The second annual conference on Alternative & Complementary Medical Therapies: What Works? A Review for the Medical Practitioner on the Frontline," will provide physicians with up-to-date scientific information about mind-body medicine, accupuncture, nutrients-vs-foods, food and immunity, herbal interactions, hormone replacement threapy and women's health and increased libido. Organized by clinicians and researchers from the University of Chicago, the conference will also consider popular alternative therapies for cardiovascular disease, elevated cholesterol, chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and arthritis.

The conference, held Saturday and Sunday, December 9 and 10, at the Drake Hotel in downtown Chicago, will focus on separating what works from what doesn�t, helping practicing physicians understand the value and the limitations of treatments that are widely available but currently lie outside of mainstream medicine.

"Patients come to their doctors with questions about alternative medicines that they have learned about from non-medical sources and their physicians often feel uncomfortable discussing these therapies," said Michael Roizen, M.D., professor and chairman of anesthesia and critical care and a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and co-chair of the conference. "This meeting has been designed to help those on the front lines of patient care assess alternative therapies, respond to questions, discuss the pros and cons of promising but unproven treatments, and help curious patients make thoughtful and informed choices," said Roizen, who is also the author of a best-selling health book: RealAge: Are You as Young as You Can Be?

The conference will address both sides of the issues and will provide wherever possible an evidence-based view using scientific data and analysis. It will include a debate on the efficacy of acupuncture and information on potential interactions of mainstream medications with herbal remedies.

Special guest is Katherine Russell Rich, author of the award-winning memoir, The Red Devil: To Hell with Cancer -- and Back. She will describe mind-body medicine from a unique, sometimes outrageous, sometimes outrageously humorous, patient perspective.

Note: Media coverage of the conference is welcomed. For more information,
contact John Easton, 773-702-6241 or [email protected]
or consult the conference web site http://altmed.uchicago.edu/