American Medical Society for Sports Medicine
For Immediate Release May 08, 2017

Schoomaker to Give Presidential Keynote on Military Medicine at 2017 AMSSM Annual Meeting

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – May 8, 2017 – Lieutenant General (Retired) Eric B. Schoomaker, MD, PhD will be the 2017 AMSSM Presidential Keynote Speaker, lecturing on the topic of chronic pain and addiction at the 26th Annual Meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine this week in San Diego, Calif.

Prior to his retirement after 32 years of active service, Dr. Schoomaker served as the 42nd U.S. Army Surgeon General & Commanding General of the U.S. Army Medical Command. His speech is titled “Chronic Pain and Addiction — What the DOD and the VA Are Doing to Step Up to the Challenge” and will address aspects of military medicine on Tuesday, May 9.

“This topic is a vitally important in today’s society, and Dr. Schoomaker has long been a champion for combating the opioid epidemic,” said AMSSM Past President Dr. Francis O’Connor, MD, MPH.

Dr. Schoomaker committed his career to meeting the health needs of soldiers, their families and veterans throughout the U.S., Europe and the Pacific, focusing on soldier medical readiness, enhancing battlefield care, establishing comprehensive behavioral healthcare, fostering a culture of trust, advancing comprehensive pain management and promoting health by preventing combat wounds, injury and illness.

His principal interests are in both Complementary and Integrative Health & Medicine (CIHM) in the shift from a disease management-focused healthcare system to one more centered on the improvement and sustainment of health and well-being leading to optimal human performance.

“The truth is that all people will have pain at some point in their lives,” said AMSSM member Anthony Beutler, MD. “Our job as physicians is to discover and treat the cause of the pain if it is in our realm to treat. And if it's not, to help the patient explore other ways of managing and treating the cause of that pain. Dr. Schoomaker is a leading expert in alternative medicine and is leading a revolution in how we teach military medical students about their patients' pain and how to help them manage it.”

Dr. Schoomaker is a Professor and Vice-Chair for Leadership, Centers and Programs in the Department of Military and Emergency Medicine, F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine at the nation’s only Federal health university, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) in Bethesda, Maryland. He promotes CIHM education and training for physicians and other health professionals, especially as they contribute to the management of acute and chronic pain. He is also exploring the central importance of leadership education and training for health professionals, so as to realize Uniformed Services University’s vision as the nation’s “health leadership academy”.

With more than 1,800 sports medicine physicians attending from throughout the United States and around the world, the Annual Meeting explores current decisions, controversies as well as best practices related to Medicine in Motion that defines the clinical practice of sports medicine.

About the AMSSM Annual Meeting: The conference features lectures and research addressing the most challenging topics in sports medicine today including overhead athlete care, military medicine, sports performance training, youth sports, professional athlete care, leg pain, mental health in athletes, current sports medicine topics and much more.

About the AMSSM: AMSSM is a multi-disciplinary organization of more than 3,300 sports medicine physicians dedicated to education, research, advocacy and the care of athletes of all ages. The majority of AMSSM members are primary care physicians with fellowship training and added qualification in sports medicine who then combine their practice of sports medicine with their primary specialty. AMSSM includes members who specialize solely in non-surgical sports medicine and serve as team physicians at the youth level, NCAA, NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, MLS and NHL, as well as with Olympic teams. By nature of their training and experience, sports medicine physicians are ideally suited to provide comprehensive medical care for athletes, sports teams or active individuals who are simply looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle. www.amssm.org