serve my patients with greater clarity. It becomes surprisingly easy now to recognize the many clinical situations in which patients with somatic manifestations of 'dis-ease' could greatly benefit from Yoga Science.” 2015 conference graduate Jay Newman MD, Board Certified Psychiatrist from Towson, Maryland observed, “This was absolutely excellent––the best conference I have ever attended. It was a superb presentation of Yoga Science by presenters who are very passionate in sharing their knowledge. I wish I took this course years ago! I will take it again in the future.”
Robert Washington, American Meditation Institute, http://www.americanmeditation.org, +1 (518) 674-8714, [email protected]
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