Join Us For Our 17th Annual Conference! April 30th - May 2ND, 2021

Each year our board, committee, staff, and volunteers work diligently to bring an annual event that delivers an abundance of valuable tools and education to NAMA members and the community at large. Last year’s event was a significant achievement, with the highest number of attendees to date. Because of COVID-19 we are hosting our event online. Join us for this special online event brimming with educational presentations from leading Ayurvedic professionals. 

This conference will provide health practitioners with an understanding of the role of Ayurvedic medicine in fostering wellness and managing disease, based on evidence from classical Ayurvedic texts as well as modern scientific research. 

Post Conference Event - May 3rd, 2021

The year we are offering an additional post conference event, that will include a discussions of infectious diseases and immunological perspectives in pandemics and epidemics using COVID-19 as a primary model. Contemporary scientific and Ayurvedic understanding are essential for honing the clinical skills required for the management of these diseases. This program will also address contemporary clinical integrative and Ayurvedic medical approaches to the management of COVID-19. 

Current NAMA Members receive 25% discount; Current Student Members receive 40% discount. We will be emailing your personal discount code next week! Not a Member? Sign up and Receive a Conference Discount!

Professional Members will be awarded 1 PACE credit 1-hour session and 2 credits for the 1.5-hour sessions they attend for both events.

Featured Presenters

The Evolution of Integrative Medical Education with Victoria Maizes

The Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona is internationally recognized for its leadership in developing medical education. At no point in history has the need to train health professionals to address lifestyle in order to promote health and prevent disease ever been greater. In her keynote presentation, Dr. Victoria Maizes will discuss the evolution of integrative medicine and its potential to improve the health of the nation.

Dr. Victoria Maizes is Executive Director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine and a Professor of Medicine, Family Medicine, and Public Health at the University of Arizona.  Internationally recognized as a leader in integrative medicine, Dr. Maizes is committed to helping individuals live healthier lives and pioneering change efforts that address shortcomings of the U.S. healthcare system.

Transdisciplinary Research Approach to Evidence-Based Ayurveda with Bhushan Patwardhan

Every medical system requires a judicious balance of experiential and scientific evidence to support its practice. Reliable evidence requires systematic documentation and rigorous scientific research involving multiple disciplines. Current therapeutic strategies are moving toward integrative approaches that bring together the best of traditional and modern medicine. Ayurveda advocates a personalized approach involving constitutional assessment to guide primary prevention, diagnosis, and therapeutics. This lecture will present research findings from our Ayurvedic experts on topics including ayugenomics, reverse pharmacology, Ayurvedic biology, immunoadjuvants, and regenerative rasayana.

Bhushan Patwardhan, PhD, FNASc, FNAMS, is Vice Chairman, University Grants Commission; Chairman, Indian Council of Social Science Research; Chairman, Interdisciplinary AYUSH R&D Task Force, Ministry of AYUSH, Govt of India.

Biodiversity Is Health; Biodiversity Is Sustainability with Vandana Shiva

Health flows across a continuum from the planet to people, from the soil to plants, to our gut microbiome. Health and sustainability are interconnected and rooted in a healthy planet. Pandemics and diseases are emerging because biodiversity is being destroyed at an unprecedented rate, threatening to lead to a sixth mass extinction. Shiva will share her research and experiences from the last four decades of conserving biodiversity. We can heal the planet and ourselves through regenerating and rejuvenating biodiversity.

Dr. Vandana Shiva is trained as a physicist and later focused on her work as a researcher and activist. Dr. Shiva founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology in Dehra Dun, an organization dedicated to high-quality independent research that addresses the most significant ecological and social issues of our time. Dr. Shiva founded Navdanya, a national movement that aims to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seed, and to promote organic farming and fair trade. In 2004 she started Bija Vidyapeeth, an international college for sustainable living in Doon Valley in collaboration with Schumacher College, U.K. World renowned for her social and environmental activism, Dr. Shiva has won over 15 awards around the globe including the Alternative Nobel Prize (Right Livelihood Award, 1993).

Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia Still Inspiring Medical Scientists: Traditional Medicines and Mitochondrial Disorders with Kevin Spelman

More and more we are seeing the beauty of traditional medicines as they prove useful in modern therapeutics. In this lecture we will focus on the idea of mitochondria from an Ayurvedic perspective and look at the pharmacopoeia for evidence-based therapeutics for mitochondrial disorders. Such medicines as Shilajit, Trichopus, Gynostemma, Cannabis, and more will be covered.

Kevin Spelman, PhD, MCPP, is a researhcer, clinician, and industry consultant who has advised the White House, the U.S. Department of Defense, and foreign governments on issues and policies concerning natural products. Spelman has focused on molecular techniques to elucidate the pharmacology of phytochemicals and their impact on human physiology and currently has 28 peer-reviewed publications on medicinal plants.