The scholarships support certification in lifestyle medicine for residency program directors and faculty members interested in integrating lifestyle medicine into their residency programs.
ST. LOUIS, June 4, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) and American Board of Lifestyle Medicine (ABLM) have announced 16 recipients of the 2024 Dr. Stephen Turner Residency Director & Faculty Scholarship supporting the integration of lifestyle medicine into residency programs across the country.
The scholarships cover the full cost of training and certification in lifestyle medicine to equip residency program directors and faculty with the confidence, knowledge and skills to implement the Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum (LMRC) and train residents in their program. The LMRC is a comprehensive, applicable, and flexible curriculum that prepares residents to make evidence-based, lifestyle behavior interventions and qualify to sit for the ABLM certification exam upon residency completion.
The scholarships were made possible through a generous gift from Stephen Turner, MD, DipABLM, a longtime Mayo Clinic nephrologist who was in the inaugural 2017 cohort to become certified as a lifestyle medicine physician. The 2024 recipients represent residency specialties that include family medicine, pediatric medicine, preventive medicine and internal medicine. The award includes ACLM membership for one year; attendance to Lifestyle Medicine 2024, ACLM's annual conference held Oct. 27-30; enrollment in the Foundations of Lifestyle Medicine Board Review, 4th Edition; and ABLM exam registration fees.
Education in lifestyle medicine is lacking throughout medical education and training. For example, only 29 percent of medical schools in the U.S. report meeting the recommended minimum 25 hours of nutrition education. ACLM launched the LMRC in 2018 to fill the gap in lifestyle medicine and nutrition education in graduate medical programs. Today, over 300 U.S. residency programs incorporate the LMRC.
"We know we will never change the epidemic of chronic disease and associated rising costs by continuing to prescribe increasing quantities of costly pharmaceuticals and procedures to treat the symptoms of disease instead of the root causes," said ACLM Medical Director of Education Brenda Rea, MD, DrPH, PT, RD, DipABLM, Lifestyle Medicine Intensivist. "The 2024 Dr. Stephen Turner Residency Director and Faculty Scholarship recipients recognize that the urgent need for health care transformation must begin with education. They have chosen to lead the integration of lifestyle medicine into residency training so the next generation of physicians is prepared to help their patients achieve true health restoration."
Lifestyle medicine is a medical specialty that uses therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary modality to treat chronic conditions including, but not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Lifestyle medicine-certified clinicians are trained to apply evidence-based, whole-person, prescriptive lifestyle change to treat and, when used intensively, often reverse such conditions. Applying the six pillars of lifestyle medicine—a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, positive social connections, and avoidance of risky substances—also provides effective prevention for these conditions.
"As a health care educator, my mission is to instill a holistic approach to health care in the minds of future physicians, fostering a commitment to lifestyle medicine that extends beyond the clinic," said Aubrey Wheeler, MD, a 2024 scholarship recipient and associate director of the Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Family Medicine Residency in Vermont. "I am enthusiastic about leveraging scholarship support to advance this vision, contributing to the transformative integration of lifestyle medicine into our residency program and, by extension, enhancing the well-being of our residents, patients, colleagues, and community."
2024 Dr. Stephen Turner Residency Director & Faculty Scholarship Recipients
Aubrey Wheeler, MD
Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital
Plattsburgh, NY
Marjorie Heier, MD, FAAFP
Center for Family Medicine
Sioux Falls, SD
Lauren Mathos, DO
Allegheny Health Network
Pittsburgh, PA
Tracy Norfleet, MD
BJC
St. Louis, MO
Alejandro Berrocal-Bravo, MD, DABFM
Mayaguez Medical Center
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
Evangelia Tsapos, DO
INOVA Fairfax Family Practice
Springfield, VA
Jill Christensen, MD, MPH
Providence Oregon Family Medicine Residency
Milwaukie, OR
Tara Sarabakhsh, DO
Dignity Health Northridge Hospital Medical Center
Northridge, CA
Elizabeth Howard, MD, MPH
Texas Department of State Health Services
Austin, TX
Melissa Beck, MD
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
Mary Axelrad, MD
East Tennessee State University
Bristol, TN
Beatrice Egboh, MBBS, FAAP
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE
Davis Yang, MD
MacNeal Family Medicine Residency
Berwyn, IL
Kelsey Wertzler, MD
Full Circle Health
Boise, ID
Abiona Redwood, MD
Community Health of South Florida
Miami, FL
Kristan Madison, MD
Uniformed Services University
Arlington, VA
About ACLM®
Serving as a transformation catalyst, disruptor of the status quo, and a galvanized force for change, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine is the nation's medical professional society advancing the field of lifestyle medicine as the foundation of a redesigned, value-based and equitable healthcare delivery system, essential to achieving the Quintuple Aim and whole person health. ACLM represents, advocates for, trains, certifies, and equips its members to identify and eradicate the root cause of chronic disease by optimizing modifiable risk factors. ACLM is filling the gaping void of lifestyle medicine—including food as medicine—in medical education, doing so across the entire medical education continuum, while also advancing research, clinical practice and reimbursement strategies. Adding years to lives and life to years, while reining in the alarming, unsustainable trajectory of healthcare spending, is what lifestyle medicine delivers
Media Contact
Alex branch, American College of Lifestyle Medicine, 9719835383, [email protected], https://lifestylemedicine.org/
SOURCE American College of Lifestyle Medicine
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