International Expeditions - World Leader in Nature Travel

The “Food Pharmacy”: Diet & Disease Prevention – The Amazon & Beyond
Drs. Potter & Duke
Goal: Provide health care providers with an in-depth understanding of the health benefits of phytochemicals and nutrients from foods as they relate to disease prevention and/or treatment.

• Identify foods in our diet that can be and have been utilized as preventative therapy, as well as an adjunct to therapeutic drug pharmacology.

• Provide patients with preventative and therapeutic value of natural dietary sources.

• Discuss, in a wider context, the use and misuse of phytochemicals and other agents in the prevention and treatment of disease.

“Rainforest Remedies” - Hallucinogens, Herbs & Healing
Drs. Potter & Duke
Goal: To aid the health care practitioner in understanding the source of future therapeutics as well as addressing inquiries related to natural product derivatives and safe use by consumers.

• Discuss the value of selected phytopharmaceuticals in the practice of past and present-day medicine, as well as their use in future treatment.

• Identify specific disease categories for which tropical and global plant therapeutics have proven efficacious.

• Review the chemistry, pharmacology, and history of phytomedicinals affecting the autonomic nervous system as an aid to understanding drug preparation, phytochemical origins, and therapeutic options.

• Discuss the different approaches to healing, including the role the healer plays in effective therapeutic delivery and patient outcomes.

• Discuss the impact of disease patterns on global health including historical trends to understand current disease patterns and management of patient outcomes.

Ancient Medicine & Modern Cures: Cultures, Compliance & Challenges
Dr. Smith
Goal: Introduce health care professionals to different cultural health realities and challenges in order to stimulate creative solutions to provide excellent care to diverse patient populations and enhance the ability of practitioners to work in settings where resources are limited.

• Discuss different cultural health realities and challenges that affect contraction of disease, as well as treatment modalities.

• Explain important issues in cross-cultural healthcare delivery that result in better communication with an ever-increasing culturally diverse patient population, quality care, and better outcomes.

• Observe how work in a limited resources setting can provide the best results for patients through appropriate modifications of “standard” health care delivery.

Feast or Famine: Impact on Obesity & Malnutrition on Global Health and Current Management Across the World
Dr. Chan

• Discuss the implications of latest worldwide statistics and trends on malnutrition (nutritional deficiency and obesity).

• Discuss how environment, geopolitics, culture, and lifestyle have contributed to the imbalance of nutritional consumption worldwide.

•Compare the treatment approaches for obesity across different cultures and countries.

Global Climate Change & Health Issues
Dr. Mayer

• Discuss the significant global environmental changes that affect health including global climate change

• Discuss the hypothesized relations between environmental change and vector distribution

• Understand the uncertainties surrounding the climate change-infectious disease linkages.

The Web of Life & The Web of Health: Connecting the Threads
All Faculty

• Discuss the importance of the Amazon rainforest to global health.

• Discuss the role of the health care professional in the prevention, treatment and management of selected health problems.

• Explain the importance of cross-cultural care in the delivery of quality outcomes-based health care.

• Describe the potential effects of climate change on future health care practices, products, and global health concerns.