FMPhA is proud to be an official partner of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine’s 31st annual Spring Congress, taking place May 18th-20th at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, FL.
Join us for up to 20 hours of ACPE accredited pharmacist CE, cutting edge lectures from world renowned speakers, and interdisciplinary networking with colleagues from all walks of practice.
The topic this year is The Fire Inside: Inflammation, the Common Pathway to Disease. Keynote speakers include Tom Rifai, MD, FACP of Henry Ford Health Systems in Michigan and John La Puma, MD of CHEF Clinic and ChefMD.
Keep reading to learn more about this crucial topic that is impacting all of us.
Not all inflammation is created equal. If a cut on the skin swells up, turns red, and hurts, those symptoms are signs of acute, or short-lived, inflammation. Feeling hot or losing function may be signs of inflammation from other harm to the body. Some inflammation that occurs in the body’s cells or tissues may not have outward symptoms.
Inflammation is a normal part of the body’s defense to injury or infection, and, in this way, it is beneficial. But inflammation is damaging when it occurs in healthy tissues or lasts too long. Known as chronic inflammation, it may persist for months or years.
Inflammation may result from many factors, such as:
Environmental chemicals
Injuries like scrapes, insect stings, or a splinter in your finger
Pathogens (germs) like bacteria, viruses, or fungi
Radiation
Inflammation plays a key role in many diseases, some of which are becoming more common and severe. Inflammation is associated with diseases such as the following:
Autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis
Cardiovascular diseases like high blood pressure and heart disease
Gastrointestinal disorders like inflammatory bowel disease
Lung diseases like asthma
Mental illnesses like depression
Metabolic diseases like Type 2 diabetes
Neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s
Dermatitis
Some types of cancer, like colon cancer
Chronic inflammatory diseases contribute to more than half of deaths worldwide. But, by applying a functional medicine approach, we can reduce the disease burden and expand not only the lifespan, but the healthspan too.
We hope you’ll join us in Orlando!
FMPhA Member Benefits in Partnership with A4M
FMPhA Members enjoy the follow benefits:
- Discounted registration for December World Congress and April Spring Congress
- Save $750 off each fellowship module ($1,500 vs regular price $2,250)
The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine offers educational modules which are good towards Fellowship or Certification. At FMPhA, we especially like A4M for pharmacists interested in longevity or bio-hacking, as well as for compounding pharmacists, since there is a large number of pharmacist members that specialize in areas such as hormones, which can be a key tool in the anti-aging realm. At the A4M meetings, you will find dozens of compounding pharmacies in the exhibit hall. There are also specific educational tracks for compounding. Top pharmacists like Sahar Swidan, Jim LaValle, and Nayan Patel are frequent presenters.
What’s the difference in Anti-Aging Medicine and Functional Medicine?
AAM is typically focused on the ‘biohacking’ lifestyle, metabolic health, hormones, stem cells, peptide therapies, IV treatments, dermatology, and longevity. In a sense, you may have health-conscious patients wanting be even healthier and living even longer! A4M definitely incorporates general functional medicine concepts into its teachings, but it is not in a structured format like a “Matrix” or “Map” as seen in other functional medicine training programs. Instead, A4M uses the concept of “Triads” to teach the interconnectedness of systems such as adrenals-thyroid-pancreas, gut-immune-brain, cardiopulmonary-neuro-vascular, liver-lymph-kidney, and estrogen-progesterone-testosterone systems.
Contrast this with FM, which is focused on reversing the root causes of chronic disease, and thus, tends to attract more complex or “sick” patients (autoimmune, gut issues, hormone issues, environmental illnesses, etc.) who may have seen multiple doctors or specialists before finally discovering functional medicine.
No matter which pathway you choose, both approaches will help improve patient outcomes and provide the fulfillment you are seeking from your pharmacy career!
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