Cancer Wellness Symposium

Agenda at a Glance:

11-11:15 am Welcome from Karuna Precision Wellness Center | Jamie Renbarger, M.D., M.S., Founder, Karuna Precision Wellness Center

Located in Indianapolis, Karuna Precision Wellness Center is on the forefront of lifestyle medicine and is one of the few cancer rehabilitation centers in the United States. Their unique program comprises three areas of focus; physical, mental, and nutritional health. Treatment at Karuna Precision Wellness Center begins with a comprehensive wellness assessment that provides valuable information in the formulation of an individualized wellness plan for each client. This precision medicine approach utilizes integrative therapies to create a long-term health and wellness plan based on individual needs. Services offered include exercise prescription development and training with a Cancer Exercise Specialist, personalized nutrition services, personalized counseling services, neuro cognitive therapy, massage, and acupuncture.

11:15-12:15 pm Enhancing Metabolic Flexibility to Improve Cancer Survivor Outcomes | Dr. Nasha Winters

Given that over 85% of Americans are without metabolic flexibility, and all causes of mortality from cancer to COVID-19 seem to arise from this condition, so it is essential to empower physicians and patients both to test, assess and address their way back to a thriving, metabolically sound system in order to enhance clinical outcomes, increase longevity, and encourage prevention of chronic illnesses, including cancer, which is now expected to plague nearly half of all Americans in their lifetime.

12:15-1:15 pm Cancer Wellness Panel | Dr. Jamie Renbarger

A panel of cancer survivors joins Dr. Jamie Renbarger to discuss their experiences with cancer and cancer treatment as well as explore specific treatment approaches, both integrative and traditional, that they feel have aided in their recovery.

1:15-1:30 pm Moving Oncology Care from Treatment to Prevention | Don Brown, M.D., Founder and CEO, LifeOmic

LifeOmic is working with leading healthcare institutions in oncology to not only identify effective treatments and targetable genomic markers and mutations, as well as to guide patients to clinical trials and build a culture of wellness. Our platform allows subjects to harness patient data and lifestyle factors shown to help prevent cancer and reduce side effects from cancer treatment, including plant-based nutrition, exercise, sleep, mindfulness-based stress reduction and intermittent fasting with our mobile app.

1:30-2:30 pm Integrative Survivorship Care | Dr. Donald Abrams

Integrative oncology can be defined as the rational, evidence-informed combination of conventional therapy with complementary interventions into an individualized therapeutic regimen that addresses the whole person (body, mind, spirit) with cancer. Cancer survivors generally benefit as well from similar recommendations regarding diet, physical activity, supplements, stress reduction and incorporation of Eastern medicine interventions that may be suggested to patients in the midst of their cancer treatment journey. This session will highlight some of the integrative interventions that may serve to keep survivors cancer-free as well as improving overall quality of life.

More about the Speakers:

Jamie L. Renbarger, M.D., M.S. is Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division Chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Caroline Symmes Profesor in Pediatric Cancer Research, and Director of the Pediatric Cancer Precision Genomics Program, Riley Hospital for Children. Dr. Renbarger completed her medical school and residency training at St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri and her Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. Her clinical interests are in pediatric stem cell transplantation and clinical pharmacology of anti-neoplastic agents in children. Dr. Renbarger’s research interests are in personalized medicine and pharmacogenomics in the treatment of childhood cancers. Her work involves a major effort to identify biomarkers of drug toxicity and efficacy in the treatment of pediatric cancer. The ultimate goal is to use these biomarkers to develop simple, robust and practical/clinical predictors of response to medications in individual patients that can be used to optimize dosing in the treatment of children, many of whom have curable malignancies. Dr. Renbarger has a very strong interest in survivorship care for pediatric cancer patients and recently opened the Karuna Precision Wellness Center to help cancer survivors enhance their quality of life. Her research accomplishments were honored as a 2011 recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

Dr. Nasha Winters is a sought-after luminary and a global healthcare authority in integrative cancer research who consults with physicians around the world bridging ancient therapies with advancements in modern medicine in the digital era. A personal journey with cancer and a medical career spanning over 25 years has Dr. Nasha on a mission to educate and empower the nearly fifty percent of the population expected to have cancer in their lifetime. Prevention is the only cure. She is also the bestselling co-author of “The Metabolic Approach to Cancer”, which has received many accolades.

Don Brown, M.D. is the most successful serial software entrepreneur in the Midwest. His first company was acquired by EDS in 1986. He founded Software Artistry in 1988 which became the first software company in Indiana ever to go public and was later acquired by IBM for $200 million. Don then founded and served as CEO of Interactive Intelligence which went public in 1999 and was acquired by Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories in 2016 for $1.4 billion. He is also an active technology and business advisor, investor, and philanthropist. In 2016, Don donated $30 million for the establishment of the Brown Immunotherapy Center at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Don received a bachelor’s in physics from Indiana University in 1978, a master’s in computer science from IU in 1982, an MD from the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1985, and a master’s in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University in 2017.

Donald I. Abrams, M.D. is the immediate past chief of the Hematology-Oncology Division at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, an integrative oncologist at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. He graduated from Brown University in 1972 and from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1977. After completing an Internal Medicine residency at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Francisco, he became a fellow in Hematology-Oncology at the UCSF Cancer Research Institute in 1980 during the time that the first cases of AIDS were diagnosed. He was one of the original clinician/investigators to recognize many of the early AIDS-related conditions. He conducted numerous clinical trials investigating conventional as well as complementary therapies in patients with HIV including therapeutic touch, Traditional Chinese Medicine interventions, medicinal mushrooms, medical cannabis and distant healing. His interest in botanical therapies led him to pursue a two-year Fellowship in the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona that he completed in December 2004. His particular passion in the field is nutrition and cancer. Since completing his Fellowship, Dr. Abrams has been providing Integrative Medicine consultation to people living with and beyond cancer at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. His integrative oncology interests are in medicinal mushrooms, Traditional Chinese Medicine interventions and nutrition. He co-edited the Oxford University Press textbook Integrative Oncology with Andrew Weil, M.D.. He is a member of the NCI PDQ CAM Editorial Board. Dr. Abrams was President of the Society for Integrative Oncology in 2010.