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ForwardTuesday Concurrent Block 1: Health Equity in Lifestyle Medicine: Essential Lessons for Every LM Practitioner
The field of lifestyle medicine is experiencing rapid growth globally, and practitioners work in increasingly diverse communities with unique historical, cultural, linguistic, and political contexts. To optimize the health restoration potential of lifestyle medicine, especially among populations experiencing disproportionate burdens of lifestyle-related chronic disease, practitioners require a framework and skillset informed by health equity principles. Lifestyle medicine and health equity have natural synergy around the fundamental goal of empowering individuals and communities to attain the highest level of health regardless of race, ethnicity, class, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, or geography. Nevertheless, rampant health disparities in health outcomes ranging from infant mortality to cardiovascular disease indicate that much work remains in achieving this goal. The American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s Health Equity Achieved Through Lifestyle Medicine (HEAL) Initiative is its own response to the need for enhanced training, exposure and support among lifestyle medicine practitioners. Despite these efforts to equip healthcare professionals with practical health equity skills, significant knowledge gaps remain among the multidisciplinary corps of lifestyle medicine practitioners. There is urgency in this work given the known human and financial cost of not addressing health disparities, as evidenced by recently published research estimating 80 million years of potential life lost among the U.S. Black population during a roughly 20-year study period (Caraballo et al. 2023). This presentation emerges to fill the knowledge and practical application gaps by comprehensively detailing the “who, what, where, why, and how” of integrating health equity into the foundation of lifestyle medicine practice. We will address critical historical and political context of current health disparities and explore key concepts relevant to working effectively with diverse communities. Given the extant research on the powerful role of social determinants of health, including social, economic and structural factors, on health outcomes, we will discuss in depth how several key social determinants interplay with the six pillars of lifestyle medicine. We will then explore specific chronic diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease, that impact historically marginalized communities disproportionately with a reflection on the role of lifestyle medicine interventions applied in a culturally competent manner. In addition, we will highlight health equity implications of providing care to patients belonging to subpopulations with high burdens of health disparities. We conclude with a focus on health equity-driven lifestyle medicine in practice, including an exploration on themes ranging from effective community partnership development to research and evaluation considerations.
Learning Objectives
- Describe the fundamental connection between health equity and lifestyle medicine with an emphasis on examining the role of social determinants of health in influencing health outcomes within diverse communities.
- Identify key health equity challenges and considerations that lifestyle medicine practitioners face when working with diverse populations and communities experiencing disproportionate health burdens.
- Discuss how lifestyle medicine interventions, such as nutrition, physical activity, and stress management, can be applied with cultural competence to address chronic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease in underserved populations.
- Qadira M. Ali, MD, MPH
- David Bowman, MD
- Faith A. Nyong, DNP, RN
Available Credit
- 1.00 AAFP Prescribed
The AAFP has reviewed Tuesday Concurrent Block 1: Health Equity in Lifestyle Medicine: Essential Lessons for Every LM Practitioner and deemed it acceptable for up to 1.00 Enduring Materials, Self-Study AAFP Prescribed credit(s). Term of Approval is from 11/15/2025 to 1/15/2026. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
- 1.00 ABIM Medical Knowledge
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participation completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.
- 1.00 ABLM MOC
The American Board of Lifestyle Medicine has approved 1.00 maintenance of certification credits (MOC) for this learning activity.
- 1.00 ABS Accredited CME
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the learner to earn credit toward the CME of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABS credit.
- 1.00 ACPE Pharmacy
Rush University Medical Center designates this knowledge-based Enduring material for a maximum of 1.00 contact hour(s) for pharmacists.
- 1.00 ACPE Technician
Rush University Medical Center designates this knowledge-based Enduring material for a maximum of 1.00 contact hour(s) for pharmacy technicians.
- 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
Rush Medical Center designates this Enduring material for a maximum of 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
- 1.00 ANCC
Rush University Medical Center designates this Enduring material for a maximum of 1.00 nursing contact hour(s).
- 1.00 APA
Rush University Medical Center designates this Enduring material for 1.00 CE credits in psychology. Continuing Education (CE) credits for psychologists are provided through the co-sponsorship in the American Psychological Association (APA) Office of Continuing Education in Psychology (CEP). The APA CEP Office maintains responsibility for the content of the programs.
- 1.00 ASWB
As a Jointly Accredited Organization, Rush University Medical Center is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved continuing education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. Social workers completing this course receive 1.00 general continuing education credits.
- 1.00 Attendance
Successful completion of this course activity, including active participation in the evaluation component, entitles the learner to receive a participation certificate from ACLM. Please note that this certificate is offered solely in recognition of engagement, and no academic or professional credit is awarded.
- 1.00 CPEU
This Enduring material has been approved by the Commission on Dietetic Registration. Completion of this activity awards 1.00 CPEUs.
- 1.00 NBC-HWC
The National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) has approved 1.00 continuing education credits for this learning activity: .
- 1.00 Occupational Therapy CE
Rush University Medical Center is an approved provider for physical therapy (216.000378) and occupational therapy (224.000220) by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. Rush University Medical Center designates this Enduring material for 1.00 continuing education credits.
- 1.00 Participation (AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ for non-MDs)
Rush University Medical Center designates this Enduring material for a maximum of 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
- 1.00 Physical Therapy CE
Rush University Medical Center is an approved provider for physical therapy (216.000378) and occupational therapy (224.000220) by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. Rush University Medical Center designates this Enduring material for 1.00 continuing education credits.