International Congress on Traditional Medicine

 

8th International Congress on 

Traditional Asian Medicine

Staff from the EASTmedicine Research Centre and Department of Complementary Medicine played an important role in making the 8th International Congress on Traditional Asian Medicine (ICTAM 8) an outstanding success.

The conference was held in Sancheong, South Korea, on 9-13 September 2013. It was attended by more than 200 delegates from 28 countries.

ICTAM is the foremost interdisciplinary symposium on Asian medicines in the world, bringing together academics from across the medical humanities, clinical researchers and practitioners. The conference was hosted and sponsored by the World Traditional Medicine EXPO and the Korean Society of Medical History.

Professor Volker Scheid, Director of EASTmedicine at the University of Westminster and President of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicines (IASTAM), chaired the conference. Professor Scheid gave the plenary keynote lecture “Beyond Integration, Reflection on Asian Medicines in the 21st Century”. He also chaired the panel The Treatise on Cold Damage as a Window on Transformation in East Asian Medicines and gave a paper on the topic.

In addition, two postdocs from EASTmedicine, Dr Mona Schrempf and Dr Lena Springer, jointly chaired a panel on “Safety and Effectiveness in Asian Medicines”. Dr Schrempf also presented a paper on “Re-contextualising Tibetan Medicines in Europe” and Dr Springer presented on the “Global Circulation of Chinese Substances”. Dr Yi-Li Wu, also a research fellow at the EASTmedicine gave a panel paper entitled “Chinese Imperial Authority: Expansion of Scholarly Ideals of Medicine”. Gretchen de Soriano, who joins EASTmedicine as a PhD student this week, presented on new visual representations of disorders in the Treatise on Cold Damage.

Felicity Moir, Course Leader for Chinese Medicine Acupuncture and Herbs, gave a panel paper on “An Exploration of the Clinical Reasoning Process of Chinese Medicine Practitioners in a London University”. Felicity was sponsored to present her research by the Institute of Education, University of London, as part of her Education Doctoral Program.

Cinzia Scorzon and Jane Wilson, both Senior Lecturers and Clinical Practitioners, also attended and contributed to the international conference based on their clinical research at the Polyclinic and their research of contemporary and historical perspectives on East Asian Medicine.

Cinzia gave a two-hour clinical presentation on “A Forensic Approach to Diagnosis and Integration of Different Traditions in Acupuncture Practice Viewed Through Case Histories”. Cinzia was sponsored partly by EASTmedicine. Jane gave a panel paper and poster presentation on the “Pericardium (Xin Bao) in East Asian Medicine”. The Traditional Chinese Medicine Trust kindly sponsored Jane by providing £1,000 for her to attend the conference.

All the presentations were well received. The conference also provided useful networking opportunities that have already led to concrete cooperations. Two of the scholars present have agreed to lecture in our EASTmedicine Summer School at the University, July 2014, and Professor Scheid has been invited to lecture in India.

 http://www.westminster.ac.uk/eastmedicine/news/eighth-international-conference-on-traditional-asian-medicines-ictam-viii-beyond-integration-reflections-on-asian-medicines-in-the-21st-century