UMB will host the 3rd International Conference of the Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS), “Harnessing Placebo Mechanisms for Optimal Pain Management and Treatment of Alcohol and Other Drug Use Disorders," virtually, May 26 - 28. The cost to attend is $15 for UMB affiliated faculty, staff, and students.
Expert faculty from UMB's Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy have collaborated with SIPS to design an interdisciplinary, international scientific conference to advance the science of placebo research and mind-body mechanisms and to apply this knowledge to alcohol use and pain disorders.
The conference will provide a collaborative platform to present and share innovative research findings and theoretical ideas on placebo research to an international audience of researchers; promote training and education of trainees, academic junior researchers, health care professionals, agencies, stakeholders, and the public; and advocate for the participation of minorities and women while expanding U.S. research in the global network of placebo research.
The program will include:
- Seven plenary sessions
- Three special sessions on COVID-19, placebo methodology, and virtual reality
- Over 20 workshops
- Peer-reviewed short oral presentations
- Peer-reviewed poster sessions
- Networking forums
Continuing education (CE) credit will be available for physicians, nurses, and pharmacists.
Presentations to include, Plenary lecture 1: Placebo Therapy Memories: Influences on Writing the Book 50 Years Ago by Jefferson M. Fish, PhD, professor emeritus, St. John's University (NY) with an introduction by Irving Kirsch, PhD, associate director, Program in Placebo Studies, Harvard Medical School, Professor Emeritus of Psychology: University of Connecticut (USA) and University of Hull (UK)
In addition to Placebo Therapy, Fish is the author or editor of eleven other books about therapy, culture, race, and drug policy, and of more than a hundred journal articles, book chapters, and other works. Within clinical psychology, he has written widely on psychotherapy as a social influence process, on social and cultural factors in therapy, and on brief therapy—including brief behavioral, cognitive, strategic, systemic, and solution focused therapies, and on the use of hypnosis in brief therapy. He is married to the anthropologist Dolores Newton, who studies the Krikati and related tribes of Brazilian Indians. Dr. Fish, who spent two years as a Visiting Professor in Brazil, and who lived for a month with the Krikati, speaks English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, and German. He has served on the editorial boards of eight journals in the United States, Brazil, and India.