Description:
Creating Lifestyle Medicine Interest Groups (LMIGs) within health profession schools and training programs serves as a method to increase awareness and understanding of Lifestyle Medicine at the student and trainee level. LMIGs also unite students, interns, residents, and fellows across all healthcare fields and medical specialties worldwide. This webinar will discuss the important functions that LMIGs serve, highlight examples of successful LMIGs around the world, and explain how to create a successful LMIG at your institution. It will also explore the role of the ACLM Professionals in Training Executive Board and describe resources to promote the creation and maintenance of LMIGs.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the mission of a Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group (LMIG).
2. Present the current state of LMIGs across the country and showcase examples of LMIGs.
3. Explain how to create an LMIG at your training program.
4. Address common challenges and pitfalls experienced during the creation and maintenance of an LMIG.
5. Discuss the support and materials provided by the ACLM Professionals in Training Board for LMIGs.
6. Highlight opportunities for LMIGs and trainees offered through the ACLM Professionals in Training.
Speakers Bios:
Melissa Mondala, MD, MHA
Dr. Melissa Mondala, MD, MHA, is currently a Lifestyle Medicine Fellow at Loma Linda University and completed her family medicine residency at Loma Linda University. She currently serves as President of ACLM Professionals in Training. Her initial work in lifestyle medicine includes smoking cessation scholarly projects and the development of lifestyle medicine curriculum for medical residencies. She serves as Junior Attending/Faculty in the Preventative Medicine Department where she aims to bring lifestyle medicine principles at the forefront of educational training. She received her medical degree and masters of health administration at Chicago Medical School (Rosalind Franklin University). She has worked in low resource settings in China, Guam, and San Bernardino, California. She is passionate about treating the underlying cause of disease, prescribing lifestyle prescriptions for disease prevention and reversal, and teaching transformative healthy lifestyle behaviors.
Rich Wolferz Jr., BS
Rich Wolferz Jr., BS is a third-year medical student at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) in Newark, NJ. He currently serves as Co-Vice President of Development in the ACLM Professionals in Training Executive Board as well as an executive member of the NJMS LMIG. His involvement in LM at NJMS includes founding the Newark Walk with a Doc chapter, co-creating an after school LM workshop series for middle and high schoolers, and establishing an annual spring break service learning trip for medical students to teach culinary medicine courses in Williamson County, Tennessee. He plans to pursue a career in primary care with strong focus on lifestyle medicine and community engagement.