Call for Presenters

The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) invites dynamic practitioners, researchers, educators, and thought leaders to submit proposals for the 2027 Annual International Conference (AIC), to be delivered live and in person at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, June 2–5, 2027. Educational sessions will take place Thursday, June 3–Saturday, June 5. 

Our goal is to provide attendees with practical, unbiased, actionable, evidence-based, and clinically relevant education.

Please review before applying:

Presentation Formats

We aim to offer dynamic, varied learning experiences across all stages and encourage submissions in a range of presentation lengths. Applicants are asked to select their preferred presentation format and length. Final details may be refined in collaboration with IFM to optimize program flow and attendee engagement.

  • Main Stage / Plenary (Formal Keynotes)
    • Best For: Breakthrough research, high-impact clinical overviews, visionary advocacy, and inspirational synthesis.
    • Structure: Lecture, panel, or clinical debate delivered to the full audience, combining compelling storytelling, data visualization, and high-level takeaways.
  • Interactive Breakout Sessions & Workshops
    • Best For: Clinical mastery, practical skill-building, case analysis, and step-by-step implementation.
    • Structure: Sessions held in large breakout rooms (seating 300+) that prioritize active learning, audience participation, and live Q&A: Interactive case-solves, practical tool and framework demonstrations, and panels and debates.

 Applicants will indicate their preferred session format as part of the application.  

Primary Focus Areas 

Proposals must align with one of four primary areas of focus (applicable to both Main Stage and Breakout formats)

Advanced Clinical Mastery and Evidence-Based Practice
  • Main Stage: Translating the latest research into paradigm shifts.
  • Breakout: Deep-dive clinical reasoning, managing complex multi-system conditions, novel biomarker interpretation, and refining advanced therapeutic strategies and clinical algorithms.
Practical Foundations and Clinical Integration
  • Main Stage: The future of root-cause medicine across diverse practice settings and health systems.
  • Breakout: Actionable, step-by-step strategies, high-yield intake frameworks, and scalable delivery models designed for immediate implementation in independent, academic, and/or community health settings.
Inclusive Care, Health Equity, and Culturally Responsive Medicine
  • Main Stage: Addressing health disparities, social determinants, and systemic healthcare equity.
  • Breakout: Practical approaches to delivering culturally competent care, expanding access to care, and adapting root-cause approaches to serve diverse and under-resourced populations.
Advocacy, Systems Change, and Community Impact
  • Main Stage: Leveraging clinical outcomes and economic data to drive institutional adoption and policy shifts.
  • Breakout: Practical tools, interprofessional collaboration models, and communication strategies that equip healthcare professionals to champion root-cause care within their organizations and broader communities.

High-Demand Topics of Interest
(include, but are not limited to)

Musculoskeletal, Longevity and Functional Movement
  • Fascia dynamics, mechanobiology, and connective tissue health
  • Sarcopenia
  • Frailty
  • Protein intake
Dietary Psychology and Patient Mindsets
  • Orthorexia, dietary hyper-fixation, and dysfunctional eating behaviors
  • Psychological considerations in restrictive dietary protocols
  • Navigating direct-to-consumer data, self-directed testing, self-diagnoses, and patient health narratives and expectations
Clinical Stewardship and High-Value Functional Care
  • High-impact care (mitigating “poly-” or “green-pharmacy,” avoiding over-testing and over-supplementation, and prioritizing endogenous healing mechanisms)
  • Judicious and safe use of therapeutic peptides
  • Global systems and environmental health (examining the intersections between global food systems, biodiversity decline, environmental exposures, and human disease)
Health Equity and Inclusive Care Sub-Topics
  • Group medical visits and shared appointments
  • Trauma-informed care
  • Adapting protocols for affordability
  • Environmental disparities and toxic exposure
Systems Change and Implementation Sub-Topics
  • Hospital and health system integration
  • Clinical registries and outcomes data
  • Interprofessional and collaborative care teams
  • Workplace and community health initiatives
Metabolic Health, Cellular Dynamics, and Adjunctive Care
  • Metabolic drivers of complex disease, including adjunctive strategies in oncology
  • Photobiomodulation and circadian medicine (chronobiology, light therapy, biological rhythm optimization)
  • Cellular stress pathways and turnover (autophagy, cellular senescence, ferroptosis, and membrane lipidomics)
  • Emerging biophysics and cellular physiology (mechanobiology, tissue-level bioelectricity; biophysical cellular environment, and water dynamics in tissue regulation and repair)

Proposals across any Focus Area or Topic may be tailored for Foundational, Intermediate, Advanced, or Universal experience levels. Applicants will designate their target audience level in the application.

Final session details may be adjusted in collaboration with IFM to ensure the best fit within the overall program.

Submission and Compliance Criteria

As an accredited ACCME provider, IFM requires all accepted presenters to strictly comply with the ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. All presentation submissions must meet the following baseline requirements:

  • Evidence-Based: Recommendations for patient care must be grounded in current science, high-quality human evidence, and sound clinical reasoning.
  • Balanced and Fair: Content must provide an objective, balanced view of diagnostic and therapeutic options.
  • Free From Promotion: Presentations must be strictly free of marketing, self-promotion, or sales of products/services. Presenters may not promote or sell products or services that serve their personal, professional, or financial interests.
  • Ethics and Conduct: All presenters are expected to foster trust, credibility, and respect across the IFM community by abiding by the IFM Code of Conduct and IFM Code of Ethics.
Note on Emerging Science and Hypothesis-Generating Content: IFM is committed to advancing innovative clinical science while upholding the highest standards of academic integrity, patient safety, and regulatory compliance. Presentations may explore, debate, or discuss early-stage science, and in such cases, may reference mechanistic, in vitro, or animal model evidence. However, presentations must explicitly differentiate between early-stage, hypothesis-generating research and established, evidence-based standards of care. Relevant regulatory context must be emphasized throughout. Crucially, presenters may only advocate for or recommend approaches to patient care that are supported by human safety and effectiveness data.

Proposal Review and Selection Process

Submissions are reviewed carefully to build an engaging, inclusive, and objective program.

To ensure clinical mastery and practical integration, priority is given to proposals led by practitioners certified in functional medicine. Qualified non-certified experts with exceptional, highly relevant proposals are also invited to apply and will be fully considered.

Proposals will be evaluated against five core criteria:

  • Clinical Relevance and Immediate Utility: Content addresses meaningful challenges in clinical practice, offers actionable takeaways ("tools for Monday morning"), and demonstrates applicability across diverse clinical scopes of practice and multidisciplinary care teams.
  • Strength of Evidence and Scientific Rigor: All patient care recommendations are grounded in published, peer-reviewed human clinical data. Proposals exploring emerging topics are clearly identified. All content reflects current science, sound clinical reasoning, and a balanced, objective representation of diagnostic and treatment options.
  • Fresh Perspectives and Innovation: Proposals bring forward emerging science, evolving clinical thinking, or novel ways to approach complex healthcare challenges.
  • Engaging Educational Design and Delivery: The proposed session structure effectively matches the chosen format, demonstrates intentional pacing to limit cognitive overload, and details a clear plan for format-appropriate learner engagement (e.g., rhetorical reflection, peer discussion, or case solves).
  • Diverse Voices and Perspectives: Presenters and topics represent a broad spectrum of backgrounds, disciplines, lived experiences, identities, and clinical viewpoints.
 

Presenter Benefits

If selected, presenters will receive:

  • Complimentary Registration: One (1) full-conference registration and access to conference proceedings.
  • Honorarium: Determined by IFM based on role and format.
  • Travel & Lodging: Travel reimbursement, accommodation, and per diem eligibility vary based on session format and presenter role (details included in formal invitation).
  • Professional Recognition: Featured listing across conference marketing materials, the event webpage, and the conference app.

Timeline

  • Submissions Open: October 7, 2026
  • Rolling Review Begins: November 6, 2026
  • Submission Deadline: November 30, 2026 (11:59pm PT)
  • Notifications: All applicants will receive a notification via e-mail by January 22, 2027.

Note: Because proposals are reviewed on a rolling basis beginning November 6, 2026, early submission is strongly encouraged.

Please review the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for additional details before submitting.