Introduction To The Collaborative Education Conference 2023 with Dr. Romi Raina, ND

Dr. Romi Raina is part of organizing the 2023 Collaborative Education Conference, for which this year’s theme is ‘Integrative Approaches to Hormonal Health’.

Collaborative Education has been organising Naturopathic Conferences in Toronto and Vancouver since 2016. This is their 14th conference that will focus on integrating medical science with naturopathic applications to enhance patient outcomes.

The event is organised by NDs, for NDs, and other registered healthcare professionals. It will take place on May 5th, 6th and 7th. For people who wish to attend, the event is a hybrid model open to in-person and online attendees.

3:15

Q. What makes this conference stand out compared to other naturopathic conferences?

A. It has everything to do with why we started Collaborative Education eight years ago. As naturopathic doctors, we noticed where things were then and saw room for improvement. We endeavoured to enhance the professional standard for Continuing Education. When I look around now, at our events, or even other naturopathic events, we’re getting better and better year to year.

We stick to our ethos of ensuring our content is stimulating, engaging and accessible. We also focus on the clinical application so that the naturopathic doctor in attendance has tangible things to apply to the clinical practice.

Time is important; we make sure that our agenda is streamlined. We dive into the meat and potatoes of the content information, not belabouring the point with two-hour or longer presentations. We look to be quick and efficient that way.

We also run a boutique-style trade show where you’re not inundated by dozens of enterprises garnering your attention. Instead, it’s a select few naturopaths we know and engage with all the time. It is also valuable for them to engage with each other at the Collaborative Education Conference. All we want is to make it accessible, as accessible as possible.

6:13

Q. Who is the conference for? Is it specific to age, stage or anything like that?

A. We want to make this available for naturopathic doctors, whether they have a general practice, are starting out, or have a hormone-focused practice. The conference has been organised and designed by NDs for NDs anywhere in the world, but especially in Canada. Having said that, I believe that all registered health professionals can gain from attending this conference.

7:27

Q. Who is the keynote speaker, and what will they be talking about?

A. We have two keynote speakers: one is Dr Sarah Wilson, MD, who is an amazing clinician and educator. She’ll be speaking on bioidentical hormone replacement therapy for MDs and what the latest research says about it. She will also be speaking on the science behind subclinical hypothyroidism, which I know is a topic many naturopaths navigate. We also have Dr Benoit Tennell, MD. He’s an Ivy League-educated medical doctor and allergy specialist from the US. His main work is his research and clinical work on the association between the endocrine and immune systems. His presentations are going to be twofold, focussing on both novel hormone therapies and the impact of environmental toxins on endocrine physiology and pathophysiology. He brings in data sets from diverse places and applies his vast knowledge and experience in explaining these little connections across the immune system, the endocrine system and our environmental exposures.

10:00

Q. Who are some of the other speakers that are going to be there?

A. We have a great lineup of speakers, which includes Dr Jordan Robertson, MD. She focuses on hormone health and will discuss endometriosis and its clinical management. Then, we have Naturopathic Elder and Educator Dr Paul Saunders, who will speak on lab testing for the thyroid and adrenal glands and the clinical relationships we see. Another speaker will be Dr Pamela Frank. She has been an MD in Toronto and will speak about unlocking the secrets of PCOS. Those are a few examples of the additional speakers that we have.

11:40

Q. What types of credits are going to be available for the attendees at the conference?

A. The 2023 Collaborative education conference will provide 15 CE credits, including 3 pharmacology credits across three days. This might mean different things depending on where you are in Canada. For Ontario naturopaths, that would add up to 15 category eight credits, according to CONO. With respect to the other end of the country to Vancouver, their setup is slightly different. The conference has 12 eligible category C credits and 3 category F credits. In the middle, we have Alberta, for which the whole conference is eligible for Category B credits. We want to ensure it’s as valuable as possible for all ND attendees.

13:17

Q. What does the schedule look like for the conference?

A. It is a very streamlined agenda. We want to make sure you’re constantly engaged. Every session is streamlined from an hour to an hour and a half. For mingling, there’ll be a lot of food at the in-person event, but there’s also time to visit our boutique trade show, which is both online and in person. And there’ll be these virtual booths that can be attended; you can have live one on one interaction through video meetings with reps. They will leave material for attendees in those virtual trade booths that can be downloaded and viewed. The online trade show attendees would still get access to trade show discounts. Our topics, too, are going to be very engaging. We’ll have a deep discussion on endometriosis. We think the curriculum needs to be a bit more advanced, with a little bit more on thyroid and adrenal testing, the pharmacology of BHRT for NDs, the management of subclinical hypothyroidism, and the gut-hormone connection, adult female hormone hormonal acne, which I know many people struggle with. And then the connection between environmental toxins and hormonal health.

15:35

Q. What is the cost of attending the conference and what does it include?

A. There are many different registration options, ranging from as low as $145 to about $500, depending on whether you’re attending one, two or three days and if it’s online, in-person or a combination.
In-person attendees will get a swag bag, be fed all weekend, and have access to some promotional items. They will have unlimited access to all the conference notes, meet all their colleagues and get their education and credits.

For the online attendees, it’s live online access—hearing and seeing all the presentations, attending the online trade show and having access to the recordings.