American College of Lifestyle Medicine announces first two medical schools to earn highest recognition and certification for lifestyle medicine curriculum

(Press-News.org) The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) has announced that the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville (SOMG) and Loma Linda University School of Medicine (LLUSM) are the first to earn the highest recognition of a “Platinum Plus” certification designation for the significant level of undergraduate lifestyle medicine curricula within their programs.

The Platinum Plus is the highest tier of certification that a medical school can receive from ACLM and indicates the incorporation of at least 100 hours of evidence-based lifestyle medicine content within the curriculum. This level of lifestyle medicine curricula within medical schools supports graduates in achieving part of the prerequisites to become certified in lifestyle medicine by the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine (ABLM), following successful completion of the remaining prerequisites during residency training.

Lifestyle medicine uses therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary modality to treat chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Lifestyle medicine-certified clinicians are trained to apply evidence-based, whole-person, prescriptive lifestyle change to treat and, when used intensively, often reverse such conditions. Applying the six pillars of lifestyle medicine—a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, positive social connections, and avoidance of risky substances—also provides effective prevention for these conditions.

“The University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville and Loma Linda University School of Medicine are blazing a trail for all medical schools by educating and training future doctors to put lifestyle medicine at the foundation of the care they provide,” said Susan Benigas, ACLM executive director. “Medical students increasingly believe they need to engage meaningfully with patients on lifestyle behaviors but do not feel sufficiently prepared to do so. Medical schools that integrate lifestyle medicine will be highly sought after by students who are passionate about treating the root causes of chronic disease, which are overwhelmingly lifestyle-related.”

The educational pathway to earning physician certification in lifestyle medicine requires completion of both educational and practicum components. Since 2018, medical residents have been able to complete the educational pathway to lifestyle medicine physician certification through their residency programs’ incorporation of the Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum (LMRC). The LMRC is now incorporated in more than 300 residency programs.

Through ACLM’s Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) Curriculum Certification process, students graduating from lifestyle medicine-certified medical schools are able to complete a portion of lifestyle medicine educational prerequisite hours (depending on their medical school’s tier of certification) to go towards becoming certified in lifestyle medicine. ACLM has four primary tiers of educational program certification—Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum—and each tier may include a “Plus” designation which indicates the inclusion of additional in-depth, optional education and mentoring in lifestyle medicine.

Students who graduate from Platinum Plus-certified medical schools, such as SOMG and LLUSM, will have already completed the required 100 hours of the educational component and will only have to complete the practicum component of the educational pathway in residency training. The practicum component includes 400 lifestyle medicine-related patient encounters, 10 hours of a therapeutic lifestyle change program and 10 hours of group facilitation or observation.

“The University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville is honored to accept this amazing certification from ACLM,” said Jennifer Trilk, PhD, FACSM, DipACLM, director of the medical school’s Lifestyle Medicine Programs. “I am so excited and thankful to be on this lifestyle medicine journey with our school and our medical students. We started with four hours of lifestyle medicine in our curriculum in our opening year in 2012, and we have worked together to build up the required lifestyle medicine curriculum to over 100 hours. I also am thrilled that our school will be showcased along with Loma Linda University School of Medicine, as they are such an incredible ally for lifestyle medicine education in undergraduate medical education.”

"Loma Linda University School of Medicine is excited to accept this ACLM lifestyle medicine certification,” said Brenda Rea, MD, DrPH, PT, RD, DipABLM, Lifestyle Medicine Intensivist, FACLM, program director of the Lifestyle Medicine Intensivist Fellowship at LLUSM. “For over 100 years, Loma Linda University School of Medicine has had a legacy of lifestyle medicine-oriented medical education and this certification represents the culmination of a renewed effort, despite many competing priorities, to weave lifestyle medicine throughout our four-year curriculum. We are grateful to be one of the first two medical schools certified along with our colleagues from the University of South Carolina Greenville, who serve as a model for lifestyle medicine integration for both national and international audiences."

The first step toward earning certification in lifestyle medicine for a medical school is establishing a Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group (LMIG), a student- or trainee-led organization that addresses the need for lifestyle medicine at the academic and health systems level. LMIGs have been established at 165 academic and health institutions, including in over 100 of the approximately 200 medical schools in the U.S. More information on the lifestyle medicine UME Curriculum Certification process and the development of competencies for medical school curriculum implementation can be found here.

Searchable directories to locate academic institutions incorporating lifestyle medicine education can be found here.

ABOUT ACLM

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine is the nation’s medical professional society advancing lifestyle medicine as the foundation for a redesigned, value-based and equitable healthcare delivery system, leading to whole-person health. ACLM educates, equips, empowers and supports its members through quality, evidence-based education, certification and research to identify and eradicate the root cause of chronic disease, with a clinical outcome goal of health restoration as opposed to disease management.

 

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