2022 International Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health - This R13 application requests support for a conference entitled, 2022 International Congress on
Integrative Medicine and Health, to be held at the at the Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass in
Phoenix, Arizona from March 23-26 2022. The conference is sponsored by the Academic
Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health (Consortium), which represents over 75
academic health centers and health systems in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Brazil, and Mexico,
with programs in integrative health. This conference will showcase original scientific research
involving complementary and integrative health therapies, using keynote and plenary
presentations, posters, symposia and workshops. Basic science, clinical, and health service
researchers will present original research and moderate panel presentations selected through a
peer-review process. Leaders in the field have agreed to provide keynote addresses and other
leaders will be invited to moderate concurrent research presentations. The planning for the
conference is overseen by the Oversight/ Organizing Committee, which is composed of the
Chairs of the Program, Scientific Review, and Finance Committees, together with the Chair and
Vice Chair of the Consortium. The Program Committee, with 14 members representing diverse
areas in integrative health, has key responsibility for planning the meeting content, including
selecting the plenary speakers and meeting symposia. The Oversight/Organizing Committee
and Program Committee members are leaders from the conventional and complementary
medical research communities. Proposals for sessions (symposia, featured discussions and
workshops) have been solicited, as were submission of research abstracts. Research abstracts
will undergo peer-review for quality in a process conducted by the Scientific Review Committee
using a pool of 80-100 expert reviewers through a de-identified peer review process. This will be
the 7th scientific conference sponsored by the Consortium. The most recent conference, in
2018 in Baltimore, MD, had 908 attendees, representing over 150 academic institutions and
organizations from 26 countries. There were 784 scientific abstracts submitted, of which 90
were accepted for oral presentations, and 564 for poster presentations. The conference was
highly rated, with 93% of participants rating the quality as excellent or good.
Unfortunately, the 2020 International Congress had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19
pandemic. Prior to the cancellation, more than 740 individuals, including 120 studen ts and
trainees, were registered to participate in the 2020 Congress. We would have welcomed over
1,000 participants if the pace of registration had continued. We had received 485 abstract
submissions with an 87% overall acceptance rate and 124 session submissions with a 46%
overall acceptance rate. Twenty-three student/trainee oral (5%) and 132 (31%) poster
presentations were accepted. Despite having to cancel the 2020 International Congress, we did
host an online poster session and published in an abstract supplement. The online poster
session drew 484 participants and 2,428 web sessions.
This grant is specifically aimed at increasing attendance at the meeting by trainees and others
with financial barriers to attendance. Most of the funding will be directed at reducing the student
registration rate and providing travel scholarships. Travel scholarships will be awarded based on
three criteria, elements of which will be assessed using a brief application for the awards:
submission of an abstract with strong reviewer ratings, financial need, and bringing diversity to
the meeting. Diversity in meeting attendees will be assessed in part based on training in
integrative health fields that are less represented among established researchers. Overall, the
ICIMH has distinguished itself one of the largest and highest quality scientific conferences on
integrative medicine in the world via our stated goal of strengthening research and collaboration
in integrative healthcare around the world.