AMMG November Dallas Recap
Jeff Morris
AMMG’s November conference returned in a big way in Dallas, Texas with a full agenda that stretched the boundaries of age management medicine with informative, meaningful content.
Among the most talked about lectures were a series on Friday afternoon, organized by Cesar Pellerano, M.D., dealing with treating transgender patients. Dr. Pellerano said his inspiration for the lectures came from a patient he has been treating for two years, who is transgender and who has been doing “phenomenally”. He said he was taken aback by the attitudes of some of his colleagues, who had questioned his taking on a patient who was “different.”
“I brought the idea to AMMG, and they said let’s do it,” said Dr. Pellerano. He brought on two other physicians with expertise in this area, and they gave three lectures in a row. Jonathan Keith, M.D., FACS, of East Coast Advanced Plastic Surgery, presented “Surgical and Post Surgical Implications for Transgender Patients.” Dana Delgado, FNP, a primary care provider in Essex, NJ, presented “Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy for the Aging Transgender and Gender Nonbinary Patient.” And Dr. Pellerano presented “Treatment and Management of the Transgender Patient. Case Presentation of a Clinician’s Approach,” detailing his own successful approach.
“The sessions all seemed well attended,” said Dr. Pellerano, “and I got stopped in the halls and in the elevator by attendees, thanking me for bringing this to AMMG—other physicians who said it was really valuable information that they had been lacking.” Feedback from attendees described the sessions as “groundbreaking” to have at a conference.
Also on Friday was a very popular and well-received pair of lectures by Abraham Morgantaler, M.D., FACS, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of Men’s Health Boston, and a pioneer in the use of testosterone therapy in men with testosterone deficiency. Dr. Morgantaler presented “Testosterone and Prostate Cancer: Latest Concepts and Advances,” and the Keynote Lecture, “Testosterone, Science, and Human Dignity.”
Friday’s lineup also included the ever-popular Neil Rouzier, M.D., Director of The Preventive Medicine Clinics of the Desert in Palm Springs, CA, this time taking on “Controversy: Clinical Use of Estrogen In Men.” And rounding out Friday was Benjamin Gonzalez, M.D., Medical Director of Atlantis Medical Wellness Center, Silver Spring, MD, with “Gender Bias in Medicine: Lazy Science and Bad Medicine,” a powerful discussion of how our current medical system ignores women.
On Saturday, Jason Sonners, D.C., Ph.D. presented “Evidence Based Use of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) to Increase Stem Cells, Balance Hormones and Reduce Inflammation.” Derrick M. DeSilva, Jr., M.D. was next with “How Prescription Medication Accelerates Aging,” followed by William Clearfield, D.O. with “Low Dose Naltrexone,” Beatriz Olson, M.D., and “Envisioning Self-Care as a Gateway to Authentic Health for Us Doctors and Our Patients,” and Jeff Life, M.D., Ph.D., with a lecture on Sarcopenia.
Saturday continued with “Brain Health for Patients Over 50” presented by Elliot Dinetz, M.D.; Benjamin S. Gonzalez, M.D. returned with “Insulin Resistance: We Need To Do Better;” and Dushyant Viswanathan, M.D. ended the day with “Enteroimmunology & Endocrinology: How Dysbiotic Gut Inflammation Leads to Hormone Imbalances, and How Reversing Them is the Key to Resolving Chronic Illness.”
Sunday was also a varied and busy day. Florence Comite, M.D. began with “Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CCGM) in Precision Medicine: Leveraging Real-Time Data to Detect and Reverse Metabolic Abnormalities.” She was followed by her colleague, Christopher Arboleda, MS, with “Aerobic Performance & Body Composition in Precision Medicine” Another colleague, Ashley Madsen, PA-C, later presented “Clinical Application of N-of-1 Precision Medicine.”
Also on Sunday, Dobri Kiprov, M.D. discussed “The Role of Therapeutic Plasma Exchange (TPE) in the Prevention and Treatment of Age-Related Conditions,” William Clearfield, D.O. returned for “Hair Regrowth Without Surgery,” and finally, certified massage therapist Jodi Scholes discussed “The Biopsychosocial Model: Treating an Aging Population with Touch.”
Not to be missed were the Thursday pre-conference sessions; word is that two of them, the all-day “Advanced Workshop: Sexual Dysfunction in Men and Women” and the half-day “Workshop: IV Nutrient Therapies and Age Management Medicine” left many attendees conflicted about which to attend in the morning. In the afternoon, there was another half-day workshop, “Senotherapeutics for Age Management Medicine,” and as usual, Mark Gordon, M.D. presented his full-day workshop, “Traumatic Brain Injury: A Clinical Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment.”
To start it all off, on Wednesday, therer was the non-CME course, “Practice Management Workshop: Launching and Growing a Successful Age Management Practice.”
Said AMMG co-founder and Director of Education, Greg Fillmore, “Although attendance in the time of COVID is challenging, we were very pleased with the number of attendees who were able to attend this four day event in Dallas.”