CD-ROM/Video Series Wins 2005 FREDDIE Award
The Integrative Medicine Program's CD-ROM/video series Important Conversations: Complementary Therapies & Cancer was awarded the 2005 FREDDIE Award in the category of Health & Wellness. The FREDDIEs, also known as the International Health and Medical Media Awards, were established more than 30 years ago to bring together the fields of medical science, education and the arts in an international competition devoted to health and medical media production. The awards have come to be known as "the Oscars of the health and medical community." The entry went through a rigorous multi-level judging process, competing against thousands of national and international entries of high quality. Other finalists in this category were videos produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the American Red Cross and Optum.
A 30- to 40-second clip from the Important Conversations entry was shown during the black tie awards ceremony held November 5, 2005, at Cipriani on 42nd Street in New York City, and attracted major media coverage. Special award recipients of the evening included Lance Armstrong for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Marsha Johnson Evans for the American Red Cross, Jack LaLanne, the Godfather of Fitness, and Mary Tyler Moore for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
In the first CD-ROM, "Important Conversations: Talking with Patients about Complementary Therapies", Walter F. Baile, M.D., professor of psychiatry at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Robert Buckman, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, well known for their work in patient-provider communications, present and discuss useful guidelines for initiating and maintaining a dialog with patients about their use of complementary therapies.
The second CD-ROM, "Patients talk about…Complementary and Alternative Therapies", contains profiles of cancer patients who relate their personal experiences with, and attitudes toward, complementary therapies.
Front row (left to right): Cathy Kirkwood, M.P.H., project director, Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., director, Integrative Medicine Program
Second row (left to right): Lisa Gower, Integrative Medicine Program, James McEnelly, Elaine Mays, Mark Adamcik and Jo LaCour of UT Television, Nancy Russell, Dr.P.H., Integrative Medicine Program
The third CD-ROM, "Important Conversations: What you must ask and why?" is introduced by Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., director of the National Cancer Institute, and features a discussion of the legal and ethical issues by Michael H. Cohen, J.D., M.B.A., assistant professor of medicine and director of legal programs at the Harvard Medical School Osher Institute. In addition, Dr. Buckman provides authoritative resources for further guidance and presents effective techniques for physician-patient discussion about complementary and alternative medicine, along with a guided role-play of a physician-patient interaction that demonstrates these techniques and use of resources.
Recognition for this award was given to Cathy Kirkwood, former manager of the Integrative Medicine Program Education staff, who directed the projects, and to faculty/staff contributors Nancy Russell, Dr.P.H., Lisa Gower and Laura Baynham-Fletcher, Greg West, director of UT Television, Sunni Hosemann of the Office of Academic Affairs and other collaborators from UT TV, Drs. von Eschenbach, Buckman and Baile, experts from the departments of Clinical Nutrition and Pharmacy, attorney Michael Cohen and the patients who graciously participated.
Further information on the FREDDIE Awards can be found on the International Health and Medical Media Awards Website.