Women's Health

Program Purpose / Objectives

1. Lifestyle Medicine “ Living Consciously”
• How a patient’s lifestyle choices impact their health and strategies to address positive changes in their lives.
2. Functional Medicine- “Form Follows Function”
• How to approach a disease process by identifying the root cause and tailoring the treatment to alleviate the root cause not simply treat the symptoms.
3. Diet and Nutrition - “You are what you eat”
• Knowledge regarding nutrition and diet as they relate to disease prevention and immune surveillance.
4. Vitamins, Antioxidants and “ biologically active compounds”
• Knowledge of the daily requirements of vitamins and antioxidants as well as natural sources of these is missing. Knowing how and when to supplement the diet is essential for health and wellness.
5. Breast Cancer prevention and early detection
• Physicians rarely focus on the fact that 75% of breast cancers are preventable with lifestyle modification. Education regarding the ability to positively change their patient’s risk profile is needed.
6. Obesity – “The growing trend in America and the World”
• Understanding that obesity is epidemic and responsible for a majority of our preventable diseases.
7. Integrative Therapies in Western Medicine
• Western medical professions have minimal understanding how complementary and integrative therapies can enhance their patients care.
8. Exercise- “ Physical activity a mandatory lifestyle change”
• Upon completion of this section, the clinician should possess an understanding of basic exercise physiology and how regular physical activity can lead to decreased cardiac risk and the risk of other diseases.
9. Weight Loss- “Surgical intervention and the diet disasters” Pitfalls and positives
• At the completion of the weight management session, the practitioner should feel comfortable counseling patients on weight loss options complete with the risks, benefits and alternatives to each.
10. Holistic Approach to Menopause and Osteoporosis- “A more natural way to face the changes”
• Upon completion of a holistic approach to menopause the clinician should feel comfortable discussing the non-pharmacological interventions for osteoporosis prevention and easing the symptoms of menopause.
11. Cardiac Disease Prevention
• Upon completion of the Cardiac disease prevention segment, the practitioner should be able to education their patients what opportunities for improvement they have in their individual cases. Creating open direct communication with patients is essential.
12. Skin Care for Life - The pathophysiology of aging
• Upon completion of this segment, clinicians should be able to discuss epi-genetics and the aging process. They should have gained knowledge of how these processes can be halted and possible reversed.
13. Skin Cancer - Prevention, diagnosis and treatment
• At the close of this skin session, practitioners should be able to identify skin lesions that require biopsy and be able to educate their patients about how to protect their skin and their children’s skin from further damage.
14. Gynecological Cancer - Prevention and early detection
• At the conclusion of this lecture, practitioners should gain the knowledge to know who and when to vaccinate for cervical cancer prevention as well as the limitations and risks. They should be able to recognize the red flags of genetic syndromes that increase the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer can assist in counseling patients regarding testing and surveillance.

Conference Sessions generally take place during the days at sea (as cruise itinerary allows) to avoid conflicts with Ports of Call or evening entertainment.