The McGill Symposium on Complementary Health took place on Friday June 3, 2016 in Montreal, Quebec. The objectives were to explore the elements of complementary medicine as they pertain to education and research at McGill and to invite speakers from across North America to share their wisdom with the McGill faculty on these areas. Invited speakers included Lynda Balneaves, PhD from the University of Toronto who talked about lessons from establishing the Centre for Integrative Medicine at the University of Toronto, Benjamin Kligler, MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine who talked about teaching complementary and integrative medicine in undergraduate medical education, Patricia Lebensohn, MD from the University of Arizona who talked about teaching complementary and integrative medicine in post graduate medical education, Helene Langevin, MD from Harvard University who discussed her research of acupuncture and Harvard’s Center for Integrative Medicine, Esther Sternberg, MD from the University of Arizona who talked about the impact of place on health and well being, and Sunita Vohra, MD from the University of Alberta who discussed the nuances of researching complementary and integrative medicine. Dr. Adam Gavsie of McGill gave an introductory presentation on framework and definitions of Complementary and Integrative Medicine and a briefing on the presence of Complementary Medicine at McGill.
There were approximately 100 people in attendance from varying backgrounds with approximately 50% of the attendees being medical doctors. Twenty percent were medical students and other health faculty students. The balance of attendees was made up of health-care professionals from various disciplines. There were also a number of patient advocates with a strong interest in complementary and integrative medicine. The evaluations of the day showed that the symposium was very well received and met its objectives.
The symposium was one of three signature events of the McGill University Department of Family Medicine’s 40th Anniversary celebrations in 2016. The symposium had strong support from the Department of Family Medicine and its chair, Dr. Howard Bergman who gave the symposium’s opening remarks. The symposium received financial support from the Department of Family Medicine at McGill, the Faculty of Medicine of McGill University, the Louise and Alan Edwards Foundation, the Dr. Rogers Prize for Excellence in Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and Angela Chang, a local champion of Complementary and Integrative Medicine.
Access to the Presentation Slides